HANUKKAH TRADITION; COLLECTORS HELP PRESERVE CULTURE.Byline: Jenifer Hanrahan Daily News Staff Writer Debra Greenberg and Laurie Gabbai remember the moment they went from being Hanukkah gift buyers to being Hanukkah gift collectors. It was two years ago when they peered into their shopping cart full of hot new games and they realized it wouldn't be long before these Hanukkah gifts would be forgotten like so many missing Monopoly pieces. So the two friends, Gabbai of Encino and Greenberg of Tarzana, made a decision. Future gifts for their children would reflect the meaning and value of their strong Jewish upbringing. Their solution: Judaica collections of spice boxes, kiddush cups, tzedakoth (charity boxes) and dreidels. Dreidels, you ask? Aren't they those cheap plastic spinning tops kids play with this time of year? Dreidels have become more than just a toy for Hanukkah, the eight-day Jewish holiday
A Jewish holiday or Jewish Festival is a day or series of days observed by Jews as a holy or secular commemoration of an important event in Jewish history. that begins at sundown today. The spinning tops are gaining popularity as collectors' items, sometimes selling for as much as several thousand dollars. Until recently, most collectible dreidels were simple and folksy folk·sy adj. folk·si·er, folk·si·est Informal 1. Simple and unpretentious in behavior. 2. Characterized by informality and affability: a friendly, folksy town. 3. , made of pewter, wood or lead. Nowadays, there are Limoges dreidels from France, glow-in-the-dark dreidels, stained glass stained glass, in general, windows made of colored glass. To a large extent, the name is a misnomer, for staining is only one of the methods of coloring employed, and the best medieval glass made little use of it. dreidels, even cyber-dreidels played on the Internet. For Gabbai and Greenberg, who each have three children, collecting dreidels is a way to preserve their Jewish heritage for their families. Between them, they have several dozen dreidels that range in price from a dime to several hundred dollars for the most intricate and original designs. ``It gives them a collection that reminds them of what the holiday is for and who they are,'' said Gabbai. The four sides of dreidels made in this country bear the Hebrew letters nun, gimel, he, and shin, which correspond to the acronym for ``a great miracle happened there.'' In Israel, the shin is replaced by a pe, so the message reads: ``A great miracle happened here.'' The miracle was the reclaiming of the temple of Jerusalem Noun 1. Temple of Jerusalem - any of three successive temples in Jerusalem that served as the primary center for Jewish worship; the first temple contained the Ark of the Covenant and was built by Solomon in the 10th century BC and destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 , and its rededication Noun 1. rededication - a new dedication; "the rededication of the Temple of Jerusalem" dedication - a ceremony in which something (as a building) is dedicated to some goal or purpose in 165 B.C. by the Maccabees following the plundering of the temple by Syrian Greeks. Tradition holds that Judas Maccabaeus Judas Maccabaeus (died 161/160 BC) Leader of a Jewish rebellion against the Syrians. The son of an aged priest who took to the mountains in rebellion when Antiochus IV Ephiphanes tried to impose the Greek religion on the Jews, Judas became leader of the rebels on his searched for sacred oil to relight Re`light´ v. t. 1. To light or kindle anew. the temple menorah menorah Multibranched candelabra used by Jews during the festival of Hanukkah. It holds nine candles (or has nine receptacles for oil). Eight of the candles stand for the eight days of Hanukkah—one is lit the first day, two the second, and so on. , but he found only enough oil to last one day. Miraculously, it burned for eight. Accounts vary of the origins of the dreidel in Jewish culture, but the story goes that before the Maccabees retook re·took v. Past tense of retake. retook the temple, the Syrian king forbade Jews to worship. Young boys would meet to study the Scriptures anyway. The boys would whip out whip out or off Verb to take (something) out or off quickly and suddenly: she whipped off her glasses the dreidels to fool Syrian soldiers who passed by while they played. Arik Gabbai, 14, remembered playing with inexpensive plastic dreidels as a young boy - like Jewish children did centuries ago. ``The collection represents my Judaism in the modern world in America, because there's a lot of modern dreidels in my collection, but there's also a connection to the past,'' said Arik. ``It reminds me of the traditions of Judaism and everything that I've learned in my lifetime.'' Local artists and Judaica stores have benefited from the interest in dreidels. Shalom House and House of Judaica, both in Woodland Hills, carry more than 100 varieties in silver, ceramic, papier-mache, stained glass and wood that range in height from 2 to 8 inches. ``Judaica has become more artistic and more diverse,'' said Robert Goldstein, owner of the House of Judaica. ``Everything used to be plain and simple. They've gotten much more creative and artistic.'' With prices ranging from $40 to $800, Mordechai Hazan's porcelain creations are selling as fast as he can make them. His whimsical ``Noah's Ark'' dreidel features an elephant, tiger and giraffe giraffe, African ruminant mammal, Giraffa camelopardalis, living in open savanna S of the Sahara. The tallest of animals, giraffes browse in treetops at heights inaccessible to other leaf-eaters. A male may be 18 ft (5.5 m) from hoof to crown. heads jutting jut v. jut·ted, jut·ting, juts v.intr. To extend outward or upward beyond the limits of the main body; project: from the four sides, and details in 24-karat gold paint. ``Each one is different,'' said Hazan, whose studio is in North Hollywood. ``Even if the people love the style, I'm not going to do it again.'' A handful of dreidels - mostly plastic ones from the 1950s - are on display year-round at the Skirball Cultural Center  This article or section is written like an .Please help [ rewrite this article] from a neutral point of view. Mark blatant advertising for , using . in Los Angeles. ``People really didn't start making interesting dreidels until recently,'' said Grace Cohen-Grossman, a curator at the Skirball. ``There's been sort of a renaissance of making Jewish ceremonial objects of all kinds.'' How the dreidel game is played You probably won't want to spin that expensive porcelain dreidel, but this time of year, cheap plastic dreidels can be had for a quarter. In case you've forgotten just how the game is played, here are the rules: Each player starts with a number of counters to put into the pot and takes a turn spinning the top. The letter that is face up when the top stops dictates what action the spinner must take. Nun: Player takes nothing. Gimel: Player takes all. He: Player takes half. Shin: Player adds one piece to the pot or loses the game. Players who have nothing left to give are out of the game. The game is over when one player has won all the markers, candy or coins. CAPTION(S): Photo, Box Photo: (Color) Debra Greenberg of Tarzana says her dreidels are a way of carrying on the Jewish tradition. John McCoy/Daily News Box: How the dreidel game is played (See Text) |
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