(bright music) - [Geoffrey] It's the Festival of Lights, (fireworks crackling) an eight-day celebration of music, (festive music) tradition, (festive music) and culinary delights.

- [Mindy] I want you to have the perfect bite.

- That is unbelievable.

- L'chaim!

- Yeah, so yummy.

- [Geoffrey] It's a holiday, both ancient and fresh.

- And we thought it was the craziest Hanukkah lights you've ever seen.

- [Geoffrey] Meaningful, and fun.

- Gimmel!

Right there.

- [Geoffrey] A time to give and receive.

- I got a rocket ship, Dad.

- Oh boy.

- [Geoffrey] No matter how you top it.

- Applesauce.

- Sour cream.

- [Geoffrey] Or how you spell it.

♪ Someone please help me ♪ ♪ Just tell me ♪ ♪ How do you spell Hanukkah ♪ - [Geoffrey] We've got it all, coming up.

- I'm Geoffrey Baer.

Join me for a celebration of Hanukkah.

(bright music) your yar♪ ♪ Here comes Hanukkah ♪ ♪ So much fun-akkah ♪ ♪ To celebrate Hanukkah ♪ - [Geoffrey] In 1994, actor and comedian Adam Sandler released a new holiday classic.

- Instead of one day of presents, we have eight crazy nights.

(audience laughing) - [Geoffrey] What started as a silly little song quickly became a sensation.

♪ To celebrate Hanukkah ♪ [Geoffrey] Hanukkah had entered the public spotlight.

Hey.

- [Geoffrey] In recent years, two of America's favorite television hosts pondered this question.

♪ Can I interest you in Hanukkah ♪ ♪ Maybe something in a festival of lights ♪ - [Geoffrey] The topic of Hanukkah has become part of pop culture.

- [Kids] Shalom Sesame!

- [Geoffrey] We've seen Hanukkah shows for kids.

- Here is your potato latke, sir.

I am told it is a specialty of Hanukkah.

- [Geoffrey] And in this episode of the sitcom, "Friends," Ross teaches his interfaith son about the other winter holiday.

- You know what holiday is coming up, don't you?

- Christmas.

- Yep.

And you know what other holiday is coming up?

- Christmas Eve.

(audience laughing) - Yes, but also?

Hanukkah.

(audience laughing) - Growing up, I didn't see shows like that on television.

I am Jewish, but in my family we didn't celebrate most Jewish holidays.

(light music) There I am.

I wasn't used to the spotlight back then.

The only thing I really remember about Hanukkah is lighting some candles and singing a blessing my mom taught us.

So let's learn about Hanukkah together.

I know I'll learn a lot and I bet you'll discover some surprising things too.

- Who doesn't like Hanukkah?

You're raised as a little kid to look forward to it.

It's one of the most fun holidays of the year.

- [Geoffrey] Hey kids, how does Hanukkah make you feel?

- Amazing.

- Having like fun, dancing with my family.

- You light eight candles.

- One for each night.

- Eat good food.

- Potato pancake.

- Jelly donuts.

- Chocolate.

- Lots of decorations.

- And then we get presents.

- Yeah, the presents is always the kid's favorite part.

- [Geoffrey] So how did you celebrate Hanukkah when you were a kid?

- I would say in our family it was a very big deal.

We made homemade latkes almost every single night.

We always lit the candles.

- Presents, my parents would always tell us, "that's secondary, that's not what it's really all about."

But there would be some presents.

And it was just a time of lightness and joy for our family.

- [Geoffrey] Today most Jews worldwide can celebrate their traditions openly and freely.

But it wasn't always this way.

- For thousands of years, our Jewish community, wherever they lived, came up against the oppression of some of the great empires of history.

- [Geoffrey] One such empire was the Seleucid Dynasty, when Greeks ruled over much of west Asia more than 2000 years ago.

And that's when the Hanukkah story begins.

In the present day city of Jerusalem, King Antiochus Epiphanes led a campaign to ban Jewish practice.

Antiochus and his army defiled the Jewish temple.

They ordered Jews to worship Greek gods, and even sacrificed a pig on the altar.

Worst of all, they snuffed out the temple's holy, eternal light.

(crowd shouting) (horn blowing) But a small group known as the Maccabees, led by a Jewish priest named Judah, staged a revolt against the monarchy.

