Word Prompt – DREIDEL – Michael Milgraum

To be Jewish means to have a heightened awareness of the objects in our lives and the symbolic power they carry. That being the case, what are we to make of the dreidel, that simple game in which delighted children play for expanding piles of Chanukah gelt?

Explanations for the dreidel's significance range from the practical to the mystical. From the practical standpoint, it served as a distraction to investigating Greek soldiers, as Torah students could quickly pivot from their learning to their pretext that they were gambling with the dreidel. There are a number of mystical explanations, including the simple one that just like the hand that turns the dreidel is from above, so it was clear, from the miracle of the eight days, that the hand of Hashem was controlling these historic events.

While there is merit in each of the explanations, my favorite is neither practical nor mystical but interpersonal. To me, the dreidel means lingering for a while in the presence of the flickering lights of the menorah, savoring the delighted faces of children or grandchildren as they indulge in a little too much chocolate, and realizing that not only did a great miracle happen there, but a great miracle is presented to us right here, in the presence of this joy, love, play, and connectedness.