Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Dreidel Here, Dreidel There



I may be late to this fact, but I just learned something really interesting:
Dreidels in Israel are different than dreidels in the US (and elsewhere).

I grew up playing dreidel games with a dreidel that had the Hebrew letters gimmel, Nun, Hay, Shin. The letters are the first letters in the Hebrew phrase "(a) Great Miracle Happened There." However, Silvie brought home a dreidel the other day without the Shin. Instead, it has a Pay. I asked her about it and she said that the dreidel letters stand for "(a) Great Miracle Happened Here." Here being, in Israel.

Of course!

2 comments:

TechMama said...

We found this out earlier on the month--one of the kids Hannukah books mentioned it. I think it was "Latkes, Latkes, Good to Eat" from the PJ Library.

Unknown said...

Is it true that Dreidels below the equator rotate the opposite direction?