Summary: Jewish Hanukkah traditions include the dreidel game; a dreidel is a spinning top with four Hebrew letters on the four sides. Learn to play the dreidel game in this free video on Jewish traditions.
Russ Handler owns an online travel agency, and he is a known travel expert in the Tampa Bay area who has been featured as an expert on travel for decades on local television and radio...read more
"Hello I'm Russ Handler with a couple more great things to consider while celebrating Hanukkah. First of all one of my favorite parks of Hanukkah, other than the potato pancakes has got to be the dreidel game. Dreidels come in all shapes and sizes. They were passed down from our ancestors. It originally started as a gambling game and to this day, to a certain extent, still is. Spinning the dreidel is fun. And the youngsters just love it. So let's learn how to play dreidel. First of all you need what is considered, perhaps, gelt. Let's consider pennies for instance. Give each child five pennies. Now there's a couple ways you could do it. During each spin each child can put a penny into the pot or if you prefer just he or she who is spinning can put one into the pot. Now should they land on this symbol right there which is nun. That means he or she collect nothing. This is nisht in Yiddish. That means you simply yield to the next player. Another thing that we have to learn about is the most important. And this we all love. If he or she spins a gimel he wins the entire pot. Gimel stands for gesht which in Yiddish means get. Now there's another thing that we have to learn. And this of course is Hay. If he or she spins Hay. Which is halb in you know what then of course they take half the pot. Or if they spin a shin he has to put one in. It's that simple. So study the rules next to you on this article. Print it out and practice it with your children for years and years of fun while you spin the dreidel. But don't spin it that way. Do it this way. I'm Russ Handler and I look forward to seeing you in Temple."
eHow Article: How to Play The Dreidel Game