If you are a regular reader of my column, you may recall a piece I wrote back on July 8, 2021 titled “Tokens of a Tzedakah-Minded People,” in which I picture and describe metal detector finds of a few badges that were worn by supporters of various Jewish charities in pre-war Poland. Those badges are part of a small personal collection I own which was formed by acquiring them from dealers of metal detector finds in Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Ukraine for the past 25 years. What makes up the nucleus of this collection are cast lead dreidels found in the ground in those Eastern European countries.
From December 12 to January 8, 47 of these dreidels will be on display at the Center For Jewish History, located at 15 West 16th Street in Manhattan. Admission to this exhibit is free and open to the public. If you live outside the New York area and cannot make the shlep to NYC, I will now detail a few of the more interesting dreidels on display, and picture some examples.
The vast majority of dreidels that are found buried in the ground are of typical form: four-sided, each side bearing one of the Hebrew characters of nun, gimmel, hey, and shin, which stand for the Hebrew phrase “Nes Gadol Haya Sham” – A Great Miracle Happened There.” Indeed, most of the 47 metal detector-find dreidels on display are of this design – but not all. I have come across six and eight-sided dreidels(!) as well, which I will expand upon shortly.
The first photo shown is of a four-sided dreidel that was sold to me from a dealer in Poland. This type, with each Hebrew letter inside a Star of David, is not rare; it frequently appears for sale in the marketplace. However, I have “upgraded” this specific type a few times over the years due to condition issues the dreidels are found in when they are literally “dug up,” and I settled on an example that is in just about the best preserved condition one could hope for, showing hardly any wear.
Unlike the previous dreidel pictured, this next one is of a style I only recall seeing one time, which is when I acquired it. Purchased from a dealer in Ukraine, here each of the four sides of the dreidel have the Hebrew letters repeated four times, set in a sort of grid pattern. Shown is the side in the best condition, which has the letter shin.
In addition to the typical four-sided dreidels with the first Hebrew letters of “A Great Miracle Happened There,” there are dreidels that have the full Hebrew words of that phrase. These are offered in the marketplace significantly less often than the dreidels that bear only one Hebrew letter per side, but they do appear from time to time. I have a number of these types of dreidels with the entire Hebrew text, which were acquired from dealers in Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Ukraine.
When I came across six and eight-sided dreidels (the majority from Ukraine, but a few from Poland), I was fascinated and amused. The first few six-sided examples I acquired have the full Hebrew text on four sides, while the remaining two sides display the words Ner Chanukah (Light of Chanukah). I’m sure you’re thinking, “What happens when you spin the dreidel and it lands on Ner or Chanukah? Do you just spin again?” The eight-sided dreidels also have the full Hebrew text on four sides, and repeat the phrase on the remaining four sides. Unlike the six-sided dreidels, here the game as we know it can still be played – the only difference is, it’s like a dreidel on steroids!
Circling back to four-sided examples, shown in the third photo is an uncommon type; each side has two Hebrew words, with the upper phrase reading “To light the flame of Chanukah,” and the lower phrase stating “A Great Miracle Happened There.” Next to the Hebrew word for miracle – nes – is an image of an oil jug. This example came from Ukraine, but the previous example I had of this type (in more worn condition) was sold to me from Poland.
One day, after I acquired a six-sided example from a dealer in Ukraine, I noticed that after the full-text Hebrew phrase of “A Great Miracle Happened There” on four sides, the remaining two sides did not have Hebrew words; rather they displayed two Hebrew letters apiece. The fifth side had the letters taf and reish, while the sixth side had the letters nun and daled. I couldn’t believe it – I realized this was a Hebrew date! The maker of this six-sided dreidel had included the year he cast it, which was 1894! While I had assumed that these metal-detector-find dreidels were made sometime during the late 19th or early 20th centuries, it was not based on proof; there was no evidence, just my opinion. And now, incredibly, I was gazing upon an exact period of manufacture, Chanukah of 1894!
I spent the following years after that “discovery” attempting to locate other dated examples, and was fortunate enough to find two more – one with a date of 1895, and the other with a date of 1902.
Without question, my most prized dreidel is the one pictured here in the last photo. When it was in my hands, I struggled to hold my emotions in check. This six-sided example from Ukraine has, on the lower half, the full Hebrew text of the saying “A Great Miracle Happened There” on four sides, and “Light of Chanukah” of the remaining two sides. However, on the upper half, quite clearly, is the full-text Hebrew phrase “Yeyvoshu V’yisogu Achor Kol Soneh Tziyon,” translated: “Let all who hate Zion fall back in disgrace” (Psalms 129:5). This poignant verse highlights the desire by some for the downfall of the Jewish people. The broader context is of the Jewish nation enduring suffering at the hands of its enemies, reflecting on the near-constant afflictions we as a people have faced.
Why is this verse on a dreidel? All I can think of is that is an expression of pious defiance by the maker of this dreidel, perhaps in reaction to an outbreak of violence at that time against Jews in the village or city he lived in – in other words, a pogrom.
I have never seen another example of this dreidel. Unfortunately, it is quite timely in relation to the current geopolitical climate, in which the white-hot hatred of Israel and Jews has been revealed in many countries around the world since the massacres of October 7.
There are a few other antique dreidels I loaned to this exhibit: two brass examples made at the Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts in Jerusalem, a wooden dreidel issued by the Jewish National Fund, and an ivory dreidel, possibly made in England.
Do you have a Jewish object that you want to know the origin and value of? Email photos of your item along with a brief description to [email protected], and my response to you will appear in a future issue of The Jewish Press.
Chag Chanukah Sameach!
