A calvinist plays a Jewish game

A small break from Edouard Glissant, we'll get back to him and Animesh Rai very soon, I promise. To take a look at dreidel.

Our family celebrates Hannukah. We have the privilege to live in a great city with many different cultures. Judaism contributes a lot to the unique character of New York. When they were smaller our children came back from school having learned about Jewish customs. We have adopted some of them and we particularly enjoy the celebrations around Hanukkah. We light one more candle every night on our lovely menorah. We eat fried food almost every night of that week. And we play dreidel, or sevivon. In this game, each player contributes a nut or a candy or a coin to the kitty. They take turns rolling a kind of die, the dreidel. (Picture of a beautiful ancient dreidl above). There are four sides to the die: either you win the whole kitty, or half of it, or you gain none or you have to pay two coins.

Now I grew up in the birthplace of calvinism. We were taught all gain should be, and can be, earned by persistent labor. In the board games we play, we go laboriously around many squares to reach some kind of heaven or home. Not for the Jews. On a whim of chance, they win everything or have to pay. It seems such a reflection of what the lot of the Jews has been through the centuries. At times they might have been allowed to acquire a certain wealth. Which could all be lost on a whim of chance. The dreidel game is fun and light, like many of my Jewish friends. We laugh at loosing. At winning. We surreptitiously stick candy in our mouth. Better enjoy it while we have it.

Contributed by - Arabella Hutter