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Jon Lovitz, left, as “Hanukkah Harry”

Making A (Chanukah) List

Think Christmas

movies (and

songs and videos)

dominate? Here’s

a roundup of our

favorite mentions of

Chanukah.

Nate Bloom
Special to the Jewish News

A

ny Jewish holiday is commercially a
small market. No surprise, then, that
there are very few good feature films
about Chanukah. But despair not, oh descen-
dants of the Maccabees! Anyone with internet
access can be entertained for all eight nights.
I have mined YouTube and other sources
to bring you the best list to light up your
Chanukah. Below are my picks, with the exact
title of the video noted, so you can find it in a
simple search. The same list, with URL links, is
on this article’s webpage. I’ve noted video length,
so you can make up your own time-wise play
list.

FEATURE FILMS
The Hebrew Hammer (2003). Modeled after
Superfly-type films of the 1970s, it features
Adam Goldberg in the title role, a Jewish
crime fighter who must stop the evil son
of Santa Claus from destroying Chanukah.
Hammer isn’t great, but it’s pretty good and
often quite funny. Look for Jewish actors
Rachel Dratch (SNL) and Peter Coyote in
big supporting roles. You can stream it for
free (with ads) on OVGuide, Popcorn Flix,
Snagfilms, FilmRise and others (most of these
apps/sites are on Roku, too). Runs about 90
minutes.
Fievel: An American Tail (1986). This ani-
mated musical stars “Fievel Mousekewitz,” a
Russian-Jewish mouse who, along with his

family and other mice (read: “Jews”) are always
being persecuted by cats (read: “bad non-
Jews”). As the movie opens, Fievel is given a hat
(a family heirloom) by his father as a Chanukah
present. His father also tells him about America
where, he says, there are no cats. A pogrom
forces Fievel to flee to America where he has
many harrowing adventures involving cats —
but things work out in the end. This film didn’t
turn out great, as producer Steven Spielberg
hoped, but it isn’t bad at all and its theme song
(“Somewhere Out There”) was an elephant-
sized hit. P.S. Nehemiah Persoff, who voiced
Fivel’s father, is now 97. Runs about 90 minutes.
$3 to stream on YouTube; also on DVD.

Rachel Bloom

TV SHOWS/VIDEOS
The Rugrats 1996 episode titled “Chanukah”
is terrific. It really tells the story of the holiday
in a half hour via a school play and other clever
devices. It’s so funny and informative that
good critics have labeled it perhaps the best
Chanukah special of all time. Not for scholars,
but worthwhile family fun for all. However, the
copyright police have taken it off YouTube —
you can find it on-demand on Hulu or for pur-
chase ($2) on Amazon under the title Rugrats
Character Collection: Holidays. Check local
libraries for DVD. Runs 30 minutes.
Maccabees: Revolution and Redemption

continued on page 24

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