To all my Jewish friends – and their Filipino help, who are probably doing an extra-long shift tonight – Happy Hanukkah!
The Hebrew Hammer
If you’re looking for a good Hanukkah comedy and really can’t take any more Adam Sandler, I recommend The Hebrew Hammer. It’s about an orthodox Jewish blaxploitation hero (Adam Goldberg as Moderchai Jefferson Carver) who saves Hanukkah from Santa Claus’ evil antisemitic son, Damian Claus (played by Andy Dick). It also stars the gorgeous Judy Greer as Esther Bloomenbergensteinenthal of the Jewish Justice League and Mario Van Peebles as Mohammed Ali Paula Abdul Rahim of the Kwanzaa Liberation Front. If you liked Shaft and wished it featured “a complicated man, but no one understands him but his mother”, you’ll want to watch this movie.
Someone kindly uploaded The Hebrew Hammer in six parts to YouTube; I’m sharing it below. Enjoy!