The Santa Claus Dreidel: Peaceful Compromise Or Assimilation Nightmare?
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
I had a little dreidel, I made it out of the fusing of two diametrically opposed religious traditions!
It doesn’t quite roll off the tongue. But with the intermarriage debate continuing to spin Jews of every denomination into a tizzy, can spinning a wooden top hurt? Could a great miracle happen here, in America, where consuming material goods has so often had the capacity to smooth over our greatest cultural anguish?
According to Archie McPhee, the Seattle-based oddities company, the answer is “maybe!” The “charmingly misguided” (according to the company’s own description) dreidel is “sure to confound and confuse both Jews and Gentiles alike.”
And in case the Santa Dreidel doesn’t amuse you, I humbly offer you a deluxe dreidel stadium: Spinagogue.
Jenny Singer is a writer for the Forward. You can reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @jeanvaljenny
Why I became the Forward’s Editor-in-Chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
