Games
The most popular game associated with Hanukah is the dreidel game. A dreidel is a four-sided top containing a letter on each side. Each letter stands for one word of the phrase-"A great miracle happened there (here)".
The
Hebrew letter, 'nun' means 'nes', or miracle; the 'gimmel' stands for 'gadol',
or great; the 'heh' means happened; and the 'shin', stands for there or when played
in Israel 'peh', which stands for here.
According
to the Kabbalah, or Jewish mysticism, there is a deeper meaning to the dreidel
and its four letters. The simple dreidel represents a Jewish historical time line.
The four letters stand for four different empires that tried to destroy the Jewish
people: Babylonia, Persia, Greece, and Rome.
1. The Dreidel Game:
To play this game, each player starts with ten pennies,
or nuts or chocolates. Each player puts a penny in the pot. The dreidel is spun,
one player at a time. If the dreidel lands on nun, nothing happens. If the dreidel
lands on gimmel, the player wins the pot. If the dreidel lands on heh, the player
takes half the pot.
If the player lands on shin or peh, the player adds two pennies to the pot. When no pennies are left in the pot, each player adds one. When one player has won everything, the game is over.
2. Hide
The Chocolate Gelt
When the children are out of the room or busy with an activity,
hide the chocolate gelt around the room. Just before it's time to go home, tell
the children that there is a treat hidden around the room for each of them. Have
the children hunt for their treat.
|
|
|
