Glossary

The entries selection comes from the book “Dictionary of Judaica” (2005), which was written by a group of authors led by Eva Kosáková . Entries were further processed by Jaroslav Kuntoš, Dana Veselská, Olga Sixtová, Michaela Scheibová and Lenka Uličná. The book can be purchased at our e-shop.

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Dreidel (Yid.; Heb. sevivon)

A spinning top that is used to play a game during the holiday of Hanukkah. Its basic shape is a cube or square, pointed at the bottom and with a handle on top for spinning. Each of the four sides has a Hebrew letter inscribed on it – nun, gimel, he and shin. These letters are the initials of the Hebrew phrase “A great miracle happened there”, which relates to the origin of Hanukkah. The dreidel is used in a similar way to an ordinary spinning top. In the Czech lands, it is made of an alloy of tin or wood and is usually no larger than 5 centimetres.

drejdl.gif

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