West Newsmagazine 11-15-17

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November 15, 2017
WEST NEWSMAGAZINE
I HOLIDAY WISH BOOK I W13
and sour cream, and jelly doughnuts
known as sufganiyot.
Another traditional Hanukkah treat
are small, chocolate coins. These
edible coins are made to be a fun
version of gelt, the Yiddish word
for money. Gelt was traditionally
given to teachers as a gift,
donated to charity or used as a
reward for winning dreidel games.
Rabbi Avi said one important
foundation of Hanukkah is education.
Jewish people are taught to
give a 10th of what they are given
to charity, and gelt is a way of teaching
this virtue to children. “What the
gelt goes back to is giving your children
money, and teaching them to give part
of that to charity. It is so central to who
we are. That’s the real meaning behind
Hanukkah.”
The dreidel
The dreidel game originated during a
time of religious oppression in which
the ancient Greeks outlawed the studying
of the Torah. Jewish children eager
to learn risked their lives by continuing
to study the Torah. If authorities came
around, the children would quickly hide
their texts and use the dreidel game as a
cover. Now, the dreidel is a symbol of
bravery and dedication to Judaism.
“We play the dreidel game to commemorate
the children who were
willing to risk their lives to study,”
Rabbi Avi said.
The dreidel is a four-sided
spinning top with different
Hebrew letters on each side:
nun, gimel, hey and shin. In
Hebrew, the letters form the
initials of the message, “A great
miracle happened there,” referring
to Hanukkah’s everlasting oil.
Here’s how to play: Players each
start out with the same amount of real
or candy money. Throughout the game,
they lose or gain currency depending
on what letter they spin. Nun, “nothing,”
means nothing happens. Gimel,
“all,” means take everything in the pot.
Hey, “half,” means take half of the pot.
Shin, “put in,” means put one coin in
the pot.
This Hanukkah season, why not gather
friends around the dreidel and give it a
spin?
Visit chabad.com for more resources
on Hanukkah and events happening
near you.
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