{"id":44769,"date":"2017-12-05T07:09:37","date_gmt":"2017-12-05T07:09:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/?p=44769"},"modified":"2020-09-08T15:51:08","modified_gmt":"2020-09-08T15:51:08","slug":"miracles-spin-spin-around","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/miracles-spin-spin-around\/","title":{"rendered":"Miracles:\u00a0They Spin and Spin All Around"},"content":{"rendered":"

For me, dreidels are personal.<\/p>\n

In years gone by, I have been a rabbi, a teacher, a principal, a rebbi, I have been a lecturer, a communicator.\u00a0 I have been so many things.\u00a0 Looking back at my life is sometimes like looking through an old photograph album.\u00a0 There are times I hardly recognize the man in the photographs as me.\u00a0 But there is one \u201cphotograph\u201d, one image of me that I continue to embrace, one title that I still carry and likely will until the end of my days.\u00a0 I am still the \u201cDreidel Rabbi\u201d.<\/p>\n

Dreidel Rabbi?\u00a0 Yes, that\u2019s me.\u00a0 I might walk into the lobby of one of Jerusalem\u2019s most prominent hotels only to have a stranger approach me and ask, \u201cAren\u2019t you the Dreidel Rabbi?\u201d\u00a0 I can be walking along the street and someone is sure to ask me about my dreidels.\u00a0 Five or six years ago, my photograph graced the cover of Mishpacha<\/em> \u2013 my photograph with a giant, wooden hand-carved Peruvian dreidel. \u00a0Two years ago, CBS\u2019s \u201cSunday Morning\u201d came to our home to showcase my dreidels.\u00a0 Countless dreidels seen by millions of people!<\/p>\n

Even a non-Jewish\u00a0<\/i>repairman who came to the house exclaimed, \u201cI saw you on TV with those miracle toys!\u201d<\/p>\n

Miracles, yes.\u00a0 Toys? \u00a0No.\u00a0 They are real.\u00a0 Whether small and simple or large and elaborate, they are very, very real and they speak to the essence of our lives.<\/p>\n

If only we allow ourselves to listen.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a curious thing, my being the Dreidel Rabbi.\u00a0 I rarely spin a dreidel.\u00a0 I never play with one.\u00a0 Never did.\u00a0 I cannot recall even having a dreidel as a child.\u00a0 Never sat in a circle, spinning the delightful dreidel, hoping to land on a gimmel <\/em>so that I could collect some gelt<\/em>.<\/p>\n

My dreidel collection is relatively new, only sixteen years old.\u00a0 Starting it, and appreciating the fullness of what a miracle might be, with a single dreidel when I met my wife, Clary.\u00a0 To have such a miracle in my life!\u00a0 And for the miracles to continue!\u00a0 Now, our collection is said to be among the world\u2019s largest and finest.<\/p>\n

But why dreidels \u2013 and why so many?<\/p>\n

For me, dreidels \u2013 simple or elaborate, silver, wooden, ceramic, or mortar shell \u2013 speak not only of miracles but, most importantly, of the presence of miracles all around us<\/em>. Every day.\u00a0 Everywhere.<\/p>\n

Is there a soul alive who is not surrounded by miracles from the moment he opens his eyes in the morning until he closes them again at night? Indeed, isn\u2019t our awakening each morning a miracle in and of itself, repeated over and over and over again, so that our lives can continue to spin.\u00a0 A great miracle happens po <\/em>\u2013 a great miracle happens here.\u00a0 Over and over and over again.<\/p>\n

It is so for individuals and it is so for us as a people.\u00a0 Is there a greater miracle we can point to in our time than the rebirth of the State of Israel and then again, in 1967, when in six days, miracles were evident in Jerusalem, Beit Lechem, Chevron, Beit El, Itmar \u2013 names synonymous with our people in ancient times, po<\/em>, and then again before our very eyes.<\/p>\n

