On Chanukah there is a costume to play “S’vivon” (dreidel-spinner).
The dreidel is a small top with four sides, spun from a handle above, and it revolves on a pivot bellow. On each side a Hebrew letter is inscribed: Nun is for “nes” (a miracle), Gimmel is for “gadol” (great), Hei is for “Hayah” (happened) and Shin for “sham” (there)- “A great miracle happened there( meaning the Land of Israel). When paying in Israel the Shin is exchanged for the Pei for “Poh” (here).
The way you play is that each player puts in some candy, chocolate coins or some change in the middle. When you spin the dreidel, if it lands on the “gimmel” facing up You win the whole pot. If it lands on the “hei” you win half the pot. “Nun” means you get nothing and “shin” requires you to put another item in the pot.
During the Roman Empire there was a lot of religious persecution, the study of Torah and performance of Mitzvot were prohibited.
Teachers would gather the children in caves or hidden areas to teach and would put one child to look out for them, if he saw a Roman soldier approaching he would let them know and immediately they would take out the dreidels and pretend they were playing games. This is how miraculously our intellectual and spiritual tradition survived.
Like a dreidel our lives sometimes seem to be spinning out of control. Sometimes we win, sometimes we get half, sometimes nothing and many times we have to give. The S’vivon reminds us that when we only topple and loosen our intrinsic bond with our Creator, represented by the point of the dreidel, life could feel it’s out of control. But when we are aware that there is a top and there is a hand that spins the dreidel which puts our lives in motion and nothing is random we can really see our lives from above and like the story of Chanukah, we can easily see the higher miracles and the Supernal Hand moving everything around.
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