On Shabbos afternoon, Chaim’s friends got together at his house. “Anyone want to play dreidel?” he asked.
“What do you suggest we play with?” asked Shalom. “We obviously can’t use money on Shabbos.”
“I have a large marble collection,” suggested Yossi. “We could use marbles or pieces from a game.”
“We never use money in our house, anyway,” piped up Eli. “We always play with nuts or candies.”
“In our house, my father doesn’t let us play for real,” commented Uri. “We put everything back in the end! I think there’s a problem with gambling.”
“I heard that Rabbi Dayan is giving a shiur in our shul after Minchah,” said Yossi. “We can ask him.” After the shiur, Yossi asked him if playing dreidel with money constituted gambling if the winner keeps the money.
“The practice of playing dreidel on Chanukah goes back a few centuries,” replied Rabbi Dayan. “It has an element of pirsum haness [Piskei Teshuvos 670:4]. Nonetheless, when playing ‘for keeps,’ there is a potential problem of gambling since one only wins by chance.
“The Mishnah [Sanhedrin 24b] states that a dice gambler is disqualified from giving testimony. Rami b. Chama explains that gambling is considered a form of theft since the commitment of the loser to pay is asmachta – i.e., it’s only given on the assumption that he won’t have to pay.
“Rav Sheshes, though, maintains that a dice gambler is disqualified only when he lives off of gambling and doesn’t have another profession. The halacha follows him, but the Rambam and Shulchan Aruch rule, nonetheless, that gambling is considered avak gezel, theft on the rabbinic level. Accordingly, Sephardic authorities are stringent about gambling and lotteries [Choshen Mishpat 37:16, 370:1-2; Yabia Omer, Choshen Mishpat 7:6].
“However, the Rema rules that when the chance outcome is totally out of the gambler’s hands – if, for example, it depends on the roll of the dice – the commitment is sincere and not an asmachta provided that the money is placed up front on the table. Some require that the table belong to both people [Choshen Mishpat 207:13].
“Some allow playing dreidel for keeps even according to the Mechaber since the sums are small, which people are not particular about. Furthermore, when the money is provided by the parents of a household, the ‘winner’ is not taking anything from the ‘loser.’
“Playing dreidel is allowed also on Shabbos,” concluded Rabbi Dayan. “There is no concern that it may lead to leveling the ground, like when playing marbles outside since dreidel is usually played inside on the floor or on a table. However, one should not play for keeps since that would resemble doing business” [Orach Chayim 338:5; Shemiras Shabbos K’hilchasah 16:33].