World’s Largest Dreidel at Chabad of Somerset County

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — The largest Hanukkah dreidel in the world stands 18-feet tall in front of the Chabad Jewish Center in Basking Ridge, generating stares and smiles from passers-by.

The dreidel has become a local landmark during the holiday season, rising over the busy intersection of Valley Road and King George Road.

“Hanukkah celebrates the victory of a rag-tag band of Jewish freedom fighters in a struggle against their Syrian-Greek oppressors more than 2,000 ago”, explained Rabbi Mendy Herson, director of Chabad of Greater Somerset County. “The Hellenists tried to outlaw Jewish spirituality, to take the soul out of Judaism. Tradition tells us that Jewish children would study the Torah in hiding. When anti-Jewish forces would find them, they would take out little tops – dreidels in Yiddish – and pretend they were just playing a children’s game. Hence the worldwide practice of playing with dreidels on Hannukah.”

Once the dreidel is completed on Sunday, youngsters in the temple’s Hebrew school will gather inside the dreidel to learn about Hanukkah, the rabbi said.

The four letters that adorn the dreidel are an acronym for ”A great miracle happened there,“ he said.

”We’re trying to recreate the miracle of Jewish survival and growth right here,” Herson said.

Hanukkah starts sundown Dec. 4. On Dec. 9, the fifth day of the holiday, the community is invited to a party at the temple with games, food and a menorah lighting at the dreidel. The party will be 5-7 p.m. at the Chabad Jewish Center, 3048 Valley Road, Basking Ridge.

For more info, call (908) 604-8844 or visit www.chabadcentral.org.