The pre-Christmas Day season of Advent is upon us. Here at SeedSing we love the chocolaty goodness of getting a piece of candy once a day until we get to open our presents. As our gift to you we will present a great movie associated with the holiday season. Many will be awesome, some will be extra awesome. Enjoy.

Day 2: “The Hebrew Hammer”

Opened Doors: Day 1

Christmas dominates the holiday season like a cultural and shopping Death Star. There are other holidays celebrated, some of them culturally important, but Christmas does not give way to these so called “other” celebrations. Many of our late year holidays have religious and cultural importance, but one should not look at Christmas as a day of celebration for religious reasons. Christmas is the monolith that looms over every other festive day, or days, during the season. That is just the way it is.

It should not be that way. Today marks the the first day of Hanukkah, one of those “other” celebrations. Hanukkah has been celebrated far long than Christmas, but it gets a far second place finish in the holiday season. One reason may be that Hanukkah is not even one of the most important holidays in the Jewish faith, Christmas is equal to Easter for most Christians. The real reason that Hanukkah is an afterthought is that most people in the western world, Jewish and Gentile alike, just give up on the big eight night celebration and just let the dark shadow of Christmas take over the season.

In 2003 the film “The Hebrew Hammer” had an extremely limited release in Australia and later the United States. The story is about an (uncircumcised) private dick named Mordechai Jefferson Carver, played by Adam Goldberg, who is enlisted by the Jewish Justice League to stop an insane Santa, played by Andy Dick, from destroying Hanukkah. “The Hebrew Hammer” is described as a “jewsplotation movie” and it matches that description. It is filled with offensive language, it looks like it was made on the cheap, it is borderline racist, and it is funny as hell.

“The Hebrew Hammer” uses the idea of Christmas being some warlord trying to take out Hanukkah, and later Kwanzaa, as a way to make a movie about the greatness of these “other'“ celebrations. Holidays like Hanukkah and Kwanzaa are steeped in tradition and important to cultures that have a history filled with suffering, Christmas is a huge economic machine. The first ten minutes of “The Hebrew Hammer” will perfectly explain the monsters of society who have degraded Hanukkah as a not Christmas. In the end we learn that all holidays need to get along and let each other be who they want to be. That is one of the best lessons for us all during the festive season.

There are not many Hanukkah movies, and that is a shame. Many people will point to the animated Adam Sandler flick “Eight Crazy Nights” as the standard bearer for Hanukkah movies. That is a shame because “Eight Crazy Nights” is just not that good. Do you want to feel pride and righteous indignation this Hanukkah? Go watch “The Hebrew Hammer” and let Mordechai Jefferson Carver put you into the mood for the next eight nights. Just try not to put too much pressure on him.

RD

RD is the Head Editor for SeedSing. Hanukkah is different year to year. Let Melee serenade you with their struggles on the question of “When is Hanukkah This Year?”

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