How to Give Hanukkah Gelt

Gelt is a Yiddish slang term meaning "money." During Hanukkah it is traditional to give gelt as a gift. Hanukkah gelt was originally given in the form of actual money and still is today. It is also more symbolically given in the form of chocolate coins, especially when used to play the dreidel game. Chocolate gelt and dreidels are available at most grocery and drug stores in November and December. Both the cash and the candy are called gelt.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Envelopes
• Money
• Chocolate coins
• Dreidels

Give Hanukkah Gelt to Friends and Family

1. Put small amounts of money into envelopes. If you give a gift on each night of Hanukkah, designate eight envelopes for each person to whom you are going to give gelt.

2. Label the envelopes with each recipient's name and the night you are going to give it to them. Use numbers 1 to 8. You might have the children in the family decorate the envelopes.

3. Give each person an envelope of gelt after lighting the Hanukkah candles.

Give Hanukkah Gelt While Playing Dreidel

4. Distribute dreidels to your friends and family. Dreidels are small tops made of wood or plastic. They have Hebrew letters on them. Each letter has a different meaning in the game.

5. Hand out gelt to everyone. When playing the dreidel game, this is usually chocolate coins but can also be real currency. Every person should have an equal amount of gelt.

6. Establish the pot of gelt in the center of the table. Each person puts in two pieces of gelt to form the pot.

7. Take turns spinning the dreidel. There are four Hebrew letters on the dreidel, each having a different meaning in the game. When you land on "nun," you do not take any gelt. Landing on "gimmel" means you take the whole pot of gelt. "Hay" means you get half of the gelt pot and "shin" means you need to put two pieces of gelt in the pot.

8. Continue the game until a player has all the gelt in his possession. He is the winner and keeps the gelt unless you have established other rules for the game.

Tips & Warnings

• Each family has a different tradition when giving Hanukkah gifts. Some families give each other presents for each of the eight nights of Hanukkah. Other families give gifts on only the first night. Adjust your gelt giving according to your family's tradition.