Breaking a Guinness World Record at Yeshiva University; YU Students Helping Attempt for Dreidel Spinning Guinness World Record on Nov. 30

[Video below.] Will it be the Chanukah “miracle” on 184th St? Indeed, when hundreds of students at Yeshiva University in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan participate in what is being dubbed ”Dreidel-Palooza” on Tuesday, November 30 at 6:30 p.m.-the night before Chanukah begins at sundown-they will be striving not to keep a tiny drop of oil alight for eight days but to break the Guinness Book of World Records for most people spinning dreidels [a four-sided spinning top] at one time.

And their efforts will come with a different but important spin: they will not be trying to win chocolate covered Chanukah coins but working to raise real “gelt” for undergraduate student scholarships.

“We’re looking to fill the Max Stern Athletic Center with hundreds of students and alumni, faculty and staff, friends and neighbors,” said Fiona Guedalia, co-president of Students Helping Students, a student-run organization that raises money for undergraduate scholarships. “This promises to be a fun, exciting and memorable event. Hopefully, all our spins will come out ‘Gimmels’ so everyone comes out a winner-especially those who can benefit from the scholarship money we are able to raise.”

The current world record for most dreidels spun simultaneously is 541, set at an event at Temple Emanuel in Cherry Hill, NJ in 2005.

Dreidel-Palooza is free and open to the public. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. at the Max Stern Athletic Center, Amsterdam Ave. at 184th St.