They regained control of the temple, removed the symbols of Zeus, and began to rebuild their altar.

- The big picture version of that story is military victory, Jewish sovereignty, throwing off the shackles of empire.

The second story, which is the one that my kids got taught and that I got taught, as a kid in Hebrew school, is the miracle of the oil.

- [Geoffrey] As the Maccabees restored their temple, they were desperate to relight their sacred candelabra, called a menorah.

But this eternal flame could only be lit with kosher olive oil, a resource that took eight days to produce.

And after searching through the rubble, the Maccabees could only find one tiny jug, just enough to burn for a single night.

- They found oil enough to last for how long?

One day.

But miraculously, the oil that they found, which was so little, lasted for much longer than they expected.

The oil lasted for eight days.

And that's a metaphor for the power of light, to fill even the darkest times and to give hope and inspiration to all of us.

- [Geoffrey] Now, there's historical proof that the Maccabees did exist, and that they actually defeated the powerful Seleucid army.

But the miracle of the oil?

Not so much.

- The story about the oil actually is only first being told hundreds and hundreds of years later after the events themselves.

- That part of the story isn't in the Hebrew Bible.

It doesn't actually appear until 600 years later in the books of Jewish law and lore called the Talmud written by a group of rabbis.

Did they just make that story up?

- Yes, yes.

They made up the story.

- So this is a big question for historians.

Where does this story come from?

- To probe this mystery a little deeper, I paid a visit to my own synagogue, Sukkot Shalom, and spoke to Rabbi Allison Tick Brill.

- That's a great question.

Did they make that up?

The rabbis were all about peace.

That was their most important guiding value.

And so they would not want to lift up this military story when they had this profound story of light in the darkness.

- This idea that we are responsible for bringing light to darkness has a lot of meaning.

And I think that's part of the reason that it's captured the imagination of the Jewish community for 2000 years.

- Today, most Jews light wax candles instead of oil.

But the oil plays another important role.

So what do we eat at Hanukkah?

- Fried food!

(Geoffrey laughing) - We eat oily foods on Hanukkah to remember the miracle of oil.

So we fry potatoes in oil, and donuts in oil.

And anything you can think of to remind us of the oil that the Maccabees found.

- What's the best part of Hanukkah?

- We light the candles.

- We eat good food.

- The food.

- The food?

- Oh yeah.

- Yeah, we're big food fans.

- You eat, lapkahs.

- My personal favorite is obviously the potato latkes.

- It's a potato pancake.

- It's like basically a hashbrown.

- Yeah.

- Ow, ow.

- [Geoffrey] But when a James Beard award-winning chef fries up this Hanukkah classic, the result is nothing short of amazing.

- One year for Hanukkah, my mother bought me a KitchenAid.

When I was a little girl, I always wanted to have a bakery.

I always wanted to be a chef.

- [Geoffrey] Today she's showing me how to make latkes, crispy, just like her mom's.

- So I like to take them and I like, I'm gonna show you and you're gonna do a couple.

- Okay, I'll do it.

Yeah.

The main ingredient, the humble potato, became a staple in eastern European cuisine in the mid 19th century, after farmers realized that the hardy tuber could withstand the region's harsh climate.

Prior to that, as far back as the 14th century, latkes were actually made from fried cheese.

But I digress.

- [Mindy] We're just gonna try to rinse off some of the starch.

- I know.

- It's not hard.

- I'm not a big cook, so I'm like- - [Mindy] Don't be afraid.

- I am a little afraid.

So keep my fingers back.

- Yeah.

Look, look.

- Oh look.

I'm doing it, I'm doing it.

- He's doing it guys.

He's doing it.

So then what you wanna do is you're gonna take them and you're gonna squeeze them with your hands.

And then you're gonna put it in here.

And while you're doing that.

- This feels good, this is fun.

- I'm going to grate a half an onion.

- Okay.

And there's a little onion in there.

- I did, I grated red onion.

And then all we're gonna do, and you can do this, is you're gonna squeeze.

- Awesome.

- Use all your might and all your power to do that.

Grazi.

(Geoffrey grunting) Look at you.

- It's a good workout.

- And then we're just gonna mix it.

- [Geoffrey] Then it's two eggs, salt and pepper.

And it's time to fry.

