Menachem Bluming Muses: Life’s a Dreidel

Take a dreidel and spin it. Let everyone watch. It's fascinating. You never know which side it will land on. It could fall on the Gimmel, which means you win all, or the Shin, which means you lose all. It may land on Heh, and you win half the pot. And sometimes it ends up on Nun, and nothing happens.

It all seems totally random. But really it isn't. Every spin has an exact amount of kinetic energy to cause a measured number of turns. The table surface provides an exact amount of friction, and the air pushes the dreidel in a certain way, so it falls exactly as it is supposed to. Nothing is left to chance. There is an exact science to the spin. We just don't get it.

Life is like that. It may seem random sometimes. Things just happen, you win or you lose, it falls this way or that for no apparent reason. But that is just how it seems. There is a divine hand spinning the world. Every turn is deliberate, every experience you have is supposed to happen, and whether you win or lose, there is a reason behind it.

There are no self-spinning dreidels. There is always a hand behind the spin. Whatever life deals you, whether a nothing Nun, a gainful Gimmel, and halfway Heh or a shameful Shin, that's exactly where you are meant to be.

When you put the four letters of the dreidel together, they stand for "Nes Gadol Haya Sham" - a great miracle happened there. Because when you piece together all the ups and downs of your life into one whole picture, you must admit, it is a miracle that you are here!

Mendel (Menachem) Bluming and RA”M

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