MORE REASONS FOR THE DREIDEL

The dreidel has four Hebrew letters inscribed on its four sides, נ' ג' ש' ה' (Nun, Gimmel, Hay, Shin). The letters stand for the words נס גדול היה שם, “A great miracle occurred there.” (In Israel, the letters are נ' ג' ה' פ' (Nun, Gimmel, Hay, Pay, “A great miracle occurred here” referring to the great miracle of Chanukah. The letters turn on a center point

These four letters are also representative of the four kingdoms that the Jews experienced exile through. The four empires that tried to utterly destroy the Jewish nation were Babylonia, Greece, Persia and Edom (Rome). Each tried to obliterate us through on of the four elements of the spirit; Babylonia tried to destroy our נשמות, neshamos by destroying the Holy Temple, the source of our holiness; Greece tried to annihilate us through our שכל, intellect, by introducing and forcing us to accept the Hellenistic culture; Persia tried to wipe out our גוף, physical bodies through the evil plans of Haman and King Ahaseureus; and finally Edom the exile that we are still experiencing today, wants to destroy הכל, all. The letters of these four elements נ' ש' ג' ה' are the letters inscribed on the dreidel, which rotate on an epicenter – symbolic of the Jewish nation.

(Source: Likutei Yesharim quoting Bnei Yissacher)

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