- But then the trick is, is that I fry them in schmaltz, just to give it extra Jewish feeling, you know, flavor.

'Cause all grandma's fry their stuff in schmaltz.

- Schmaltz is what?

For those who don't know.

- Schmaltz is rendered chicken fat.

- Rendered chicken fat.

- [Geoffrey] She says any type of vegetable oil will also work.

- But I just keep turning them, and then sometimes I add a little more.

- [Geoffrey] Oh, that's really thin.

- Very thin.

I like them crispy.

So hopefully that they're all gonna come out like this.

- Man, look at that.

Oh, look at that.

Look at that.

Beautiful, thin.

So there's a kind of a brown edge that you want there.

So do you have like a lot of childhood memories of eating these?

- [Mindy] Yeah, I do.

She would line the kitchen with paper bags.

- Oh sure.

For the grease, right?

- Right, and then the entire room would just smell.

- Both the grease and that smell can linger, but it's worth it.

Cheers.

- [Geoffrey] Bubby might have stopped there, but not Chef Mindy Segal.

She makes magic happen on the plate.

- I like to serve them in two different ways.

- Okay.

- Okay.

So traditionally sour cream and apples.

- Sure.

- So we have a little sour cream here, and you know you can make your own sour cream if you want.

We're just gonna make it nice for you.

And this is like a, just a beautiful apple compote.

- [Geoffrey] This is not from the grocery store.

- No.

- What is this?

- This is just apples cooked in cider and caramel.

I mean, and that's it.

That would be that.

And then we have another one that I like to do savory style, but I also like to serve it with brisket.

- [Geoffrey] With brisket!

- It's rich and it's hearty and it's just like insane.

And this is just like peppers.

And the vinaigrette just for a little acid.

And then we've got a little sprouts, 'cause I love the crunch.

Here you have it.

I want you to have the perfect bite.

L'chaim!

- That is unbelievable.

I'm speechless.

And that's saying something.

But the perfect bite is a matter of great debate.

What do you put on top?

- We don't usually put sour cream on our potato pancakes.

Just applesauce.

- Applesauce.

- Sour cream.

- And I think mayonnaise.

- No sour.

- I meant sour cream.

- And sometimes people put ketchup.

- Yeah, some of us like ketchup on latkes.

- Whatever works.

I like both applesauce and sour cream.

- And some people, I've seen some people putting caviar on their latkes.

- [Geoffrey] Caviar?

- [Allison] Yeah, you can get crazy.

♪ Applesauce versus sour cream ♪ ♪ Applesauce or sour cream, yeah ♪ ♪ It's the choice you're gonna have to make ♪ ♪ Which to put on your potato cakes ♪ - [Geoffrey] Meet the LeeVees, a band that plays exclusively Hanukkah music.

In this song, "Applesauce versus Sour Cream," they take the great latke-topping debate head-on.

♪ Life has many decisions ♪ ♪ It moves in all directions ♪ ♪ This is just one huge, enormous, big decision ♪ ♪ You have to make ♪ ♪ You have to make it ♪ - I like sour cream and applesauce.

We're gonna develop a product.

We're in research and development right now.

- Yeah.

The LeeVees Applesauce and Sour Cream in one jar.

Kind of like that peanut butter and jelly that was disgusting.

Well, we're gonna make, it'll be just like that.

♪ Hanukkah ♪ ♪ I know it's gonna be all right ♪ - Feel free to snap.

♪ Everyone's together tonight ♪ ♪ Feeling good, it's Hanukkah ♪ - [Geoffrey] In 2023, the LeeVees visited NPR's Tiny Desk to play a cozy concert of tunes from their album, "Hanukkah Rocks."

♪ The sun is setting ♪ ♪ Get home as fast as you can ♪ ♪ Put the oil ♪ ♪ Into the pan ♪ ♪ So come and join our latke clan ♪ ♪ We are latke fans ♪ - The LeeVees formed in 2005 when Adam Gardner was on tour with his popular indie rock band, Guster.

(pop rock music) Dave Schneider's band, the Zambonis, which by the way plays only music about ice hockey, was Guster's opening act.

- And he said, hey Schneider, I think you called me Schneider.

- You love that.

- I hate that.

And he said, "you wanna write some songs about being Jewish?"

And I was like, and I just took the challenge.

I'm like, yeah, yeah, let's do it.

