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aviv_b_artworkAUTHOR: Aviv_b
RATING: All Chapters G to PG
CHARACTERS: Jack, Ianto, Gwen, Tosh, Owen, Andy, Cardiff Rabbis, and Aliens (the synagogues are real, but the Rabbis are completely fictional, no disrespect intended).
DISCLAIMER: Not mine; Aunty B's and RTD's
WORDS: ~ 800
SUMMARY: Disappearing dreidels, reappearing dreidels, strange blue powder with unidentified genetic material- sounds like a job for Torchwood!
8 short chapters so you can enjoy all of Chanukah with the Torchwood Team.
The next morning, they met in the conference room. Jack had a small smile on his face as he told the others about the thefts.
“What the hell are dreidels, anyway?” Owen asked in his usual cheerful manner.
“They’re tops, toys really played with by children at Chanukah.”
Ianto pulled up a few pictures on the computer.
“Now the dreidels that were stolen from the SUV at Cardiff United Synagogue were for a children’s party, simple plastic multi-colored ones.”
“What are those runes on the dreidel?” asked Gwen.
“They are actually Hebrew letters. Each side of the dreidel bears a letter of the Hebrew alphabet: נ (Nun), ג (Gimel), ה (Hei), ש (Shin), which together form the acronym for "נס גדול היה שם" (Nes Gadol Haya Sham – "a great miracle happened there").
“This commemorates the Miracle of Light when, while cleansing the temple after its desecration by Antiochus Epiphanes in 167 BC, a cruse of sacred oil sufficient for only one day burned for eight days while the priests prepared new oil for the Temple.”
“But how come the letters are on a top?” Tosh puzzled.
Ianto sighed; this was going to be a long meeting. “The four letters also stand for the Yiddish words nit (nothing), gantz (all), halb (half) and shtell (put), which are the rules of the game! There are some variations in the way people play the game, but it’s usually played with candy or toothpicks so that it’s not really a gambling game. Let’s just call them coins for simplicity. Everyone puts in one coin. A person spins the dreidel. If it lands on Nun, nothing happens; on Gimel you get the whole pot; on Hei, you get half of the pot; and on Shin, you put one into the pot. It was probably just a mnemonic device to help children learn about the story.”
“So dreidel, that would be Hebrew for top, right?” Jack proudly asserted.
“Uh, actually, it’s Yiddish,” Ianto replied.
“I realized that Chanukah and tops and toothpicks are fascinating topics, but could we please get back to robberies,” Owen begged rolling his eyes dramatically.
“The dreidels stolen from the Hillel house were inexpensive wood tops.”
“A private home had a small collection of dreidels stolen, nothing terribly expensive, but most were gifts from the woman’s children and grandchildren over the years and she’s just heartbroken.” Ianto showed pictures of some of the dreidels.
“She obviously was very fond of cats and musical instruments.
The thieves did leave, however, the oh so lovely cat menorah,” Ianto snarked.
Everyone laughed and thank goodness no one asked what a menorah was.
“A sterling silver one was stolen from a gift shop in downtown Cardiff. It’s the most expensive one nicked so far – about £150.”
“Lastly, we have a lovely Waterford crystal dreidel that was given as wedding present to some newlyweds.” A nice gift at £40 or so, but it was sitting next to some heirloom silver given to the couple by one of the grandmothers, at an estimated value of £5000.“
Everyone gasped.
Ianto went on to explain about the blue powder, the fact that there was no sign of a forced entry and the oddness of cheap toys being stolen when valuable items in the same location were not touched.
The Team agreed that something sounded suspiciously alien about the whole affair.
Ianto proposed that they set up a visit with the Orthodox Rabbi at Cardiff United Synagogue (aka CUF) to see if they could find any more information. Just then, the phone line from the police department rang. Jack answered and mouthed ‘P.C. Andy’ to everyone.
“Andy, I’m putting you on the speaker phone, OK?” Jack did just that. “OK, Andy, what’s going on, it sounds serious.”
“I got a call from the head of the day school at the Orthodox synagogue about 30 minutes ago. The dreidels have reappeared. They were left just inside the front door. They appear untouched, but someone suggested that they could have been tampered with and then someone else thought they might contain explosives, and then everyone got a little hysterical. They’ve evacuated the children and the teachers and staff. I’m over there now, waiting for the bomb and hazmat squad. The Rabbi thinks they’ll have to cancel the children’s Chanukah party next week if this isn’t solved by then. Can you get over here and take a look before anything gets moved around?”
Jack told him they’d be right over. “Owen you’re with me. Bring some DNA test kits; assuming the dreidels aren’t explosive we’ll want to take some samples for genetic material. Ianto, Tosh, we need to get to the bottom of this, see what you can think of. Gwen, check every break-in for Cardiff for the last month. See if there are any other robberies that fit this pattern or anything else unusual that’s being stolen.”
Chapter 3 Here: http://aviv-b.livejournal.com/19640.html
