Chanukah Gift Idea: The Braille Dreidel™ by Art as Responsa®

The Dreidel is a small wooden or plastic spin top that is used by children or entire families on the Jewish holiday of Chanukah.

Tradition has it that when the Greeks (or Syrians, depending whom you ask) ruled the land of Israel, they prohibited Jewish practices such as circumcision and study of the Torah, the bible. In response to the decrees, Jewish teachers took their young pupils to the hills outside Jerusalem, and studied the scrolls in caves. When a sentinel alerted the groups that a Greek guard was approaching, the students would hastily hide the scrolls, take out their dreidels and begin playing. The guard would then see that he had come across some innocuous children at play, and would carry on down the road.

The dreidels saved the children and their study of the Torah, so for centuries this small spin top has been played by children and adults on Chanukah. A regular dreidel has four sides with one Hebrew letter on each sides.

The letters are Nun, Gimmel, Hay and Shin which stand for Nes Gadol Hayah Sham: a great miracle happened there, there being Israel. Dreidels in Israel substitute the 'Sham' with the letter Pay for Poh, here.

There are various ways to play dreidel, the most common is to place a pot of coins or candies in middle of the table, and make a rule for each letter on the dreidel. Each player spins his or her top, and depending on the letter it falls on he finds out how to proceed:

Nun: The player receives nothing
Gimmel: Player takes the pot
Hay: Player gets half the pot
Shin: Player must donate coin/candy to pot.

Marsha Plafkin Hurwitz, artist and owner of Art as Responsa® (www.art-responsa.com), holds a master of arts degree in Jewish Studies and created The Braille Dreidel™ in 2002. The Braille Dreidel™ is included in the permanent collection of the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia.

Art as Responsa® donates 18% of its proceeds from the Braille Dreidel™ (Braidel™) to ELIYA, the Israel Association for the Advancement of Blind and Visually Impaired Children.

From the Art as Responsa® Website: