The Dreidel: Hanukkah Dreidel in Jewish Tradition Song and Games

The Dreidel is my favorite symbol of Chanukah. It is a four-sided top with a Hebrew letter on each side and is used for playing a fun game.

The letters on the dreidel, Nun, Gimmel, Hey and Shin, are an acronym for Nes Gadol Haya Sham, meaning A Great Miracle Happened There.

In Israel, the land where the Chanukah story took place, the letters on the dreidel are Nun, Gimmel, Hey and Peh, which stand for A Great Miracle Happened Here (Po, in Hebrew).

The Hebrew word for dreidel, which is actually a Yiddish term, is "Sevivon", which also means to turn around. The Yiddish word dreidel comes from the German word "drehen," which also means “to turn.”

There is something harmonious and serene about a spinning object. Physicists tell us that a spinning object generates an inertial torque which resists opposing motion. Spinning gyroscopes keep ships and planes on their course. Whirling Dervishes spin into a frenzy that they might enter a higher state of consciousness.

The Dreidel in theology

The dreidel spins around a central point. It topples when it loses its connection to that point. And we do too when we lose our Center. Spinning the dreidel is a symbol that life revolves about a Central Presence.

The Dreidel in Kabbalistic geometry

The typical six-sided top is related to a three dimensional projection of a torus in four-dimensional space. Followers of the Kabbalah assign mystical meaning to this geometric shape and its symmetries. It is thought that if each letter of the Hebrew alphabet were placed on a different vertex, various folds reveal combinations of letters spelling significant words.

The Dreidel in mathematics

As recently as November 2003 there have been college mathematics seminars on the probability of winning a game of dreidel, the expected number of spins in a game of dreidel and whether the first player has a statistical advantage over the other players. Spinning the dreidel is not the same as doing your math homework.

The Dreidel Hanukkah Game

Playing with the dreidel is a traditional Chanukkah gambling-game played in Jewish homes throughout the world, with Chanukkah money (gilt in Yiddish). The rules may vary.

Here's how to play:

1. Any number of people can take part.

2. All players begin the game with an equal number of game pieces (usually 10-15) such as nuts, pennies, chocolate chips, matchsticks, raisins and so on and so forth.

3. At the beginning of each round, every participant puts one game piece into the center "pot." Every time the pot is empty or has only one game piece left, all players should put one in the pot.

4. Each time it's your turn, spin the dreidel once. Varying by the outcome, you will get or give game pieces from the pot:
a) Nun means "nisht" or "nothing" [in Yiddish]. So, the player does nothing.
b) Gimmel means "gantz" or "everything" [in Yiddish]. You receive everything in the pot.
c) Hey means "halb" or "half" [in Yiddish]. The player receives half of the pot. (If there is an odd number of pieces in the pot, the player takes half of the total plus one).
d) Shin (outside of Israel) means "shtel" or "put in" [in Yiddish]. Peh (in Israel) means "pay." Should this happen, you are to add a game piece to the pot.

5. If you have no game pieces left, you are either "out" or you can ask a fellow player for a "loan."

6. When someone has won everything, that round of the game is over!

7. We suggest that if you use money to play the game, ask players to donate either a part or all of their winnings to tzedakah (charity).

A game similar to Dreidel was popular during the rule of the wicked Syrian Hellenist, Antiochus. During this era, Jews were not free to openly practice Judaism, so when they gathered to study Torah they would bring a top with them. If soldiers were to appear, they would quickly hide what they were studying and pretend to be playing a gambling game with the top.

There is a very famous song to sing on Hannukah in the English language, to accompany the game. The words are as follows:

I have a little dreidel
I made it out of clay
And when it's dry and ready
Then dreidel I shall play

CHORUS

Oh dreidel dreidel dreidel
I made it out of clay
And when it's dry and ready
Then dreidel I shall play
It has a lovely body
With legs so short and thin
And when it is so tired
It drops and then I win!

CHORUS

My dreidel's always playful
It loves to dance and spin
A happy game of dreidel
Come play now, let's begin!

The Dreidel or Sevivon in Hebrew is a very popular and many faced motif in Judaica and is often given as a holiday gift, or as a Jewish decoration that isn't necessarily related to Hanukkah.