Question of the Week: Put on Your Yarmulke and Tell Me: The Chanukah Song, Fabulous or Offensive?
by Super Jive

Do you remember The Chanukah Song, written by actor and comedian Adam Sandler in 1994? In the years that have followed I have heard it referred to as a holiday classic. It has even recently inspired a parody/homage about Diwali, The Diwali Song, which was performed by Steve Carrell on The Office. ( Iove this because it mentions zombies. What can I say?)


When Sandler introduced The Chanukah Song years ago on Saturday Night Live, obviously it was played for laughs and his intention was to entertain. But as he introduced it, despite being raised with Jewish tradiations, Sandler said:

When I was a kid, this time of year always made me feel a little left out because in school there were so many Christmas songs, and all us Jewish kids had was the song "Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel."



I raise my gin-and-tonica to this song because it has a spirit of inclusiveness. In the original song, Sandler lists quite a few Jewish people such as David Lee Roth and William Shatner to say, "hey, Jewish kids, you're not alone." He wrote two "sequels" to the original Chanukah Song that did not attain the same notoriety as the first one, but also lists other Jewish people.

Well, almost inclusive--some people are mentioned and then left out for laughs. There is the line, "O.J. Simpson: not a Jew!" which was timely, considering that Simpson's infamous arrest happened in 1994. He also mentions Ebenezer Scrooge, "Some people think that Ebenezer Scrooge is, well, he's not." I wonder if Sandler's intention was to poke fun at the stereotype of frugality as a defining characteristic of Jewish people? Or was he just looking for an easy rhyme for the next line, which mentions The Three Stooges? (It turns out that five out of the six actors who portrayed the Stooges were Jewish.)

So, I was not raised Jewish, and my only understanding of secular Jewish culture comes from what I can read, such as people's personal histories, and from pop culture tidbits like this. When I heard this song for the first time I thought it was very funny. I wonder if most people agree with this? If you are Jewish, do you think this song is good and worthy of becoming a classic, or is it offensive on some level? Do other non-Jewish people like me find it funny? Does it even represent Chanukah on any level, or is it just fluff?

In case you're curious, here are Sandler's two other Chanukah Songs (1,2) and Wikipedia has a list of all the people who have been mentioned in the three songs.

Post about The Chanukah Song, and then come back and add your link!

************
SJ also posts at her blog I, Asshole.

Submitted by Super Jive (view blog) on Mon, 12/17/2007 - 12:10

Comments

 

Not offensive

Thanks for asking - it's an interesting question.

I'm Jewish, always have been and my younger brother actually went to overnight camp with Sandler decades ago (my bro says that Sandler is in fact funny - I actually don't like some of Sandlers stuff but then my brother doesn't think I have a sense of humor!).

This year, I posted links to all three versions of Sandler's song, but someone on another blog kind of dedicated this post to wishing me Happy Hanukkah by including ME as one of the Jews Sandler sings about. lol

Anyway - no - it's really not offensive to me but I can't speak for others. I will say, however, that as a non-Catholic, when I was in college at a Catholic university and a prof of mine ripped off his collar and stepped all over it to prove a point about symbols, I thought God was going to strike him down then and there. So - yeah - from religion to religion, if you're not OF that religion, it's understandable how you might not know what is and isn't offensive.

Did you see the Chanuka ham thing from NYC??

Jill
Writes Like She Talks

Submitted by Jill Miller Zimon on Mon, 12/17/2007 - 11:09
 

I have now! Thanks,

I have now! Thanks, Jill.

There's a pic here. How funny!

http://www.bangitout.com/photos/viewphoto.php?a=3415

Thanks for weighing in. Feel free to use the widget in the post to link your Sandler post to this one.

Your Pop Culture Librarian also writes almost daily at I, Asshole.

Submitted by Super Jive on Mon, 12/17/2007 - 12:27
 

Chanuka ham

Yes, that's the one! The woman who first posted a pic of it, Nancy Kaye Shapiro, is a novelist and posted a very cute benign post about it but apparently the store owner was mortified!! Honestly, it is not offensive - it's just one of those things. I imagine if a Jewish shop owner put a sign that said "Mass hosts" on a box of round-shaped Keebler cookies or wafers, it might be kind of like that. It really was innocent - I felt badly because I think the store owner blamed a poor clerk for not knowing!

