The origin of the Dreidel has an interesting background. Apparently, when the Jewish people were under the rule of Antiochus, the Greek leader of Syria, Egypt and Judea, they were barred from studying the Torah.

The Dreidel was devised as a ruse by the Jews in order to make it seem as if they were playing a game instead of studying the Torah. Thus, whenever the Greeks approached, the Jews would hide the books, bring out the Dreidel, and begin to spin it as in a game.

The Dreidel is a four-sided top which has four distinct letters in Hebrew on each side.
The object of the game is to spin the Dreidel and collect coins or candy depending upon what letter appears after each spin.

Each player puts one coin or candy into the center of the table. This is called the pot. Then each player spins the Dreidel and depending upon what letter appears, this determines what each player will or will not receive.

The explanation of each letter is as follows: “nun” means a player receives nothing, “gimel” means a player can take all of the coins or candy in the pot, “hay” means the player can only take half of the pot, and “shin” means the player has to place one coin or piece of candy into the pot. Whoever winds up with the most coins or candies at the end of the game wins.

Now here is an interesting tidbit. A similar game using a spinning top had been played for centuries in Europe as a means to gamble. For example, the letters used in English speaking countries would be T, H, P, and N meaning take, half, put and none.

In addition, research indicates that the Hebrew letters actually originated in Germany where a similar toy was manufactured. Nonetheless, the Hebrew letters signify a phrase which means “a great miracle happened here.”

Moreover, research has also revealed that one of the letters on the Dreidel has been changed – shin is now called “pay.” In addition, the Israelis changed the word Dreidel to Sivivon, derived by the Hebrew word sovev meaning to turn.