Woman Saved After Swallowing Dreidle

A 30-year-old woman from central Israel, who suffers from cerebral palsy, was saved from the brink of death on Thursday after a dreidle was removed from her throat.

According to MDA paramedic Doron Margittai who arrived at the scene, “We found the woman in her bed in critical condition. She was unconscious and in cardiac arrest. As we began to treat her, we noticed that a small plastic dreidle was caught in her vocal cords.”

The MDA team, which also included paramedic Yoni Lumer, managed to pull out the dreidle, stabilized the patient and evacuated her to Wolfson Hospital in Holon in moderate condition with stable vital signs.

Rahm Emanuel Lights The National Menorah

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel lit the National Menorah in celebration of Hanukkah.

The Sunday ceremony marked the 30th anniversary of the first National Menorah lighting in 1979. President Jimmy Carter attended that ceremony.

Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the Jewish Second Temple in Jerusalem in 164 B.C. after its desecration by the Syrian-Greeks. The eight-day festival began on Friday.

Emanuel, who is Jewish, was the guest of honor at the lighting on the Ellipse in front of the White House.

He stood in a cherry picker to light it in front of more than 1,000 onlookers on a cold, rainy day.

The participants enjoyed the traditional holiday feast, latkes and doughnuts, and the children received dreidels.