It isn’t clear whether this is a festive game or a special food dish for the holidays, but I figured even if it is only a dish on the table during the big Hanukah meal it’s still worth reading about. The version of the game I witnessed at a holiday menorah lighting ceremony seemed to allow an unlimited number of players to play as long as they had a bowl or plate of salad. It isn’t exactly obvious either if the person who finds the dreidel in their salad is a winner or a loser. In many ways it is up to the person themselves to determine whether their chosen salad plate leads to enjoyment or embarrassment. Often, the person who finds the dreidel challenges the rest of the party to find them a piece of lettuce suitable to spin the little top upon. Cocky winners of the dreidel search might even claim there isn’t a single piece of lettuce that they can’t spin on. After spinning the dreidel the winner/loser must then do a little dance on the dinner table, being careful not to disturb any of the dinnerware, while singing a Hebrew song translated into Pig Latin. Well, I actually made up the last part about the Pig Latin, but feel free to try. Also, the nature of the dance depends on which symbol the dreidel lands on. When everyone yelled, “Nun,” it meant the player did the dance with no changes to their holiday garb. When everyone yelled, “Hey,” the player took off their shirt and danced bare-chested on the table. When everyone yelled, “Gimel” the player took off both their shirt and pants and danced on the table. When everyone yelled, “Shin,” it meant everyone else had to take off their clothes while the player danced on the table. It seemed this was turn was the most festive of all the dreidel options as all the naked guests began jumping up and down and turning in circles as they sung, “Dreidel, spin, spin, spin…Dreidel, spin, spin, spin…” It is unclear how the dreidel ends up in the salad. game created by Mark Baumer