Oh, Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel! by Guest Blogger, My Husband

Happy Hanukkah!

Tonight I am celebrating the first night of Hanukkah with my family. As it is a special occasion, I am giving this blog to my husband. In it, he gets into some of Hanukkah's history, the significance of oil, and hot things. Please give a warm welcome to my guest blogger:

Tonight the menorah is burning bright as my daughter and I spin a dreidel hoping it lands on the winning Hebrew letters gimmel or hay. She is prevailing in this round since my dreidel keeps landing on the letter nun (which means "no pay out"). In this game of Jewish roulette, we are using actual coins instead of the traditional milk chocolate ones. At least, she can review her arithmetic skills by adding up her winnings, as well as reduce her chances of getting cavities.

You see, the Hebrew letters on the dreidel are abbreviations for the phrase, "nes gadol haya sham" or "a great miracle happened there." "There" refers to Eretz, Israel, our ancestral homeland, when in the 2nd century BC, a zealous group of priests known as the Maccabees, rebelled against Syrian-Greek rule of the country and cleansed the holy temple in Jerusalem of its Greek statues. In the temple, the Maccabees discovered a small jar of super duper olive oil, which instead of lighting the menorah for one night, miraculously kept it lit for eight crazy nights, as Adam Sandler would later describe the holiday. Thus, Hanukkah is a holiday about religious freedom and miracles. The oil in the menorah is the miracle maker.

As our menorah's candles are burning low, my daughter and I take a break to enjoy my hot wife's hot latkes. Even these customary fried potato pancakes symbolize the importance of olive oil in the holiday celebration.

Although there is a great abundance of olive oil produced in Israel today, it would be an even greater miracle if the country discovered black oil beneath its surface. In recent months, a large amount of natural gas was discovered off the Israeli coast. Some Biblical scholars and a Texas-based oil and gas exploration company claim there is actual oil in what was once the land allotted to the Israelite tribes of Asher, Zebulon, and Manasseh (based on passages from Genesis, Chapter 49 and Deuteronomy, Chapter 33). The questions are how much oil and what's the cost to extract it.

Now, I've dabbled in the stock market and there is probably a 1 in 20 chance that some company will turn a profit in this oil-seeking endeavor. I truly hope for the sake of Israel and the Jewish people that a momentous, even miraculous, event like this will take place soon. In the meantime, I'll stick to playing dreidel with my daughter. The odds of winning are better.