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Short Summary
Main recommendation: Spread the teaching of the dreidel's four Hebrew letters (nun, gimel, shin, hei) as a message of Jewish survival and hope, and share it at Hanukkah gatherings with children and grandchildren. Rabbi Paysach Krohn, citing the Rebbe, reads the letters as a history of the exiles and a promise that Mashiach (the Messiah) remains when the exiles fall. The talk ends with a call to gather family, use oil and water to show the oil rising, and tell children that the Jewish people rise to the top.
Key Points
- The four letters on the dreidel are read as nun, gimel, shin, and hei, each standing for a stage of Jewish history.
- Nun stands for nefesh (soul), tied to the Temple sacrifice that could no longer be brought after the first Temple (Mikdash) was destroyed.
- Gimel stands for goy (body), linked to the physical destruction of Jewish bodies, with Hitler given as an example of wanting to kill every Jewish body.
- Shin stands for sechel (intellect), linked to the Greeks' attempt to change Jewish mindset and culture, and to modern cultural pressure.
- Hei stands for 'here is a quorum,' and the gematria of the four letters (nun=50, gimel=3, shin=300, hei=5) totals 358, equal to the gematria of 'Mashiach.'
Details Worth Noting
- Concrete instructions: Write down the four letters and their meanings to tell others, tonight on Hanukkah or the next day, at a party, or to children and grandchildren.
- Concrete instructions: Tomorrow, make a party or gather the children. Fill a glass with orange juice or water, add oil, and let the children watch the oil rise to the top.
- Concrete instructions: Tell the children that Jews "rise to the top" like olives, which stay fresh and separate, and that exiles may fall while Mashiach remains.
- The speaker says the dreidel can spin forever but eventually falls, used as a picture of exile ending.
- The speaker cites intermarriage in America as more than 60 percent of marriages, presented as an example of 'poisoning' Jewish minds, a modern form of the Greek-style threat to Jewish intellect/culture.
- The talk closes by wishing that everyone become worthy and merit to see Mashiach in our time.
Bottom Line
The dreidel is presented here as a teaching tool: its letters carry a message that Jewish exile will end and Mashiach will remain, and the talk urges families to share that message through a simple oil-and-water demonstration.
