Dreidels

Playing dreidel is a tradition of the holiday of Hanukah. It is a gambling game played with a square top. Most people play for peanuts, pennies, or chocolate coins.

The traditional explanation of this game is that during the time of Antiochus' oppression, those who wanted to study Torah, which was illegal at the time, would conceal their activity by playing gambling games with a top whenever an official or inspector came near.

A dreidel is marked with four Hebrew letters: Nun, Gimmel, Heh and Shin. These letters stand for the Hebrew phrase "Nes Gadol Hayah Sham", a great miracle happened there, referring to the miracle of the oil. In the Land of Israel, the letter "Shin" is replaced with a "Pe", and the phrase reads "Nes Gadol Hayah Po", a great miracle happened here. Hassidic tradition says all dreidels should have the "Shin", no matter where.

When shuffled and put in a different order, the four letters of the dreidel create the word "Goshna", meaning "to the land of Goshen". This appears in the Bible, in the story of Yaacov and his sons going down to Egypt, where the land of Goshen was destined for them to live in. Therefore, spinning a dreidel with these letters on helps to speed the arrival of Messiah.