Image of the Week: The Dreidel That Wouldn't Spin
© D. Yael Bernhard
In honor of Hanukkah, here are a few of my illustrations from The Dreidel That Wouldn't Spin: A Toyshop Tale of Hanukkah, written by Martha Seif Simpson and published by Wisdom Tales Press in 2014. This is a charming story about a toyshop in Prague around the year 1900, where the shopkeeper puts up with spoiled, greedy children in order to make as much money as possible. But when a mysterious peddler brings a magic dreidel, the shopkeeper discovers some toys have a mind of their own. The wealthiest children, of course, are the most obnoxious, and for them the dreidel refuses to spin.
I have to admit, it's kind of fun drawing bratty kids. The girl at left grabs whatever she wants and piles it on the counter, ordering her father to buy it for her, much to the shopkeeper's annoyance and delight. Like many good Jewish stories, this one includes conflicting emotions.
Next comes the curly-haired rascal shown below, who grabs the antique dreidel and tosses it in the air, heedless of his mother's feeble attempts to stop him. We all know a boy like that – and a mother who enables such antics. Who is misbehaving, the children or their parents?
Needless to say, both these naughty children fail to make the dreidel spin.
In classic tertiary succession, then comes the good child.
This boy is unspoiled, unassuming, and unable to buy even the smallest toy. Wearing patched and ragged clothes, he lingers outside with his humble father, who looks rather like a college student, and peers in the window with wonder. The shopkeeper is perturbed, both by their obvious lack of buying power and their discomfiting presence. Yet they enter the shop, and to the shopkeeper's amazement, the boy is content just to look, asking nothing from his father.
Enter the true spirit of Hanukkah: unexpected miracles. Moved beyond his usual greed, the shopkeeper offers the recalcitrant dreidel to the boy, claiming he can't sell the thing because it refuses to spin. The reader expects the dreidel to spin for this angelic boy – which it does – but the added transformation that is revealed when the dreidel comes to a stop is a complete surprise – and a small miracle. The boy gets to take a very special dreidel home – and the shopkeeper, not the child, learns an important lesson. You'll have to read the story (which you can find on Amazon, in your local library, or in my webstore) to find out the rest.
Working from memory, I loosely based this last illustration on an actual father and son – a polite, well-spoken boy named Solomon who was a student in a Hebrew class I was teaching at the time in my synagogue, and his unflappable father. Some of my local readers know this family. There's nothing like a patient, loving father, and this dad always warmed my heart when he came to pick up his kids. The world needs more fathers like this, for truly, children of such parents are blessed beyond riches.
Chag Chanukah Sameach (Happy Hanukkah!) to all my Jewish readers! Wishing you a beautiful Festival of Lights in these times of darkness. May you be blessed with strong inner light.
D Yael Bernhard