Description: VINTAGE STERLING SILVER ISRAEL HANUKKAH CHANUKAH DREIDEL SPINNING TOP 1940-50’s 62g Wonderful display piece and totally useable. Made for the tourist trade in the late 1940’s-50’s shortly after Israel achieved statehood. Each side of the dreidel bears a letter of the Hebrew alphabet: נ (nun), ג (gimel), ה (hei), ש (shin). These letters are represented in Yiddish as a mnemonic for the rules of a gambling game derived from the German teetotum. Teetotun is a small top usually inscribed with letters and used in a put-and-take game. On a dreidel the “nun” stands for the word נישט (nisht, "not", meaning "nothing"). If the top lands with the nun face up, there is no action. The spinner neither takes from the pot nor adds to the pot. “Gimel” stands for גאַנץ (gantz, "entire, whole"), meaning the spinner takes the whole pot. The “Hei” stands for האַלב (halb, "half"), meaning the spinner takes half the pot. The last letter “shin” stands for שטעל אַרַײן (shtel arayn, "put in"), meaning the spinner must add to the pot. However, according to Jewish lore the letters represent the Hebrew phrase נֵס גָּדוֹל הָיָה שָׁם (nes gadól hayáh sham," meaning “a great miracle happened there"), referring to the miracle of the cruse of holy oil in the Temple which was only sufficient for one day but miraculously burned for 8 days. For this reason, most dreidels in Israel replace the letter “ש” (“shin” or sham, meaning “there”) with the letter “פ” “pe” to represent the phrase נֵס גָּדוֹל הָיָה פֹּה (nes gadól hayáh poh, meaning "a great miracle happened HERE"). The dreidel on offer has the letters and words of the phrase on each panel with a different design on each. The lettering and designs are very Bezalel-like of the period but the piece is not marked. The dreidel is weighted and the total weight is 62.1 grams. There is a tiny hole cleverly placed in the “doorway” of the last panel with the Wailing Wall. This was used to pour in the weighting material (liquified wax, cement or pitch). The dreidel is marked ISRAEL 925 ST One corner has a slight bend (image 7) and there are a few small ripples in the top portion (image 5).HAPPY TO COMBINE SHIPPING
Price: 125 USD
Location: Bergenfield, New Jersey
End Time: 2024-12-11T20:09:49.000Z
Shipping Cost: N/A USD
Product Images
Item Specifics
All returns accepted: ReturnsNotAccepted
Country/Region of Manufacture: Israel
Religion: Judaism
Handmade: Yes
