Chanukah Day #2: The Secret of the Dreidel

[Music] [Applause] you saw the anecdote going around the Greeks were very focused on four things sports fashion looks and exercise so how do we celebrate Hannukah our victory over the Greeks by eating lots of latkes and donuts submerged in a lot of oil margarine and sugar so that we make sure that we don't look like that but what is really the Jewish attitude to this reality we call the body so tonight I want to explore that lovely Jewish tradition and custom to play dreidel on Hanukkah now the dreidel of course is the four-sided top each side has another letter of the Hebrew alphabet unknown Iginla heya they all come down to join the point on the bottom upon which the dreidel spins so we play dreidel I'm comically you have usually a pile of money whoever spins the dreidel if it falls on no none stands for nisht nothing neutral if it falls on gimel gimel is guns you get the whole pie hey is how we get half the pie and shin is Stella ride you have to put in whatever it is a quarter or a dollar into the pile of money but there is also a spiritual and psychological meaning behind the tradition of the dreidel you see each of us has four passions I have a passion for knowledge we are the curious animal the Homo Sapien is that unique creature who is inquisitive who seeks to understand we want to know why bees dance when they come back to the Beehive we want to know what happened before the Big Bang we want to understand how to cure disease and how we can lengthen our lives by another hundred or two hundred years this is one dimension of the human experience there's another dimension we have a passion for power I seek power I want control I want success there is something else I want to satisfy my bodily appetites my physical yearnings and cravings and habits and then there is something else I want to be loved we have a passion we have a yearning for connectivity for communication I want to love and I want to be loved I want to feel that I matter that I'm cured for we seek attachment now very often our life journey is a conflict between these various four passions sanika which celebrates the unique contribution of Judaism the Jewish perspective on life we play the dreidel and what the dreidel teaches us that all four sides ultimately come down to a single point upon which the dreidel spins and these four sides have different letters known gimel haitian the B'nai is Oscar says gimel stands for golf the body it represents our physical cravings our physical appetites my body has incessant needs and cravings and desires and inclinations and instincts and then there is the shin which stands for saeho I'm a curious person we seek knowledge we are inquisitive and then there is the hey hawk oil I want everything I want power I want control I want success I want a lot I want everything if I can get it and then there is de nun nefesh we seek soulful connections soulful communication soulful relationships I want to feel loved you want to feel loved these are four parts of the human soul and often there is so much conflict between them but the Judaism teaches us then ultimately they all come from one singular point don't be afraid of any one of these four parts each of them is part of your journey towards oneness each of them constitutes part of a harmonious perspective on life in which we are searching to come back to oneness each of them plays an indispensable indispensable role in our connection to our own oneness and our connection to the oneness in the universe and the oneness of God which is all one never be afraid of any one of these four factors never feel the need to mutilate any part of them each one of them is an indispensable part of our service and our connection with our true identity and the true core of the universe the Prophet says me hi I'm Kirk Easter Olga Akkad bards who is like your nation Israel won a unique nation on earth and the great masters explained go ahead Boris our mission statement is to reveal the effort the oneness in a very fragmented universe like a cabarrus as you spin the dreidel of life at different points the dreidel falls on different sides some days I experienced this urge while other days I experienced the search some nights I'm overtaken by this passion while other nights I'm overtaken by a very different passion but which ever side my dreidel falls upon I must remember that all of them can become a reflection of oneness every part of your life if you look at it with the proper lenses and the proper perspective is all part of your oneness happy Chanukah [Music] this class is brought to you by the achieve Annette please help us continue the classes make even a small contribution at triple w dot they ueshiba net / donate