how to say “gragger” (toy rattle) in Hebrew

 

רַעֲשָׁן

 

 
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Last night and today, Jews around the world are celebrating the salvation and thriving of the Jewish people despite existential threat.
 
When they hear the name of the emblematic oppressor of the Jews, הָמָן listen and repeat – Haman, men and women and children shout and stamp their feet and shake a toy rattle traditionally called a gragger (or ratchet).
 
But the originally-Yiddish term gragger won’t work for the Jews of Israel, who have revived the language of their forefathers before the exiles, the Hebrew language. Israelis don’t use a gragger. They use a רַעֲשָׁן listen and repeat.

As the children’s song goes:
 
מַסֵּכוֹת וְרַעֲשָׁנִים, שִׁירִים וְרִקּוּדִים…
Masks and graggers, songs and dances…
 
רעשן derives from רַעַשׁ listen and repeat meaning noise.
 
פּוּרִים שָׂמֵחַ!
Happy Purim!

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