{"id":38565,"date":"2014-12-15T14:08:29","date_gmt":"2014-12-15T19:08:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?p=38565"},"modified":"2014-12-18T11:37:57","modified_gmt":"2014-12-18T16:37:57","slug":"wisdom-dreidle-comfort-impossible-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/wisdom-dreidle-comfort-impossible-world\/","title":{"rendered":"The Wisdom of the Dreidle Comfort in an Impossible World"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Can a simple top, a delightful toy for children, really speak to me in the aftermath of tragedy? In the aftermath of a Har Nof<\/span><\/span>?<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-post-38565 wp-image-38566\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/dreidel1-196x300.jpg\" alt=\"dreidel1\" width=\"196\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/dreidel1-196x300.jpg 196w, https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/dreidel1-670x1024.jpg 670w, https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/dreidel1.jpg 1377w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 196px) 100vw, 196px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Although some might suggest otherwise, questioning how a mere <\/span><\/span><i>toy<\/i><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">, could possibly carry the weight of such an event, I believe that the dreidel in fact can afford insight into how to wrestle with such difficult and seemingly unfathomable events. In doing so, it offers a hint to why I am so enamored with my ever-growing dreidel collection; a collection that I began almost thirteen years ago when I met my beloved wife. I remember that moment so clearly. It was the second night of Chanukah\u2026 yes, it was a miracle for me to have met my dear Clary. A Chanukah miracle. But even that remembrance begets a Chanukah question. In my heart, the dreidel came to symbolize that wonderful meeting and yet\u2026 wouldn\u2019t a single grandiose dreidel have been enough to commemorate that life-transforming moment? Why did I feel moved \u2013 some might suggest <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><i>compelled <\/i><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">\u2013 to continue to amass dreidel after dreidel, growing my collection to nearly a thousand dreidels from the United States, from Israel, from Spain, Hungary, India, Russia, Scotland, Brazil\u2026 indeed, from all over the world. So many wondrous tops! So many that anyone who comes into the room where I keep my many volumes of books will find themselves transported by the sight of them.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>No single dreidel for me, no! For me, hundreds of dreidels, made from a broad array of materials, coming in all sizes and colors. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">But why more dreidels every year? <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">It is a rare visitor to our home who doesn\u2019t view my collection and then, the smile fading from his or her face, \u201cBut, Rabbi Safran, of all the things in the world to collect, why dreidels?\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Ah, lest you think that my collection is simply whimsy, an opportunity to recall the delightful evenings of childhood when the joy of Chanukah filled my household, let me share with you my response. \u201cWhat,\u201d I ask, \u201cdoes the dreidel teach us? What is its message?\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-post-38565 wp-image-38567 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/dreidel2-244x300.jpg\" alt=\"dreidel2\" width=\"244\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/dreidel2-244x300.jpg 244w, https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/dreidel2-836x1024.jpg 836w, https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/dreidel2.jpg 1432w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 244px) 100vw, 244px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">So much of Chanukah is presented in a way to delight young children. The dreidel and <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><i>gelt<\/i><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">. The <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><i>sufganiyot<\/i><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">. The games and songs commemorating the miracle of a small, dedicated army of fighters overcoming the vastly larger, fierce oppression of the Hasmoneons and rededicating our sanctuary.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">And let us not forget the miracle of the oil! <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">But the story and challenge of Chanukah \u2013 and its ultimate miracle \u2013 is far beyond a child\u2019s simple story. Likewise, all the elements of the telling are also more powerful and commanding than how they are often portrayed in the telling. Indeed, the \u201ctoy\u201d dreidel does not represent simplicity at all but rather the complexity and hidden nature of history and miracles. It is our sense of self that leads us to think that our \u201cbrief moment on the stage\u201d is what is important and that what we experience is, of necessity, the most important thing. However, just as the dreidel spins and lands with only one side up, history and experience also show us only some of reality. The four sides of the dreidel teach that we are never truly seeing \u201cthe whole story\u201d and that there is always another side that remains hidden to us. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">When we begin to grasp the deep truth of the dreidel, we come to understand that with so much beyond our understanding, we have to have faith in hidden miracles and in God. We cannot comprehend the meaning of Har Nof just as we cannot understand the countless other events that mark our long history. