Rabbi Mendy Hurwitz with dad David Moster and his son Jonah, 6 and daughter Hannah Beth, 8. Photo © 2024 Robert Kalfus.
By Robert Kalfus
On Dec. 8, the Home Depot on Sprain Road in Yonkers hosted an enjoyable dreidel making workshop for about 200 children – and their parents – with Chabad of Yonkers Rabbi Mendy Hurwitz with children from Yonkers and other Westchester communities. Home Depot provided free “workers’ aprons”, hammers, nails, glue, paint, and instructions. From 2 to 4 pm, children assembled a pre-made Dreidl frame, which included two wooden side pieces and two end pieces; a bottom base, 12 nails, fine sandpaper, wood glue, paint to decorate, and a sticker to place inside on which the dreidel can be spun.
Instructions included an explanation for the four letters: Nun, Gimel, Hey, and Shin, their value, and how to play the game. These four Hebrew letters form an acronym for the phrase Nes Gadol Haya Sham, “A great Miracle happened there”, referring to the miracle of the cruse of unspoiled sacred oil on which the holiday of Hanukah is centered burning for eight days longer than expected in the holy Temple in Jerusalem.
The Dreidel Game is made exclusively in the USA for Home Depot by Houseworks Ltd in Atlanta, Georgia, with all its parts, including a handsome wooden dreidel, were provided free.
Chanukah this year begins at sundown on Wednesday evening, December 25, nearly coinciding with Christmas, and ends eight days later on January 2, 2025.
