Orrin Hatch Releases Chanukah Song

Posted by D. Daniel Sokol

Senator Orrin Hatch, the senior senator from Utah (to use the Adam Sandler parlance, "Not a Jew"), has just released his first Chanukah song.  The New York Times has full coverage here. 

This is my opportunity to digress a bit and discuss Chanukah instead of grading my corporations final exam.  This year we bought some new Chanukah books for the girls.  The first that we read is A Blue's Clues Chanukah.  In the story, Blue and her friends Mr. Salt, Mrs. Pepper, Magenta, Slippery, Tickety and Joe visit Orange Kitten (funny, she doesn't look Jewish) and celebrate Chanukah together.  I recommend it highly for those that have kids who watch Blues Clues.

The second book that the girls enjoyed is in the Sammy Spider series - Sammy Spider's First Hanukkah.  Our protagonist Sammy Spider learns about Chanukah from his friends the Shapiro family.  The girls also liked this one. 

This Saturday evening we are having a Chanukah party at our house.  What is the right sort of music to play?  Lots of Jewish performers produce Christmas albums (Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond, Kenny G, Michael Bolton, etc.) and the best known Christmas song of all time, White Christmas, was written by Irving Berlin.  How about a Chanukah album?  There is the famous Adam Sandler Chanukah song (in three versions no less).  There is also Hanukkah Blessings by the Barenaked Ladies.  My kids' favorite (at least until Lady Gaga comes out with a Chanukah tune) has got to be the following remake of an 80s classic.  I wish Joey Ramone (born Jeffrey Ross Hyman) had made a Chanukah album before he died.  I am still holding out for a Kiss Chanukkah album.  Both Paul Stanley (born Stanley Eisen) and Gene Simmons (born Chaim Witz) celebrate Chanukah.

As a Latin American Jew coming from a Spanish speaking household,* we would sing Chanukah songs in Spanish.  Here is hoping that one day Shakira, Soda Stereo and/or Mana release a Chanukah album in Spanish.

* If you have met me, you wonder how I speak English without an accent.  We came to the US when I was a boy for what was supposed to be a few years and has turned out to be much longer.  I am the first US citizen in my family and my daughters are the first Sokols to be natural born Americans and eligible to be President.  I became a US citizen in 1994 (before I met my wife), which means that when I married her, it was for love and not the green card.

Comments

[Michael Risch]

FYI, XM has a Chanukah station (you can get it if you have DirecTV as well). Last night we heard a version of Chanukah Chag Yafe that featured an electric guitar solo - it was great.

[Abby Finkelman]

I just have to make sure your daughters have read (or will read, depending on how old they are):
*Hanukkah Cat, by Chaya Burstein (http://bit.ly/73qla0)
*Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins, by Eric Kimmel (http://bit.ly/6huqPY)
*There's No Such Thing As a Chanukah Bush, Sandy Goldstein, by Susan Sussman (http://bit.ly/8fFg3J)
*Arielle and the Hanukkah Surprise, by Devra Newberger Speregen and Shirley Newberger (http://bit.ly/6srkBc)
*One that I cannot for the life of me remember the name of, but the cover is a kid and a potato menorah.

-Hanukkah Cat is my mother's favorite book; she used to do little presentations to kindergarten classes in Tulsa, OK about Hanuakkah (which they needed), and give them Hanukkah Cat. She still has copies on hand to give to any Jewish kid she might meet who lacks it. It's appropriate for all ages.
-Hershel could be scary, but I know I read it at 4 or 5; it's mostly funny. One of my favorite books of all time, period.
-Sandy Goldstein is good for maybe 5 and up. Good for dealing with not celebrating the ever-present Christmas.
-Arielle I think is fine any age.

This CD, by Debbie Friedman, has very cute and catchy stuff, ditties about how Judah Maccabee's wife made the latkes that fueled them, etc.

I miss having little kid Chanukah, can you tell? College is no fun!

[D. Daniel Sokol]

A great web video for Chanukah that I should have included in the original post is Hey Ya Chanukah (sung to the tune of Hey Ya by Outkast) http://www.starterupsteve.com/swf/jew-heyya.html

[Jenni]

The Barenaked Ladies have a great Hanukkah CD--can't recommend it highly enough.

[Howard Wasserman]

"The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming" by Lemony Snicket