Dreidel Fun

A dreidel is a four sided spinning top used for a game traditionally played during the Jewish holiday of hannukah. This site is dedicated to the game of dreidel: its history, its rules, and the fun of playing the game and its many variations.

Make a Wood Dreidel

15 Jan 2010

Paul Germanos has posted a Flickr series depicting a set of dreidels he made from recycled wood. The dreidels are fairly large and made from what looks like an old 4" x 4" douglas fir beam. He cuts the body to size and carves it subtly to make it less square - then attaches an off-the-shelf handle and a dowels for the spinning tip. >> See the pictures

If you are interested in other ideas for ways to make wood dreidels take a look at these links:

Making Wood Driedels
Wooden Dreidel (these directions are missing a few steps - but you can get the idea)

The Braidel® (The Braille Dreidel®) by Art as Responsa®:
A Dreidel for the Blind and Blindfolded

28 Dec 2009

Designed by Marsha Plafkin Hurwitz the owner of Art as Responsa®, The Braidel® is a unique and innovative dreidel. Originally created as a gift for a friend The Braidel® is not only a dreidel for the blind, but also a variation on traditional dreidel that can be played by anyone - blindfolded!

The design of this dreidel itself is quite nice. It is made of ball-burnished sand cast aluminum, a material that Marsha was familiar with from other Art as Responsa® judaica she designed. Its also a great spinning dreidel according to a blind young woman who I recently met at a hanukkah party. She enthusiastically endorsed The Braidel® and spoke of her over-a-minute-long spins.

The Braille Dreidel®, aka The Braidel®, is in permanent collections of the Jewish Museum London and the National Museum of American Jewish History.

Marsha designed The Braidel® with a rounded base, instead of a dreidel's traditional sharp points, so there won't be a safety hazard for players who are blind or blindfolded. She paid attention to the sound of the dreidel as it spun and fell - players had to be able to hear when the top stopped spinning. She also chose to use the Israeli dreidel design - with a "pey" instead of a "shin" - so that together, the letters stand for "a great miracle happened here" instead of the diaspora version "a great miracle happened there". This was to show players that miracles can be personal, everyday experiences, not just distant events to commemorate occasionally.

The Braidel® costs $24 on www.Braidel.com. Art as Responsa® donates 18% of sale price for The Braidel® to Helen Keller International (HKI) through the Art as Responsa Hope is Always in Season™ donation program. Additionally, The Braidel® Game™ for classroom use is available. A game for 24 includes a gift bag, blindfolds, spinning plate, chips and directions, and The Braidel® Activity Book and costs $375. A portion of sales from The Braidel® Game™ benefit Portland State University's Project BRAILLE.

(Photographs of The Braidel® (The Braille Dreidel®) by Art as Responsa® are by Marsha Plafkin Hurwitz)

Lead Dreidels from Poland

25 Dec 2009

Tomasz, a dreidel collector from Lodz, Poland sent me a fabulous picture of his collection of pre World War II lead dreidels. (Click on the picture to enlarge). These dreidels were given to him by family members or purchased from other collections. He may be interested in selling some of the set - feel free to contact me if you are interested.

Learn more about antique lead dreidels here...

Bulk Israeli Dreidels

1 Dec 2009

Looking for inexpensive bulk Israeli dreidels? ChocolateGelt.com stocks sets of 10 Israeli style wood dreidels for $3.50 (2008). Israeli dreidels differ from diaspora dreidels in that they have the hebrew letter pey instead of the hebrew letter shin. The pey represents the word "po" or here - so that the letters together (nun, gimel, hey, pey) symbolize the phrase nes gadol haya po - or "a great miracle happened HERE". (Diaspora dreidels have the letters nun, gimel, hey, shin symbolizing the phrase nes gadol haya sham - or "a great miracle happend THERE.")

For more about dreidel top variations - check out my posting on dreidels from around the world.

