What Christian kid in Elementary School in the 1960s when learning of holiday practices didn’t want to spin a dreidel yet felt constrained from doing so out of a lack of understanding?
Well today you can spin the dreidel. You can pick and choose aspects from different religions to heighten your spiritual awareness.
On the solstice invite some friends over to gather around a bonfire while banging on African drums and Native American rattles. Celebrate.
My father grew up in a Jewish neighborhood in the Bronx and would attend Hebrew lessons with his friends so this idea of spinning the dreidel is nothing new.
In Brooklyn every December on a certain weekend each year all the churches would have their holiday fairs. Why not expand the idea and include synagogues and mosques.
On 9/11 distraught office workers from Manhattan crossed the Brooklyn Bridge where they found a local synagogue giving out bottles of water. No one said that I will only drink Christian water, water is water and those giving it out did not restrict the fluid to those of their own faith.
So don’t be afraid to spin the dreidel in order to find inner peace, spiritual enjoyment and inter faith understanding.