Shabbat Gathering: Chanukah fun!
Dear Chevra, as is our custom, we will gather tonight at 5.45p ct to welcome Shabbat. These are the coordinates:
Zoom
Meeting ID: 963 5113 1550
Password: 1989
Phone: +1 312 626 6799
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Here we go.
Chanukah is a weird holiday. On the one hand, it’s non-liturgical. It’s based on books of apocrypha. On the other hand, it can be a lot of fun. The apocrypha are a set of books that didn’t make it into our Tanakh or most Protestant bibles. (Catholic Bibles are a different case.) Specific to the story of Chanukah, there are two books, the first and second book of the Maccabees. You already know the basics of the Chanukah story, so I’ll focus on something else, something important: Playing dreidel and having fun.
Yeah, but how do you play dreidel.
The dreidel has four sides and each side is decorated with a different Hebrew letter. The letters are Shin, Hey, Gimel, and Nun. (Make sure you’re paying close attention to Gimel and Nun because they look a lot alike.) Each letter represents a different outcome in the game. All together, the letters represent the words, “A great miracle happened there.” (In Israel, the letters are a little bit different and stand for “A great miracle happened here.”)
So, gather all the players together and make sure each one has a stash of game pieces (gelt, raisins, chocolate chips, paperclips, whatever). All the players put one game piece into the pot. Every time the pot is empty, all the players have to ante up one piece from their stash.
The first player spins the dreidel and it lands on one of the four sides.
- If it lands on Shin, all the players put one game piece into the pot.
- Hey, the one spinning the dreidel gets half the pot.
- Gimel, the spinner gets the entire pot.
- Nun, the spinner gets nothing.
And everyone gathered around gets at least one turn spinning the dreidel. Players are eliminated when they run out of pieces to ante up into the game. At the end of the game, the one with the most pieces wins.
So, it’s a simple game. The stakes are low, there’s no strategy involved, and the random dreidel is what moves the game along.
More fun, please.
I remain conflicted by Chanukah. I have these frum tendencies that focus me on Torah and, if I follow those tendencies, I regard Chanukah with skepticism. But I have another side, a hedonistic side. (Just ask the people I know from school.) This side of me is focused entirely on fun, sometimes too much fun. (Just ask any of the many therapists I’ve had over the years.)
Being a Jew in this day and age (no, wait, in any day and age) can be hard (and dangerous). Jews have a fair share of joyful holidays, but when it comes to having fun, I have a motto, “More.” So, when it comes to Chanukah, I’ll swallow my skepticism along with some latkes (with sour cream). I’ll spin the dreidel. I’ll light the candles and say the prayers. I’ll have fun! And I hope you do too.
And may it be for all of us a blessing.
See you tonight!
Gut Shabbes!
All my love,
brian.
PS
Most of the time, I kid myself that I’m a highly cultured person with exquisite taste. But then I let my guard down and find myself enjoying something that is vulgar and profane. That’s the case with Ari Shaffir’s latest comedy special, Jew. Shaffir, a lapsed seminary student, created his free, 90-minute YouTube special to delve into the weirdness and hilarity of being a Jew. And, in my estimation, he succeeds. I think it's laugh-out-loud funny. But this is not material for kids, so, if you decide to watch it, make sure they’re out of the room. (I’m looking at you, Abraham.)