It is really O.K. :)

Jill
Writes Like She Talks

Submitted by Jill Miller Zimon on Mon, 12/17/2007 - 13:27
 

Well d'uh

First I'm not Jewish, but one of my fave holiday songs as a kid was "Oh, Hanukkah!"

Second, since my name is Veronica, I love that song. What can I say, I'm a sucker for a song with my name in it.

Submitted by veronicaeye on Mon, 12/17/2007 - 12:32
 

Funny shit

I'm Jewish and proud of it (99% of the time, anyway), and there's nothing offensive about the song, although I suspect some people will get in a huff that I unnecessarily used the word "shit" in the subject line here.

Plus, I think the Scrooge thing was intentional and very smart to include.

Suzanne Reisman, Contributing Editor - Feminism & Gender
Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS)& Other Rants

Submitted by Suzanne Reisman on Mon, 12/17/2007 - 14:28
 

I'm not Jewish

So I'm not sure I really have a right to answer, but.... Let's just say that we downloaded it from iTunes. It CRACKS me up. i don't see anything offensive about it.... i think it's hysterical. (Though not nearly as good when you can't see Adam Sandler doing it....)

I'm trying to think of a Christmas analogy..... But i can't think of one....
___________
Alyssa Royse
JUST CAUSE
make some good news!
www.JustCauseIt.com

Submitted by alyssaroyse on Mon, 12/17/2007 - 18:57
 

Hanukkah

OK, I'm not Jewish but I married someone Jewish and I try to be as Jewishish as I can without being Jewish. I really should convert someday but that's another story.

So let me make a lame-ass generalization: Jewish people are not usually offended when Jewish people say things that are actually funny that involve being Jewish. Jewish humor! It's about being Jewish, some of it. So I would be surprised if too many Jewish people were offended by that kinda thing. Also, Hanukkah is not the most important religious holiday. I think if you wrote a song trying to be funny about the Torah, that might be another story.

"Most men are within a finger's breadth of being mad."

Diogenes

Submitted by ozma on Mon, 12/17/2007 - 20:00
 

ah, that's why...

You're right Digenes, it's probably not offensive because it's not making fun of the "content" of religion or even a religious holiday, just making fun of how we celebrate it. Kind of silly, along the same lines of "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus." It has nothing to do with the heart of the matter.....

I like kissing Santa. Almost as much as I like playing Santa.

Can someone write the Christmas version about over shopping, over wrapping, over eating and....
___________
Alyssa Royse
JUST CAUSE
make some good news!
www.JustCauseIt.com

Submitted by alyssaroyse on Mon, 12/17/2007 - 20:38
 

I have to admit...

The "smoke your marijuanica/drink your gin and tonica" part always makes me crack up laughing which, regardless of religion, merely indicates that I'm 12.

Then again, I was raised Catholic, and Billy Joel's "Only the Good Die Young" is one of my least favorite songs of all time (blah! Offensive because it's stupid!), so maybe my opinion shouldn't be considered. ;)

Laurie
LaurieWrites

Submitted by lauriewrites on Mon, 12/17/2007 - 21:07
 

Jew at Catholic school (college)

I was. And that Billy Joel song was HUGELY popular there. I can still see my friends who knew nothing but Catholic school their whole lives, including at college drinking and airbanding to that song. It's certainly not one of my favorites of his, but I certainly don't experience it the way a Catholic girl (or boy!) might.

Interesting analogy! Thanks.

Jill
Writes Like She Talks

Submitted by Jill Miller Zimon on Tue, 12/18/2007 - 06:11
 

Catholic or not, it's just a horrible song.

The only non-Catholic education I've had (including graduate school) was my four-year university. Still, not Billy's shining hour, and I've only met one Catholic person named Virginia in my whole life, so even the name he screams out throughout the whole song is weird. I can see why the girls were air guitaring or drunkenly singing, because there's nothing that builds some kind of odd solidarity like shared religious schooling (And although I don't practice Catholicism at all now, much to my grandmother's distress, I didn't hate it, not at all, so I bust that stereotype as well.)

