Grager

A grager (Yiddish: גראַגער, 'rattler'), also gragger, grogger or gregger,[1] is a noisemaking device, most commonly a ratchet, used to make noise by the congregation when the name of Haman is read out during the recitation of the Megillah in the synagogue during the celebration of Purim in order to blot out Haman's name.

This is done in accordance with the passage in the Midrash which commented that the verse from Deuteronomy "Thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek"[2] must be understood "even from wood and stones".

[9] Some later rabbis of the 19th century, including Sefardi chief rabbis of Jerusalem, Raphael Meir Panigel, and of Izmir, Haim Palachi, protested against the noisemaking tradition, considering it an improper disturbance obstructing the reciting of the Megillah.

Many Kabbalists and Chassidim would stamp their heels, which represent Amalek, the ancestor of Haman.

[11] Rabbi Shimon Apisdorf suggests that any noisemaker will do: "alarm clocks, toddler xylophones, dolls that cry with the push of a button, a toy police car with siren and flashing lights or anything else that will make a wonderfully annoying noise".