As I get older, and the pages of those \u201cphotograph albums\u201d of my life grow in number, I feel sadness for those unable to appreciate the miracles all around them.\u00a0 I value and embrace those who see what I see in the spinning dreidels \u2013 the truth of miracles all around us.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Basic to Judaism is that the most important elements of our belief system require concrete expressions.\u00a0 So many of the mitzvot<\/em> we observe are concrete manifestations of that which is the fabric of our faith.\u00a0 Tefillin<\/em>, mezuzah<\/em>, the sukkah<\/em>, matzah<\/em> \u2026 all give us something that we can touch that speaks to the miraculous in our lives.<\/p>\n

But it is so hard for us to conceive of the miracle of Sinai, Esther\u2019s intercession, the freeing from bondage, the Hand of God reaching out to us.\u00a0 How can we ever embrace that miracles are all around us?\u00a0 What better way than a spinning top?<\/p>\n

God is here<\/em>.\u00a0 Miracles are here<\/em>.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

There are others who know that miracles are all around us.\u00a0 Batya Erdstein is one such person.\u00a0 She is a ceramic artist and, curiously, the sister to Tally, a daughter-in-law (such \u201cJewish geography\u201d is another kind of miracle!)\u00a0 And she sees the miracle all around her as she looks out the window of her home in Itamar, Israel.\u00a0 She has created a dreidel for me that speaks to these miracles.<\/p>\n

Batya lives on the mountains around Itamar with her husband, Baruch, and their six children. This dreidel rests in a stand she formed featuring the topography of the Shomron, overlooking Shechem and the Tomb of Joseph. This dreidel celebrates the optimism of Jewish independence both during the days of the Maccabees as well as in our own times.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Torah portion telling the story of Joseph is usually read\u00a0during the Hanukah season attesting to the spiritual power of Joseph, a shining example of holiness overcoming spiritual darkness.<\/p>\n

The dreidel sits in the center of three mountains, Har Bracha<\/em>, Itamar<\/em> and Har Eival<\/em>. The mountains of the blessing and curse.\u00a0 The pomegranate tree symbolizes the physical blessings of abundance and fruitfulness renewed in this area. \u00a0The goats show the revival of agriculture and farming that prove Jewish existence returning after a long exile.<\/p>\n

In this marvelous creation, she has formed for me a brilliant expression of the miracle she and her neighbors are witness to each day when they look out their windows, exhibited by this dreidel\u2019s open window; she has created a dreidel which attests to the truth of continuing daily miracles.<\/p>\n

This dreidel, like all my many others, spins and in its spinning, cries out the powerful message, open your eyes and you will soon discover the miracles all around you!<\/p>\n

Yes, miracles are otherworldly and awe inspiring.\u00a0 They are also less than an arm\u2019s length away.\u00a0 They are personal.\u00a0 They are real.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Batya is the unique artist who can transform the accessibility of miracle and make it a concrete object.\u00a0 Visit her website<\/a> to see the many other beautiful things she makes.\u00a0 Perhaps she will make for you a unique and precious product born of miracles, as she did for me.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, always remember neis gadol haya po\/sham<\/em>.\u00a0 A great miracle happened there.\u00a0 A great miracle happens here.\u00a0 <\/em>Every day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For me, dreidels are personal. In years gone by, I have been a rabbi, a teacher, a principal, a rebbi, I have been a lecturer, a communicator.\u00a0 I have been so many things.\u00a0 Looking back at my life is sometimes like looking through an old photograph album.\u00a0 There are times I hardly recognize the man […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":296,"featured_media":44773,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[344],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chanukah"],"yoast_head":"\nMiracles:\u00a0They Spin and Spin All Around - Jewish Holidays<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There is one \u201cphotograph,\u201d one image of me that I continue to embrace, one title that I still carry and likely will until the end of my days: Dreidel Rabbi.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/miracles-spin-spin-around\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Miracles:\u00a0They Spin and Spin All Around - 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