בס׳ד

"Where does it say that you have a contract with G-d to have an easy life?"

the Lubavitcher Rebbe



"Failure is not the enemy of success; it is its prerequisite."

Rabbi Nosson Scherman



9 Dec 2012

The dreidel decoy

The simple story of the Dreidel or Sivivon is that it was a decoy used by the little children learning the Aleph Bais in case the Yivanim caught them. The Bnei Yisaschar brings some deep remazim regarding the dreidel.

The four sides of the dreidel have the letters, Nun, Gimel, Shin, Hey. These stand for the four forces in a person. Nefesh or spirit-Nun, Guf or physicality-Gimel, Sechel or intellect-Shin, and a higher spirit combining the other three, HaKol-Hey. The four nations of Bavel, Yavan, Rome, and Madai each opposed a specific one of these forces. Moshiach, whose gematria is 358 the same as Nun, Gimel, Shin, Hey, will annul these forces forever. Then Hashem's reign will be accepted by all. Hashem Melech, Hashem Malach, Hashem Yimloch L'Olam Va'ed also equals 358 like our dreidel and Moshiach.

The dreidel spins on its point. All these nations on each side of the dreidel all focus on Bnei Yisroel. The four side gradually decrease and disappear into this point, as the four nations will disappear and become batel to Am Yisroel.
http://revach.net/moadim/chanukah/Chanukah-Some-Hidden-Secrets-Of-The-Dreidel/3164


2 comments:

  1. So, what does the Pey stand for, that we say in Eretz Yisrael?

    Todah rabbah vChanukah sameach,

    Chava Dorit, Yerushalayim

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  2. The 4 sides leading to the one tip, with focus on Israel, reminds us of the Daniel prophecy.

    I too wrote something about the shape of the dreidel. Here's the link if you care to see:
    http://hezbos.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-chanuka-dreidel.html

    Chava Dorit, in answer to your question regarding the dreidel's Pey, I figure the Pey was for that period of time the children played with the dreidel under the Hasmonean sovereignty - when the Second Temple still stood! Their status, therefore, was NOT yet a status of EXILE.

    Today, in Israel, the exile can be felt even more palpably than it can outside of Israel, so foreign, perverse and antithetical to Torah is the government and policies of present-day Israel. So even in Israel today children would play with a dreidel that has the Shin thereupon.

    Only after Moshiach reveals himself and Jews gather under his sovereignty in Israel, will we again be able to restore the Pey to its original venue.

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