Dreidel is a game of chance. The outcome of any spin, whether losing two (Shin), netting zero (Nun), or winning from the pot (Gimmel or Hey), is entirely based on luck. As an investor, I prefer to rely on strategy. Developing and implementing an approach based on data, analysis, decades of experience, and judicious capital deployment are all essential to financial success.
Yet, regardless of our hard work, experience, and effort, we all still need a bit of mazal to be successful. You can make all the right decisions, but if your timing is off, nothing else matters. Timing can be as arbitrary as when you were born, when you started working, or the year you sold your business. None of us knows when the market will rise, plummet in value, or remain stagnant for years. Timing is crucial and it’s something we cannot control.
That is the reminder of the dreidel. Its letters, standing for “Nes Gadol Haya Sham,” have us recall Hashem’s great Chanukah miracles: the Maccabees won, Jews rededicated the Beis HaMikdash, and the oil lasted eight days. As we play dreidel this Chanukah season, may we all remember that all forms of success in our lives ultimately come from Hashem.