Fun fact: a huge group of concerned parish members banded together in the DC area to protest the song when I was in elementary school, due to its (I guess) trash talk about confirmation and Billy's wanting Virginia to just go ahead and get it over with and make him her first. They also probably didn't like the line "You didn't count on me/when you were counting on your rosary" ;) I don't either I admit, but again because it's just...kinda silly.

And yet I'll scream along with "drink your gin and tonica" and like it. So it really is a crap shoot.

Laurie

Submitted by lauriewrites on Fri, 12/21/2007 - 07:31
 

I know you didn't write that to make me feel
old!

Now look at THAT intersection of life - sounds like you were in elem school in DC while I was in college in DC - and we both suffered through less than Billy's best!

Have a great holiday everyone - no matter what music you're listening to (Little Drummer Boy makes me cry, though not the version by David Bowie).

Jill
Writes Like She Talks

Submitted by Jill Miller Zimon on Fri, 12/21/2007 - 12:28
 

I didn't know that about

I didn't know that about that song! This is what happens when you are raised as a total heathen. I thought the Narnia series was just a very creative adventure.

Your Pop Culture Librarian also writes almost daily at I, Asshole.

Submitted by Super Jive on Tue, 12/18/2007 - 07:57
 

I love the Chanukah song!

I'm not Jewish, but I grew up in South Florida (which has a large Jewish community). My sorority sisters and I used to sing it at the top of our lungs, and to this day I know all the words.

Liz Rizzo

I blog at Everyday Goddess.

Submitted by Liz Rizzo on Tue, 12/18/2007 - 09:48
 

How about a Santa With a Mohawk?

I'm going to try and post this as a separate blog, but no one ever seems to see those. But, speaking of eye-raising holidays - has anyone else seen www.TinkerTank.org? It's the most fabulous thing. REAL Photos of some very unconventional holiday characters. Santa with a mohawk? Cupid is a cute African-American girl. The Tooth Fairy is a guy!

But if you go through it, in addition to the awesome "stories" there are "history" pages for all the holidays that have things like:

Many cultures around the world have held large, ritualized celebrations in the middle of winter, partly, one presumes, because when it is cold and dark, a little celebration can pick up your spirits just enough to make it to spring. The winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, has traditionally been a cause for celebration as it meant that the darkest part of the year was over and days start getting longer – and brighter.

These celebrations pre-date the birth of Jesus, though as time marched on and cultures blended with each other, many of our largest holidays have become an amalgam of religious and cultural traditions. As such, our current traditions have their roots in a variety of cultures, but have become archetypal symbols of the holiday around the world.

And the press release section has a press release headed "First Dumbledore, Now The Tooth Fairy?"

Great stuff. And kids can email Santa etc....

I'll try to blog about it separately, but it's great...
___________
Alyssa Royse
JUST CAUSE
make some good news!
www.JustCauseIt.com

Submitted by alyssaroyse on Wed, 12/19/2007 - 20:40
 

I heart the Hannukah Song!

But it may be fading in my affections for a little number by Good For The Jews. They've got plenty of other stuff to be offended by, but their Hannukah song? Love it. It's called "It's good to be a Jew at Christmas" and you can listen to it where else but their My Space page:

http://www.myspace.com/GoodForTheJews

Nerd's Eye View

Submitted by Pam on Thu, 12/20/2007 - 14:52
 

nope, not offended.

Not only do I love the Sandler Hanukkah song, but I'm very fond of that South Park song "A Lonely Jew on Christmas" and also the new one that's making the rounds on YouTube this year, "Chinese Food on Christmas" (too lazy to link but it's easy to find.) I"m not crazy about the Hasid-picking-up-the-penny scene in the video for that one, but the song itself is really funny.

Submitted by elswhere on Thu, 12/20/2007 - 23:06
 

Hey! New songs (to me).

Hey! New songs (to me). Cool.

Your Pop Culture Librarian also writes almost daily at I, Asshole.

Submitted by Super Jive on Fri, 12/21/2007 - 10:19
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