Parta Ola

18 Nov 2009

Just learned about a Greek version of dreidel! Apparently Parta Ola is a spinning top game from Greece, traditionally played around the Christmas and New Year Holidays. My neighbor plays it with his family at Easter. Here is a site that sells not only the Greek version - but also the English Put and Take and the Spanish Toma Todo.

www.kingofpartaola.com

Introducing Staccabees

18 Nov 2009

What is nerdier than an adult that plays dreidel?
One who spends 10 years inventing a new dreidel game! (me)

Introducing... STACCABEES™ an exciting all wood dreidel game for ages 6 and up.

Buy it at www.staccabees.com

Here are some of the basics:

It involves a little strategy, a little luck, and a lot of poise - be the first person to stack all of your cubes and you win.
It's an all wooden game made of responsibly harvested North American hard wood.
Game pieces were assembled by a 100-year old company in Maine.
STACCABEES™ takes about 20 minutes to play.
The game is for ages 6 and up, but adults who've played it so far think it's really fun.
Light weight, durable and portable, STACCABEES™ is easy to tote around to holiday parties and family gatherings.
STACCABEES™ can be used for fundraisers. Please email me for details.

Antique Solid Lead Dreidels

17 Dec 2008

Before plastic, dreidels were manufactured by casting from solid lead. According to Sol Scharfstein the president of Ktav Publishing, the company started with his parent's idea to manufacture lead dreidels:

After a long search he found a tool and die maker who designed the world's only existing draydel casting machine. Lead is heated in a steel ladel till it melts. The molten lead is then poured into the closed mold. After 15 seconds, the lead sets, at which point the mold is opened and the hot draydel is removed. A good operator like Fannie produced about 75 draydels an hour. The first year was a great success and the exultant duo sold 25,000 lead draydel at 2 cents each, for a total of $500.00 Hallelujah! Life for Asher and Fannie was looking up.

According to the New York Times, Ktav now sells 400,000 dreidels every year. I'm guessing that not of these are lead :).

Cast dreidels are generally well made because the shape of the piece can be precisely controlled. Unfortunately, many of todays cast plastic dreidels are sold with a part line going right across the tip of the dreidel. A part line is the line between the two sides of the casting molds where a bit of material always oozes out. This can be removed but these are cheap dreidels so this extra work is skipped. In contrast, dreidels cast of sterling silver, pewter, brass, bronze, nambe or any other more expensive material typically have had the part line removed - and are are more likely to be well balanced.

Lead is out of vogue these days not only because its more expensive than plastic but also because of health concerns. The dreidels below are remnants of a past era!

Lead Dreidel supposedly from Eastern Europe, late 19th century. Top and bottom are decorated with engraved ornamentation. Measurements : Height: 4.2cm. / 1.65in. Weight : 17.8g. / 0.57oz. Price: $750 (as of 12/16/08). Available from Pasarel.

This vintage Israeli lead dreidel , was hand made by a jewish artist in Israel. Along with the letters are Words in Hebrew that state that the dreidel used to belong to the Bialik school.
Height: 2.54cm/1in. Diameter: 1.25cm/0.50in. Price: $49.99 (as of 12/16/08). Available from Mir-El Antiques.

This early metal dreidel measures about 1" high and about ½ inches in diameter. Each Hebrew letter is embellished by a Star of David. It is unpolished. Price: $35 (as of 12/16/08). Formerly available on Ebay.

Where to Buy Antique Dreidels

17 Dec 2008

Here are a couple of web sites that regularly sell antique dreidels. Please note that I have not personally done business with these vendors - so this is just a list - not an endorsement!

These dealers have received a positive review from a reader of this blog who purchased dreidels from them.

I have not heard any reviews about these dealers.

Also useful are these general ebay searches:

Apparently there are lots of fakes available on ebay and the internet - so beware! If you do purchase an antique dreidel, the best way to get help authenticating it is to contact a reputible antique judaica dealer.