Dreidel:The Draydel Game

Distributed by Rite Lite, a Brooklyn, New York, wholesaler of Jewish ceremonial objects, this wooden dreidel represents the basic form of the four-sided top traditionally used in a game of chance played by Jewish children during Chanukah celebrations. The Hebrew letters marking the four sides of the dreidel stand for the phrase "A Great Miracle Happened There," referring to the miracle of a day's supply of sacred oil burning for eight days after the Jews recaptured the Temple at Jerusalem from the Greek ruler Antiochus IV. The letters also correspond to the Yiddish words describing the rules of the game developed many centuries later in Germany; depending on which letter ended facing up, a player would either add to a pot of coins (called gelt), take part of it, or take the whole thing. (Today, most children play for foil-wrapped chocolate coins.) Jewish tradition holds that when Antiochus IV forbade the study of the Torah (the sacred text of the Jewish faith), small groups of young students gathered secretly to learn from one another. They took small tops with them and, when soldiers wandered near the group, students played with the dreidels to disguise the true purpose of their meeting.