The Dreidel20 is making people smile and laugh. During dark times, joy is an act of survival.
When my friend David Zvi Kalman posted on Facebook that he created a twenty-sided dreidelA four-sided top bearing the letters "nun," "gimel," "hay," and "shin" for "nes gadol haya sham" - a great miracle happened there. In Israel, dreidels have a "peh" for "po" (here) -- a great miracle happened here. Played with on Chanukah in a gambling game, traditionally using chocolate gelt as the wager. and would anyone like to sell it in their Judaica store, I immediately raised my hand: “Me!!!” Sure, I didn’t know what the heck, or how the heck, a twenty-sided dreidel is, but I knew we had to have it. When we posted the product announcement to social media, orders started flowing in within minutes.
But beyond the joy of seeing a cool/nerdy Jewish product become an instant success, almost better were the comments. I started going through our Facebook page shares and I found myself laughing and smiling. And that means a lot these days. We’re all aware of the rising anti-semitism in the U.S. and around the world; and I’m typing these words from central IsraelLit. ''the one who struggles with God.'' Israel means many things. It is first used with reference to Jacob, whose name is changed to Israel (Genesis 32:29), the one who struggles with God. Jacob's children, the Jewish people, become B'nai Israel, the children of Israel. The name also refers to the land of Israel and the State of Israel. where folks have been rushing to bomb shelters due to rocket attacks. It’s surreal to be listening nervously to the news while simultaneously reading all these sweet and funny comments about the dreidel.
Yes, we’ve gotten some comments that range from non-plussed to verbal eye-rolling.
“It’s just a DnD (Dungens & Dragons) die with Hebrew letters on it.”
“It doesn’t even spin.”
Whatever. Ninety-nine percent of the reactions are more along the lines of, “Whoa! I don’t know exactly what this is, but I need one.” Or as Rabbi Marisa Elana James put it best: “I’m delighted and confused and so stupidly excited about this.” Our thoughts exactly.
The bottom line is, the Dreidel20 is making people smile, laugh and make ridiculously nerdy jokes. During dark times, joy is an act of survival. Laughter heals. I’ll take that any day.
Here are some of our favorite comments so far
1) First, thank you to the commenter who linked to this clip from Wet Hot American Summer, and especially this one.
2) Let’s now move on to our #1 Favorite Comment So Far, from Molly Hutt:
3) And all of these…
Hila Ratzabi is the Managing Editor of Ritualwell.org, as well as a poet, essayist, freelance editor, and writing coach.
