CINCINNATI — A woman in Madisonville has a dreidel collection that would make your head spin.
Dolly Kopin has nearly 400 of the spinning tops in her apartment at The Kenwood by Senior Star Senior Living Facility.
“Each one of them is pretty special to me,” said Kopin.
The 90-year-old said she knew she wanted to collect Judaica, but “didn’t have the room that menorahs take.”
“I thought ‘Oh, these are cute!’” she said.
A dreidel is a spinning top with four sides. On each side is a Hebrew letter. In a traditional Hanukkah game, the letter dictates whether or not a prize is won or lost. The toys date back to ancient Greece, when Jewish children would defy decrees against learning Jewish texts.
More than two decades after she picked up her first dreidel, Kopin's collection occupies a 10-foot glass display case and two full tables that she breaks out for Hanukkah.
The collection is diverse — with dreidels made out of clay, glass, crystal, wood, plastic, metal and even LEGO.
Some dreidels are complete works of art, such as one designed to look like a wedding scene, while others are more traditional.
There’s the set of Goofy and Donald Duck from Disney World, a dreidel with braille letters and a 100-year-old wooden dreidel.
Kopin laughed as she told the story of a 10-year-old unused Target gift card in the shape of a dreidel.
“I couldn’t spend it!” she said.
During her interview with WCPO 9 News, Kopin learned she could spend the money on the card and still keep the physical card for the collection.
“As time goes by, I’ve become more fond of them than when I really started,” Kopin said.
Her neighbors in recent days have come knocking on the door to view her collection. Whether they knew about the object previously or not, she said they always spread joy.
“There isn’t a person that looks at this cabinet that doesn’t smile,” said Kopin.
