Is there any truth to the story that the game of dreidel played on Chanuka evolved from a similar game that Jewish children played to hide their learning of Torah from the Greeks? What is the earliest sources for this claim? And what is the earliest sources for the concept of playing dreidel on Chanuka?
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See also: http://judaism.stackexchange.com/a/50430/8775. Importantly, see the last paragraph of this: http://judaism.stackexchange.com/a/12208/8775. – mevaqesh Dec 25 '16 at 18:36
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1this seems to be a dupe of this: http://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/12198/8775. – mevaqesh Dec 25 '16 at 18:41
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Nitei Gavriel Chanuka 51:1:1 mentions this in the name of Otzar Kol Minhagai Yeshurin, Siman 19 sif 4.
Renato S. Grun
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1And that's the earliest source for this reason. And the mechaber says that he heard it from a chochom echad. Sounds like it was an invented idea from the 1890's. – Mark A. Dec 27 '16 at 04:52