Hanukkah Activities for the Kids, from Games to Giving

Rules for the popular Hanukkah game The Hebrew word for dreidel is sevivon, which, as in Yiddish, means "to turn around." Dreidels have four Hebrew letters on them, and they stand for the saying, Nes gadol haya sham, meaning A great miracle occurred there. In Israel, instead of the fourth letter shin, there is a peh, which means the saying is Nes gadol haya po--A great miracle occurred here.

How to Play Dreidel

Continue reading for how to play.

Babaganewz, a fun website for kids, has Jewpardy! Hanukkah. Test your knowledge and see how well you do.

Watch a video from Sesame Street showing Jewish families celebrating Hanukkah

Mitzvah Projects and Tzedakah Actions for Chanukah 

Commemorate Chanukah this year by helping the environment, aiding the poor, supporting our troops, and more.

Old and New Favorite Hanukkah Gifts For Your Family

Dreidels. More dreidels. And dreidels.

Not that there's anything wrong with those, of course, but fresh spins on playing with the holiday tops, along with Jewish takes on classic games and toys, are everywhere as unique Hanukkah gifts for young people.

For some Jewish families, gathering to play games as the holiday candles burn is part of the eight-day Festival of Lights commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple by the Maccabees after their victory over the Syrians.

But let's face it, spinning a dreidel for money, chocolate or otherwise, can be mind-numbingly dull, for older kids and grown-ups, at least.

That's why the “heebsters” over at Moderntribe.com carry the Spinagogue, a mighty stadium in the center of a Star of David-shaped board. It comes with six different “terrains” for courageous spin-offs between players and has storage for gelt, because — as the box says — “No Gelt, No Glory!” And it has walls, so no watching dreidels fly off the table or under the couch.

Remember Racko, where you slip cards into slots? Try “Parsh-O,” with cards based on the Torah rather than numbers. Or gift “Kosherland,” which is akin to Candy Land, only players pass Bubby, the Kiddush Ocean and Matzah Man instead of a Candy Cane Forest and Gum Drop Mountain.

Yo-yos are fun, yes? Pick up a Yo Bagel. It looks like a bagel, comes in a plastic takeout box and works the same as a regular yo-yo.

There's also Torah Slides and Ladders, the Jewish rendition of Chutes and Ladders, offering a speedy trip to the top of the board for “loving your fellow Jew,” or a sad slide to the bottom for making noise in synagogue.

Have you played the card game Slamwich? There's SCHMEAR! Players build a bagel sandwich instead of the square-bread variety using cards for food slices like the original. In the Jewish version, bad things happen when cards for an old tractor tire or a manhole cover surface.

 Continue reading to learn about more fun Jewish games, books and gifts.

View Comments

Real Jewish Ninjas

Yehoshua Sofer is the “Aluf Abir” (Aluf means “champion”) or headmaster of the Abir Warrior Arts school of self-defense in Jerusalem. According to him, Jews have practiced martial arts since biblical times. As Sofer tells it, Abraham‘s father, Terah, was a warlord who worked for the Babylonian king Nimrod–and Abraham designed his own system of self-defense which he taught it to his son Isaac, who passed it to his own son, Jacob.

This brings us to the first significant hand-to-hand combat in the Torah, which takes place between Jacob and a mysterious man who might have been an angel. Later, according to the Abir’s oral tradition, Jacob’s fighting skills were passed down through the tribe of Benjamin, and taught to King David and the Judean kings. Unlike most martial arts, Abir’s technique is both offensive and defensive. The basic moves are modeled after characters in the Hebrew alphabet–for example, gimel is a crouching pose in which the warrior is about to strike, his or her legs forming the shape of the Hebrew letter gimel.

Sofer himself was born to Hasidic parents in Jamaica, in 1958. He trained in several schools of Korean martial arts, and also received instruction from his grandfather, the previous Aluf Abir, who was taught Abir techniques by his Yemenite Jewish ancestors.

Kids Make the Cutest Voters!

Kveller.com asked on its Facebook page for parents to share photos of their kids tagging along to the voting booths, and you sure delivered! Enjoy these photos of our littlest American patriots in action.

For more cute kids voting, visit here.

Distributor Cap Menorah: An un-Kosher Tribute

A Hanukkah menorah made out of a repurposed V8 distributor cap is not kosher, I’ll admit. But it sure is cute, and if you live with a car freak, satisfyingly thematic. The function of a distributor cap is all about fire—or at least sparks: it’s part of the ignition system and it helps distribute or control the path of the current.

And Hanukkah is all about fire, right? The miraculous distribution of that wee bit of fuel?

I chose a V8 (eight cylinder engine) distributor cap because it has 9 holes, and I chose this one because the central hole was higher than rest. A circular menorah is a no-no——we must see a straight line of flames, says the Talmud, lest we miscount them or lest our neighbors imagine a pagan conflagration suited for Mt. Carmel and the minions of Ba’al——but at least my shammash candleholder is positioned in a manner that distinguishes it from the others.

Continue reading.