Hanukkah "dreydl," wooden spinning top – USD 50
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Hanukkah is a joyous holiday of candle lighting, potato pancakes ("latkes") and jelly doughnuts ("sufganiot"), gifts and games.
On each of the four sides of the "dreydl," a spinning top, is the first letter of a word in the Hebrew sentence "Nes Gadol Haya Sham" (A great miracle took place there) – נ, ג, ה, ש . Each Hebrew letter is also the first letter of four Yiddish words: "Nisht" (nothing), "Gants" (everything), "Halb" (half), and “Shtel” (put). Winning or losing depends on the side your "dreydl" falls on.
Many Jewish families in Poland made their own "dreydls," whether by carving them from wood, as in this case, or by melting lead seals and pouring the molten lead into a carved wooden mold, which was tied together with a string. One person recalls that his grandfather would save the lead seals that came on parcels during the year. Just before Hanukkah he would melt the lead and make the “dreydls.”
Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland is a partner of the "Show your love" project and one of the co-founders of the POLIN Museum. The Association is a Polish non-profit organization.
American donors can make tax deductible donations through American Friends of POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
If you choose to make a donation through AFOPM, please indicate which object you are showing your love to!
You can mail a check made out to American Friends of POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews to:
American Friends of POLIN Museum
15 East 65 Street
New York, NY 10065
To donate by credit card or bank transfer, please call (212) 226-2900 or email: [email protected]
