History of teetotum game

In German, the Teetotum — or what they called trendel from which the Yiddish dreidel derives — had the four letters N nisht G ganz H halb S shtel ein. As a result of this misunderstanding, most modern Israeli dreidels replace the shin there to Peh here to signify that the miracle occurred in Israel itself. Conquest of Canaan. Your email address will not be published.

Name required Email required Submit. Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Search for:. Name required. Email required. Get all the details on the holiday here. The dreidel game originally had nothing to do with Hanukkah; it has been played by various people in various languages for many centuries. In England and Ireland there is a game called totum or teetotum that is especially popular at Christmastime.

When Hebrew was revived as a spoken language, the dreidel was called, among other names, a sevivon , which is the one that caught on. Thus the dreidel game represents an irony of Jewish history. In order to celebrate the holiday of Hanukkah, which celebrates our victory over cultural assimilation, we play the dreidel game, which is an excellent example of cultural assimilation! Random movement had been generated, and not a die in sight! True, some people still had issues with teetotums.

Spinning the teetotum sent players careening around the game board, learning the dreadful consequences of becoming a Drunkard or a Sabbath-Breaker. The all-powerful teetotum decided everything.

Before long, the teetotum had become an icon in its own right. People composed poems to teetotums, wrote stories about them, and drew on the image of the teetotum whenever they were describing unsettled lives. But there were signs of change, too.