Festival of Lights - Dreidel

🎶 Oh, dreidel, dreidel, dreidel

I made it out of clay

And when it's dry and ready

Then, dreidel I will play🎵🎶

Tonight we made dreidels with the boys. We baked the clay molds during bedtime so they will be ready to play with tomorrow.

As with most Jewish Holiday traditions, I had no idea that the dreidel was more than a spinning top toy. It’s a game of chance in a sense. Everyone starts with a handful of pennies, nuts, or candies. Everyone puts one of theirs into the “pot”. Each child takes a turn spinning the dreidel. On each of the 4 sides of the dreidel there are Hebrew letters. Depending on which letter it lands on you either have to put another piece in the pot, get to take half the pot, get to take everything in the pot, or do nothing. It’s a fun little game that I am hoping will keep my boys occupied for a good long time.

But the dreidel is also not just a toy. I truly love how so many of the elements of Jewish tradition have very specific meanings and function as tools to “tell the story” or serve as a trigger to remember the testimony. Consider Joshua 4-5. God told Joshua to have the men choose 12 stones, one for each tribe of Israel, be picked up from out of the bed of the Jordan river. They had just passed through the river with the ark of the covenant on dry land. God had parted the waters again! They were told to place the stones in the place where they slept that night. Joshua explained, “this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’”

I love that! When the children ask. We will remember how God had performed a miracle and it was important for the story to be told.

God had performed a miracle.

Back to the dreidel.

The Hebrew letters on the dreidels and their meanings (in regards to the game) are:

‎נ (nun) - nothing

‎ג (gimel) - everything

‎ ה (hei) - half

‎ש (shin) - put one in

The amazing part is that those letters not only stand for the rules of the game, they also represent the Hebrew phrase נֵס גָּדוֹל הָיָה שָׁם (nes gadól hayá sham, "a great miracle happened there")

What was the miracle?

In the second century BCE, while the Second temple was being restored and rededicated they (the Israelites, under the leadership of Judah Maccabeus) could only find one small flask of oil since the barrels of oil for the lampstand were all destroyed by Antiochus IV Epiphanes King of Syria. That one small flask (1 days worth of oil for the menorah) ended up lasting 8 whole days which was enough time to make more oil.

God honored His people’s desire to worship Him in His Temple so He ‘kept the light on’ for them. He caused a small amount of oil to last far longer than it was supposed to.

Just like the 12 stones in Joshua 4, the dreidel serves as a way for us to retell the story of the faithfulness of God. A way to remember that a great miracle was performed there.

Are you looking for a miracle? Do you need a break through? Are you stuck with no “oil in your lamp?”

Look for the 12 stones and play with a dreidel. Spend some time in prayer and remember the times where God been good. Remember YOUR testimony! A great miracle was performed in your life when you received salvation.

It is our testimonies that keep faith alive. Our testimony is the oil that burns bright for the world to see.

Do you need a miracle? Remember the ones before. Talk about them. Tell your children how Faithful God has been in your life.

I promise you that when you share your testimony, it will not only encourage your children, but it will also raise your faith to receive the breakthrough you’ve been looking for.

Share your testimony with anyone who will listen. Your testimony could be the oil in someone else’s lamp nearly empty lamp. Your testimony could bring breakthrough for another soul.

We MUST remember the testimony of God. The Gospel is paramount! The blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony is what will crush the enemy’s plans, purposes, and influence.

Pick up a dreidel and remember “a great miracle was performed there” - in your life!