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"CENTER\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">* * *<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">So we return to the dreidel. Four panels. A <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><i>nun<\/i><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">, a <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><i>pei <\/i><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">or <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><i>shin<\/i><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">, a <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><i>gimmel<\/i><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">, and a <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><i>hei<\/i><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">. Four letters, representing the message of Chanukah \u2013 A great miracle happened here\/there. As it spins and falls, showing one letter, it necessarily hides another. What is plain to us is only what we see. We too often fail to find comfort or meaning in what is hidden to us <\/span><\/span><i> <\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">When the dreidel \u201cfalls\u201d on the <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><i>hei <\/i><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">we play the game, never considering that on the other side of the dreidel is the <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><i>nun <\/i><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">\u2013 <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><i>neis <\/i><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">for \u201cmiracle.\u201d We see the \u201cthere was\u201d but we are blind to the \u201cmiracle.\u201d A <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><i>gimmel <\/i><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">\u2013 \u201cgreat\u201d \u2013 hides the <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><i>pei<\/i><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">\/<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><i>shin<\/i><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">, the \u201chere\u201d or \u201cthere.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">We spin on and on and on, missing so many of God\u2019s messages to us! Why? Because we see only that which is plain to us, failing to look deeper and finding that which is less obvious or hidden. However, our blindness does not mean that what is on the other side of the dreidel is not as equally important part of the reality that we perceive!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><i>Bayamim hahem <\/i><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">\u2013 in days of yore. What is vital is not <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><i>what was<\/i><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"> but whether what was has everlasting value to us. Many of the holidays listed in <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><i>Megillat Ta\u2019anit <\/i><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">are not celebrated because they fail this simple test. They have meaning only in their own time, in the past.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Chanukah \u2013 with its silly little dreidel \u2013 continues to be celebrated because its message and its power continues to speak to us today. <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><i>Ba\u2019zeman hazeh<\/i><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Bridging the near-insurmountable distance between <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><i>hayamim hahem <\/i><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">to <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><i>ba\u2019zeman hazeh <\/i><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">is the mystical gift of our survival \u2013 physical, spiritual and religious. That same bridge \u2013 that carries us from the <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><i>hei <\/i><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">of the dreidel to the <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><i>neis \u2013 <\/i><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">is the same gift that has allowed the congregation of Har Nof to celebrate a <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><i>bris <\/i><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">the very next day!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">A great miracle <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><i>is happening here<\/i><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"CENTER\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">* * *<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">In \u201cDays of Deliverance\u201d, Rabbi Soloveitchik notes that Chanukah has a universal appeal; it is, \u201c\u2026a holiday of political victories, a holiday of the smashing of political might. Matityahu and his sons had the strength and the courage to confront the Syrian-Greek legions, to liberate the city of Jerusalem and its Temple, and to re-establish an independent Jewish kingdom. This history of dramatic bravery appeals to all, Jew and non-Jew, especially when the revolutionaries compose a small group, unorganized and poorly armed, yet unafraid of declaring war on a mighty enemy.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">However, having said that, he asks the deeper question, \u201cIs Chanukah merely a holiday telling us a heroic story of battles won and political victories gained, like the American Fourth of July, or the French Fourteenth of July? A political event, even one of the greatest importance, can be celebrated only as long as the people view it as a turning point in history, the beginning of a new epoch in independence\u2026. However a political victory loses its meaning when the people later lose their independence and the victory ends in a downfall. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201c<span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">If Chanukah had been simply a holiday of political freedom, its whole meaning would have evaporated with the destruction of the Temple and the exile of the Jewish people. Chanukah\u2019s fate would have been exactly like that of all the other holidays of the Second Temple era which were enumerated in <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><i>Megillat Ta\u2019anit<\/i><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">As clearly pointed out in the Talmud, <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><i>One is forbidden to fast on those days that were named in Megillat Ta\u2019anit when the Temple was in existence, because they were days of gladness to them. Once the Temple was no longer in existence, one was permitted to fast, because they are days of mourning to them (Rosh HaShanah 19b)<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">That being the case, \u201cwhere is the logic in celebrating Chanukah during thousands of years of exile, martyrdom, ghettos, pogroms, and suffering? How small and worthless do the Maccabean victories seem when compared to the cruel political downfalls that we have suffered?