The Dreidel: A Jewish Holiday Tradition with Cultural Significance

1. The Dreidel:AJewish
HolidayTradition with
CulturalSignificance
Allison Schottenstein

2. The Dreidel:A
Jewish Holiday
Tradition with
Cultural
Significance
 Ohio-based Scholar Compass editor Allison Schottenstein is an
academic scholar with a research background inAmerican history,
anti-Semitism, and Jewish history.Allison Schottenstein is an avid
collector of Jewish antiques, including hand-crafted dreidels.

3. The Dreidel:A
Jewish Holiday
Tradition with
Cultural
Significance
 A four-sided top with a Hebrew letter painted on each side, the
dreidel is much more than a simple holiday toy.With its letters and
number of sides representing the stages of life, it carries profound
meaning through both its design and the rules regarding its play.

4. The Dreidel:A
Jewish Holiday
Tradition with
Cultural
Significance
 The letters on the dreidel translate into Hebrew words meaning
“whole,” “half,” “nothing,” and “put in.”According to Jewish
culture, these represent the four modes of being over a lifetime:
the good times, the glummer times, periods of nostalgia and
change, and the darkest times in life. Similarly, the dreidel’s
spinning sides reflect a spiritual view of life: much like the spinning
dreidel, life proceeds in cycles with continuous change, yet a
single root connects everything together. Furthermore , as
gameplay revolves around winning and losing a set of tokens in
accordance with the dreidel’s letters, the game presents an
inspection of the give-and-take nature of life.

5. The Dreidel:A
Jewish Holiday
Tradition with
Cultural
Significance
 In order to play the game, players take turns spinning the top and
gain or lose tokens depending upon the letter displayed when the
spinning stops.The four results include winning the current pot,
winning half the pot, losing a token, or nothing.