Kvitlech should not be confused with Kvitel.
| Kvitlech | |
| Date: | Late 18th or 19th century |
| Players: | 5+[1] |
| Num Cards: | 24 |
| Origin: | Galician Jews |
| Related: | Twenty-One, Pontoon, Dreidel |
Kvitlech (Yiddish: קוויטלעך|translation=notes', 'slips) is a card game similar to Twenty-One played in some Ashkenazi Jewish homes during the Hanukkah season.
The game and deck were created by Hassidic Jews living in Galicia during the late 18th or 19th century.[2] Most packs used to play the game consist of 24 cards with identical pairs numbered from 1 to 12. The pack may have originated from Hexenspiel decks by stripping them of picture cards so as to avoid idolatry.[3] Jews did not use popular playing cards because of the crosses and other Christian symbols found on them, using instead an (often handmade) deck of cards called kvitlekh, lamed-alefniks ('thirty-oners'), klein Shas ('small Talmud'), or tilliml ('small Book of Psalms').[4] The cards were decorated with Hebrew numerals and common objects such as teapots, feathers, and sometimes portraits of biblical heroes.[5] Piatnik & Söhne of Vienna was the largest producer of these cards during the 19th and 20th centuries which helped spread the game among Jews living in Austria-Hungary and their North American diaspora.
. Dictionary of Jewish Usage: A Guide to the Use of Jewish Terms. Sol Steinmetz. 66. 2005. Rowman & Littlefield. 0-7425-4387-0.