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The Dreidel
by W.Holidays

Spinning the dreidel is a favorite pastime during Chanukah. The traditional game is played for Chanukah gelt (foil covered chocolate coins). A dreidel is a special four-sided top. Each side has a symbol that dictates what should happen next.

These letters also stand for "A great miracle happened there". In Israel Pey is used in place of Shin meaning "A great miracle happened here."

Other popular dreidel games include contests to see who can spin their top the longest or who can spin the most dreidels at the same time.

Why is the dreidel played during Chanukah?
The writings of Kabbalistic tell that during the Greek rule reading the Torah (the Jewish holy book) was illegal and to study it was punishable by death. However, this did not stop the Jews. They would study the Torah and when soldiers would come close they would quickly replace the Torah with the dreidel, a harmless game.

Where did the dreidel come from?
The game is based on old German gambling games. The word dreidel is a derivative of the German word for top.