An evening pause: As we are in the middle of Hanukkah, and it is also Friday, here’s a hilarious send-off for the weekend, celebrating the holiday and the Jewish impact on American culture. Performed live 2002 on Saturday Night Live.
An evening pause: Most of this season I honor the Christmas holiday for my Christian readers with pauses of beautiful Christian music. Tonight however I thought it would be nice to take a break and present this short video describing the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. This year Hanukkah begins on Christmas, December 25, and runs through January 2, 2025, so I am a little early, but that’s all right.
Like almost all Jewish holidays, part of Hanukkah’s purpose is to celebrate a victory over oppression. In this case it celebrates the revolt of the Maccabees against the Greek effort to obliterate the Jews. Or as Jews like to joke about all Jewish holidays, “They tried to kill us. We won. Let’s eat!”
An evening pause: This piece seems appropriate for the first night of Hannukkah, which celebrates the miracle of the lights during the Maccabbean revolt against religious oppression, a revolt that led to the restoration of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, part of which still stands and is called by the Wailing Wall by many Jews. The medley includes two songs, “Oh Hanukkah,” and “Al Hanisim” (Thank You For the Miracles).
It also seems appropriate today, the anniversary of Pearl Harbor, as Israel itself responds in like kind to Hamas’s own infamous sneak attack and massacre on October 7th.
Hat tip Judd Clark.