\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Matityahu and his sons did not revolt due to political pressure. They, along with the people, were happy to accept their political suffering \u201cwith love.\u201d It was the Greeks\u2019 hatred for our spiritual essence, our <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><i>difference<\/i><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">, that is, our Torah. It was the same hatred that Haman felt when he complained, \u201cTheir laws are different from those of every people.\u201d (Es. 3:8). It is the same hatred that we felt during the Holocaust and, indeed, at the most recent expression of that hatred, Har Nof.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Viewing that carnage, it is easy to understand Zaka\u2019s director, Yehuda Meshi Zahav\u2019s, statement that he had not experienced a scene such as he saw in Har Nof since looking at Holocaust pictures.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-post-38565 wp-image-38568\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/dreidel3-213x300.jpg\" alt=\"dreidel3\" width=\"213\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/dreidel3-213x300.jpg 213w, https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/dreidel3-728x1024.jpg 728w, https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/dreidel3.jpg 1267w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 213px) 100vw, 213px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">The comparison is true not only in the horrible images but on a deeper level. How did we celebrate a <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><i>bris <\/i><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">the day after the tragedy of Har Nof? How did we rebuild the Jewish nation after the Holocaust? <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>How can we comprehend such a rebirth? Just as the toppled dreidel is once again picked up to spin again, so too do we go on. The day after the tragedy at Har Nof there was <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><i>davening<\/i><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">, there was learning, there was celebration. Our DNA is defined by renewal. No one can stop us. We are God\u2019s nation. He is Eternal. So then are we. <\/p>\n<p>When we are gunned down in <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><i>shul <\/i><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">we return the next day to pray and to celebrate a baby boy\u2019s <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><i>bris<\/i><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">. When the gates of Auschwitz slammed shut, the gates of Haifa opened!<\/p>\n<p>Chanukah is not about Matityahu\u2019s military victory. That did not last. What did last <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><i>to this very day <\/i><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">is the purification and renewal of Jewish life and lore. \u00a0Difficult to grasp? Seems senseless? Walk the length and breadth of Israel \u2013 see for yourself!<\/p>\n<p>In another essay, Rabbi Soloveitchik expresses similar thoughts. \u201cOne can see that which is revealed, but not that which is concealed. The Kabbalists speak about the antithesis between the hidden world, and the revealed world. These terms express the idea, that most things that humans can sense are only the last phase in a long evolutionary process that unfolded quietly, far from the perception of the human eye, which can discern only things that are ripe and complete.\u201d\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p>Rabbi Soloveitchik makes clear that the Hasmoneans fought not <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><i>against<\/i><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"> an imperial power but <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><i>for <\/i><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">the purity of the Jewish soul, in their own time and forever. They fought and won to show that the people can be reborn and renewed. <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><i>That <\/i><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">is the miracle.<\/p>\n<p>Spin, little dreidel, spin!<\/p>\n<p>When the dreidel shows a <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><i>gimel <\/i><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">it is good to remember that, on the other, hidden side is the <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><i>nun. <\/i><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">There, sometimes hidden, untold miracles abound! We are all dreidels \u2013 we keep spinning.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I continue to acquire more dreidels \u2013 the miracles of our continued and eternal existence never cease to create renewed amazement.<\/p>\n<p>May we always seek the hidden and find the miraculous of the Eternal even when we are confronted by the pain of the temporal!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Can a simple top, a delightful toy for children, really speak to me in the aftermath of tragedy? In the aftermath of a Har Nof? Although some might suggest otherwise, questioning how a mere toy, could possibly carry the weight of such an event, I believe that the dreidel in fact can afford insight into<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":363,"featured_media":38569,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Wisdom of the Dreidle Comfort in an Impossible World - OU Life<\/title>\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\/life\/inspiration\/wisdom-dreidle-comfort-impossible-world\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Wisdom of the Dreidle Comfort in an Impossible World - OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Can a simple top, a delightful toy for children, really speak to me in the aftermath of tragedy? In the aftermath of a Har Nof? 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