Hundreds Of Students Set World Record For Dreidel Spinning
RIVER EDGE, NJ (CBSNewYork) - Hundreds of New Jersey students set a world record Friday, just in time to celebrate Chanukah this Sunday evening.
The kids were excited and screaming when they broke the world record.
"It's a dreidel spin-off," said 5-year-old Eli Zomberg.
He said it perfectly. He and his classmates at Rosenbaum Yeshiva of North Jersey in River Edge have been preparing for this day for weeks.
"There are so many people around, spinning the dreidel," said sixth grader Liana Rubenstien.
Nearly 1,200 students and faculty worked together to smash the unofficial world record for the most dreidels spinning simultaneously, whirling exactly 1,369 dreidels at one time.
From preschoolers to eighth graders, every student had a part in it. And that was the whole point, since the school's theme this year is community.
"It's cool how the whole school is coming together to do something like this," said eighth grader Bentsion Zioberstein.
"I am having so much fun," said pre-schooler Alexander.
"This is a game of numbers: How many children are going to be spinning dreidels? Every single child makes a difference, just like every single person makes a difference in the larger community," said Rabbi Daniel Price, head of School Rosenbaum Yeshiva of North Jersey.
"It's really such a beautiful and wonderful thing that we are doing here in the school," said kindergarten teacher Caren Eisenstadter.
A school alumni came up with the idea. Sara Stromer is now a brand manager for the Manischewitz company, so she got her job to sponsor the event.
"We wanted to do a fun Chanukah activity that would get the community hyped up and excited," said Stromer.
Getting the kids not only hyped up, but their school's name in the record book.
The previous record was set last year, when people at the 2017 National Jamboree's carnival, called "Jambo-palooza," spun 965 dreidels.