Chanukah Day 3!!  I thought we would do something a little lighter today!  First, I don't have much time since Shabbos starts in less than 2 hours.  But also because today - the 27th of Kislev - is my birthday.  My secular one isn't for a few more weeks, but we celebrate both.  This is also one of those big ones ending in a 0.  The one that my beautiful, sweet children have told me makes me "officially old'".  Don't you just love kids?

So, since I am celebrating i thought we could all play a game of dreidel!

A dreidel is a little spinning top.  It has four sides and on each side is a different Hebrew letter.  The letters are Nun, Gimel, Hay and Shin and they stand for Nes Gadol Haya Sham which is Hebrew for "A great miracle happened there."  In Israel the Shin is replaced by the letter Pei and the phrase is Nes Gadol Haya Po  "A great miracle happened here"

Like all Jewish holiday traditions, this game also has a reason.  As I mentioned yesterday, the Syrians outlawed all Jewish practices.  This of course, included teaching Torah.  That didn't really stop the Jews though.  They taught the children in caves, forests, basements where ever they could do it in hiding.  However they brought little spinning tops with them and if they were discovered by the soldiers, they would quickly pull out the tops and pretend they were just playing a game.

To Play Dreidel the following items are needed:

A Dreidel (at least one - for faster play give everyone their own)
At least 2 players, but the more the merrier
Things to 'ante' with - chocolate gelt is traditional (chocolate coins), but you can also use peanuts, raisins, pennies.  My kids often use the unit cubes from their math manipulatives.
A flat surface to spin the dreidel on

A platter of latkes (potato pancakes) or sufganiyot (jelly doughnuts) to snack on would of course be optional!  (PS:  Tomorrow I will share some Chanukah recipes!)

How to play:

The ante is split evenly among all players.  Everyone puts one piece into the middle.The youngest player spins first and then clockwise from there.

What you do on your turn, depends on what letter your dreidel lands on.

If it lands on a Nun -well nothing happens.  You do nothing and it is the nest person's turn.  Better luck next time. :)

If it lands on a Gimel - you get everything!  The whole pot is yours.  Obviously everyone wants a gimel.  After someone gets a gimel, everyone (including the original spinner) has to but a piece back in the middle to start again.

If it lands on a Hay - you get half the pot.  Not as good as a gimel, but still pretty good!

If it lands on a Shin - This is the worst spin that everyone hates.  If it lands on a shin you need to put another one of your units into the pot.

If you want to see what the letters look like (so you know what you just spun!) you can take a look here
This is actually a link to the Chabad.org kids Chanukah page.  I love this site for kids and it is a lot of fun to explore.  Watch the Itchy and Kadoozy video - they are my kids favorite! LOL

Most of all the game is about having fun and being together!

Also, since dreidel really is a gambling game I thought I would include this article from Rabbi Wein - a real Jewish Historian on the topic of Gambling in Jewish law:

Finally, I really wanted to add some Chanukah music to my blog, but was unable to figure out how.  If anyone wants to share the secret, feel free to let me know. :)

Have fun!