52 | DECEMBER 22 • 2022 

TWO CHANUKAH MOVIES 
AND A CHANUKAH 
CONCERT YOU CAN 
(PROBABLY) SEE FREE
The Hallmark Channel has 
finally given the Jewish 
community a “sort-of” 
Chanukah gift. Yes, Jewish 
characters have appeared, 
now and again, in the orig-
inal Christmas films that 
Hallmark releases every 
year. But I believe that this 
is the first time that Hallmark 
is releasing a “straight-
out” just-about-Chanu-
kah original movie. By the 
way, in 2022, Hallmark has/
will release 39 original new 
Christmas movies and, well, 
one Chanukah movie.
The film is entitled
Chanukah Rye and it was 
released on the first day of 
the holiday (Dec. 18). Here’s 
the capsule plot: Molly (Lisa 
Loeb, 54) and Jacob (Jeremy 
Jordan, 37) are put together 
by a matchmaker, and things 
are going great until they 
find out that they run com-
peting delis. Will there be a 
Chanukah miracle that will 
keep them together?
Jordan’s mother is Jewish. 
He’s had a pretty good 
career as a Broadway musi-
cal actor. Loeb is a sing-
er-songwriter best known for 
her 1994 hit song “Stay.” She 
has managed to keep her 
career alive in varied proj-
ects even though she has 
never regained her late-’90s 
popularity. It’s nice to note 
that she and her Jewish hus-
band have two kids. 
The Hallmark Channel 
is carried on just about 
every cable/satellite provid-
er. Other places to see it: 
There is a separate Hallmark 
Movies (just movies) app 
for Roku, Amazon Fire and 

online. Costs $5 per month.
If you have “cut the 
cord,” the NBC-owned 
Peacock streaming chan-
nel is a good option. Some 
Peacock shows are free, but 
not Hallmark. Spend $5 for 
the upgrade and you can 
catch Rye on the stream-
ing “live” Hallmark channel 
“within” Peacock. As I write 
this, I am 99% certain you 
can also see the film “on 
demand” on the Peacock 
site. It will be in the Hallmark 
movie category. Plus, there 
is a lot of other pretty good 
non-Hallmark stuff that you 
can access on Peacock for 
your $5. 
I doubt Rye will be great. 
But my kishkas say it will be 
OK. Not OK is an original 
Hulu film called Menorah 
in the Middle, which began 
streaming in November. Lucy 
DeVito, 39, stars as a Jewish 
woman who gets engaged 
to a non-Jewish guy. They 
travel to her hometown to 
celebrate Chanukah with her 
parents. The problem: Her 
parents’ Jewish bakery is no 
longer profitable.
On the plus side, all the 
Jewish parts are played by 
Jews. DeVito is the daugh-
ter of Danny DeVito and his 
Jewish ex-wife, actress Rhea 
Perlman, 74. On the down-

side, every Jewish stereo-
type is in the movie and only 
one starring Jewish actor 
is quite competent (Jessica 
Hecht, 57, who plays Lucy’s 
mother). The others range 
from really bad to OK 
(Jordan Platt, 36, the brother 
of actor Ben Platt, is OK).
I have to mention that
Sarah Silverman, 52, and 
her sister, Laura Silverman, 
56, have small parts at the 
film’s end. They are “fun,” but 
they can’t rescue the movie.
Lucy DeVito’s parents, 
as everyone knows, are 
very short and not physi-
cally beautiful. But they are 
charming and funny. Lucy 
is not charming or funny. 
She is plain and very short. 
So, what do they do? They 
cast as her fiancé a very tall, 
unknown Chilean actor who 
can’t act. This mismatched 
couple are in the film’s first 
scene — and I said to myself: 
“What?” — and it was down-
hill from there. (I confess, 
Menorah was so bad it was 
almost good). 
For the last two years, 
Dave Grohl, the lead guy of 
the Foo Fighters, a popular 
rock band, and top record 
producer Greg Kurstin, 53, 
have done the Chanukah 
Sessions. Each night of 
Chanukah, they have per-

formed rock songs written by 
Jews. A video of each ses-
sion is posted each night of 
Chanukah on YouTube. (FYI: 
Grohl’s wife is Jewish). 
On Dec. 5, a “secret” 
concert was held at a Los 
Angeles nightclub. Director/
producer Judd Apatow, 55, 
made the arrangements. 
The club concert proceeds 
went to the Anti-Defamation 
League. 
Several well-known per-
formers performed rock 
songs written or co-written 
by Jews. They included 
Grohl and Kurstin; Grohl’s 
daughter Violet, 16; Jack 
Black, 52, and Pink (her 
mother is Jewish). Pink, 43, 
said on-stage: “My [real first] 
name is Alecia, and I am a 
Jew.” Footnote: Beck, who 
is quite famous, also per-
formed. He is “1/8” Jewish in 
common parlance, but he is 
a halachic Jew. First time, I 
think, that Beck did “anything 
Jewish.” 
The club date was filmed 
and several good sourc-
es, like Variety, say that it 
is “very likely” the Dec. 5 
concert songs will consti-
tute all or most of 2022
Chanukah Sessions material. 
Simply search for Chanukah 
Sessions on YouTube and 
see if Variety is right. 

CELEBRITY NEWS

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

ARTS&LIFE

BY DAVID SHANKBONE 

Judd Apatow

BY SARAH ACKERMAN 

Jeremy Jordan

HILARY FEUTZ - FLICKR

Lisa Loeb

