Preparing for Hanukkah: Colour your Hanukkah card & make you own holiday dreidel
Hanukkah arts and crafts for children by “Elisheva & Shoshana”!
Colour your own Hanukkah card and make you own holiday dreidel:
Step1: Save the picture and Print it out (A4) (vol1: If you are in Israel),
Step2: Colour,
Step3: Cut
Step4: Glue together and get your very own DIY-dreidel!
Vol1
Vol2
Our Hanukkah e-cards are specially made for Tallinn Jewish School (Таллиннская еврейская школа) and Yeladim Center.
© Elisheva & Shoshana
✡ …And final touch by: 7-year-old Estella Elisheva 🙂 ✡
Dreidel Playing Guide
The traditional Chanukah dreidel (spinning top) is a throwback to the times when the Greek armies of King Antiochus controlled the Holy Land, before the Maccabees defeated them and sent them packing. The powerful regime passed a series of laws outlawing the study of Torah and many of the mitzvot.
Jewish children resorted to learning Torah in outlying areas and forests. In case an enemy patrol was spotted, the children pulled out and started playing with small tops and would hide their texts.
. On the four sides of the dreidel appear four letters from the Hebrew alphabet-nun, gimmel, hey, and shin.
The classic dreidel is a four sided spinning top. The Hebrew word for dreidel is sevivon, which, as in Yiddish, means “to turn around.” Dreidels have four Hebrew letters on them (nun, gimmel, hey and shin). These four letters are an acronym for “Nes gadol hayah sham” – “A great miracle happened there.” In Israel, instead of the fourth letter shin, there is a peh, which means the saying is “Nes gadol haya po” – “A great miracle occurred here”.
The Setup
* All players sit around the playing area.
* The “ante” — nuts, pennies, nickels, chocolate coins, nuts, or just about anything else — is equally divided amongst all players.
* Everyone puts one unit of the ante (penny, nut, etc.) into the pot.
* The one who has first turn is followed in clockwise direction by all the others.
* Player A spins the dreidel while everyone waits in utter suspense.
If the dreidel lands on a…
(נ) Nun –
You’ve just wasted your time. Absolutely nothing happens. Nun stands for the Yiddish word nul, which means zero, nothing, nil, “nisht”. After your exercise in futility it’s time now for the player to your left to take a spin.
If however your dreidel landed on a…
(ג) Gimmel –
Wow! Amazing! You did it! You get to take the whole pot! Take it quick and then do a little victory dance around the room. Gimmel stands for gantz, which means whole. Everyone, including you, now puts another unit of the ante into the pot, and the person to your left tries his luck at spinning.
But, it’s hard to be so lucky every time. Sometimes your dreidel will land on a…
(ה) Hey –
Okay, you could have done better, but you could have done worse. You get to take half of the pot. Hey stands for halb, half. The pot has now been diminished, and it’s time for the player to your left to take a stab at riches.
But don’t complain. The dreidel could have landed on a…
(פ) Peh /(ש) Shin –
Shin (outside of Israel) means “shtel” or “put in” [in Yiddish]. Peh (in Israel) means “pay.” The player adds a game piece to the pot.
