She laughed and told me they weren't saying "cradle" but rather "dreidel." I asked what a dreidel was and she said it was a Jewish thing, a top of some sort.
I later learned that the dreidel is a four-sided spinning top with a Hebrew letter on each side. It is used during Hanukkah to play a popular children's game that involves spinning the dreidel and betting on which Hebrew letter will be showing when the dreidel stops spinning. Children usually play for a pot of gelt, which are chocolate coins covered in gold colored tin foil, but they can also play for candy, nuts, raisins, etc.
The letters on the dreidel, Nun, Gimmel, Hey and Shin, stand for the Nes Gadol Haya Sham, which means A Great Miracle Happened There.
The miracle referred to is the miracle of the Hanukkah oil, which lasted for eight days instead of one.
You might complete your description with the rules of the game.
ReplyDeleteAs I recall, players anti up to the pot. The players spin the dreidel once for each turn. G or Gimmel or great wins the pot, Hey wins half, Nun wins none, and a player who spins Shin must feed the pot. At age 63 it has been a while, you may care to research the details. e.g. in my family Shin matched the pot.
Avi