And we went to the back of the bus, and he mentioned we could write songs about Hanukkah or something.

And it just happened.

- [Geoffrey] Out poured songs like "Latke Clan" ♪ We'll save you a plate, it's Hanukkah ♪ - [Geoffrey] And this one where they lament the hostile takeover of a sweet noodle dish called Kugel.

Mom's low-fat version just can't compare.

♪ Sorry mom, yours just ain't the same ♪ - [Geoffrey] And "Gelt Melts."

♪ Gelt melts ♪ ♪ Gelt melts ♪ - Us doing our best version of a Ramones song while talking about chocolate melting in your hand.

♪ You gotta get it while you can ♪ ♪ 'Cause it won't last long ♪ - So I heard in an interview you wrote the album in eight days.

- That is true.

- That is actually true.

- Yeah.

- A Hanukkah miracle.

- It was a Hanukkah miracle.

♪ Gelt melts ♪ - And he gave it to their manager, and within a couple days he's like, "Hey, write some more songs.

You know, Warner Brothers is interested."

- I think we had the name of the album, "Hanukkah Rocks," already.

So he was just trying to write it down on his files, and he turns it back to us and goes, "how do you spell Hanukkah?"

We're like, oh my gosh, we got to go write that right now.

That's it.

(upbeat drumming) - So, how do you spell Hanukkah?

- Oh, that's a great question.

♪ Is it with a C or H ♪ ♪ I am confused ♪ - I'm a H-A-N-U-K-K-A-H kind of Rabbi.

♪ What about those Ns and Ks ♪ ♪ Do you one or two ♪ - I do C-H-A-N-U-K-A-H. - You do?

- That's my personal way.

- [Geoffrey] Because it gets the ch- sound in there?

- Get the ch-, yeah.

The ch- is important, Chanukah.

♪ We don't mean to dwell ♪ ♪ But how do yo spell ♪ - [Geoffrey] Why is it that there are different spellings?

- Because it's that ch- sound is actually a letter.

It's a chet in Hebrew, and there is no equivalent in English.

♪ Try spell check and Webster's ♪ ♪ Is there an answer to my question ♪ ♪ Someone please help me ♪ ♪ Just tell me ♪ ♪ How do you spell Hanukkah ♪ (light music) - [Geoffrey] All this debate is making me hungry, again.

So I headed over to North Shore Kosher Bakery, to sample another fried Hanukkah treat that I never heard of as a kid.

(person speaking in foreign language) This is second generation owner, Ayellet Benezra.

And how do you tell people to pronounce your name?

- I say, I yell it, you scream it.

- [Geoffrey] Ayellet showed me how they make sufganiyot.

Sufganiyot is plural.

- Plural.

Singular is sufganiya.

- [Geoffrey] sufganiya.

- sufganiya is basically a donut, fried dough.

We go to sufganiyot, because you can't just eat one.

So you don't buy just one sufganiya.

So you take like a special dough.

You have a special recipe that has all the amazing, delicious ingredients in it.

And you mix the dough, you divide it up, you roll it up by hand.

Here, we do everything by hand.

And then you fry it.

- [Geoffrey] The baker uses a wooden dowel to carefully flip each donut, bringing both sides to a perfect golden brown.

Whoops, that one's not quite ready.

How many of these are you making over the course of Hanukkah?

- We turn probably around 20,000, maybe 25,000 during Hanukkah.

- 25,000?

- Yeah.

- And every one of those is made by hand?

- Everything is made by hand.

Now we take a dowel and we punch holes in them.

And you'll see they're super soft.

- Okay, wait, I want to do this.

Little hole punching here.

Oh yeah, you gotta kind of hold 'em down.

Can you imagine making 20,000 of these?

Holy smokes.

This is a kosher instrument.

(Ayellet laughing) Next up the filling.

- Hold the bag.

- [Geoffrey] So sufganiyot are always filled donuts?

- Yes.

Right there.

- Right here.

And it's not as easy as it looks.

So punch?

- Punch it in.

Nice.

- [Geoffrey] Jews have been eating sufganiyot on Hanukkah for hundreds of years.

The donuts used to be filled with savory ingredients like mushrooms or meat.

Lucky they're not gonna sell any of these.

(Ayellet laughing) But in the 1500s, the price of sugar fell, and European Jews began filling their sufganiyot with sweetened fruit preserves, just like the sweet treats we're making today.

There I go.

- There you go.

Somebody get him an apron.

The traditional filling is raspberry.

And then we also make chocolate, custard, and caramel.

- Chocolate?

- Chocolate.

So you just.

- You just shake.

- You just shake it.

- Lastly, they're dusted with powdered sugar, and enjoyed.

Now this has got a surprise inside.

- I'm a chocoholic.

- I am too.

I'm only doing this because, you know, for my job.

(Ayellet laughing) That is so good.

It's really wonderful.

- It's my dad's recipe, so very special.

Definitely different from any other bakery that you would go to.

- [Geoffrey] Speaking of plentiful, check out this family's home.

During Hanukkah, a profusion of blue and white surrounds their residence, or, as locals call it, The Hanukkah House.

- While we were driving home, I don't know from where, and I was looking at some Christmas lights and I was like, we should do that for us.

- I said, we can.

And then five years later... - We got this.

- We got this.

- [Geoffrey] So how modest was it at the start?

- It was probably 5% of what you're looking at.

And we thought it was the craziest Hanukkah lights you've ever seen, until the next year and then the next year and the next year.

- [Geoffrey] How much time did this take?

- I kept a little more track 'cause people ask me all the time, it's between 60 and 70 hours.

So I start in late September.

So the neighbors kind of drive by and go, "it's early October, Gary.

Like, what are you thinking?"

I go, ah, just doing it to inspire myself.

- [Geoffrey] Now was there a point at which this was just embarrassing?

- I feel like we're still at that point, but- (all laughing) (light music) (upbeat music) - [Geoffrey] During the Festival of Lights, sharing the miracle with others is what it's all about.

(fireworks exploding) - That's a big theme of Hanukkah.

It's called Pirsumei Nisa.

You have to publicize the miracle.

That's why when we light Hanukkah candles, we light them in our windows.

That's why we light Hanukkah candles on the street.

Other holidays, we're not so interested in the public side of it.

The Passover seder is very much in the home, but Hanukkah, there is a special, in Jewish law, special command to publicize, Pirsumei Nisa, to let the whole world know about the power of light.

♪ Hanukkah Hanukkah ♪ ♪ The lights are (indistinct) ♪ - [Geoffrey] These are members of the orthodox group, Chabad, which takes that command to the next level.

Each Hanukkah, in cities around the country, they have a car-top Menorah parade.

This one in Chicago is just gearing up, and they tell me it's more than a hundred cars long.

(Chabad singing in foreign language) Have you ever done this before?

- No, this is actually my first time, and I'm really excited.

- [Geoffrey] Why are you excited?

- We're doing it all together and it feels like we're part of something bigger.

(car beeping) - [Geoffrey] Who makes these things?

Where do you get these from?

- So this evolved, we actually made our own for many years.

(light music) - [Geoffrey] This year's model, designed in Canada and manufactured in China, is magnetic with energy efficient LED lights.

Was it hard to hook it up?

- Took just a few seconds, shockingly.

- [Geoffrey] What's the message you're trying to send?

- The message is that we are bringing light to the world, positivity to the world.

We have to be proud that we're Jewish.

When it's out in the public square, that's the real feeling of Hanukkah.

- [Geoffrey] Today, in all 50 states, you can find menorahs and Hanukkah symbols in plain view, many even in front of government buildings and in public squares.

- If you look around the country and around the world at how many menorahs there are on Hanukkah in public, it's not something to take for granted.

- We grow up thinking that, isn't this the way it always was, but it isn't the way it always was.

- [Geoffrey] Prior to the 1970s, Hanukkah was more low profile.

While another winter holiday, Christmas, was very much in the public eye.

- You can imagine for Jewish people who see nativity scenes in the town square or big crosses or Christmas trees in the town square, it feels like a validation or a legitimization, specifically of Christianity, in what they assumed should have been a religiously neutral public space, because there's been a long history by then of Jewish religious groups actually advocating against public symbols or signs of religious worship.

And Chabad goes in exactly opposite direction, and they say, no, actually what we need to do is stake our claim in the public sphere alongside those other maybe majoritarian religious symbols, and to show that we are as equal, as legitimate, as proud of our symbols as any other religious group is too.

- [Geoffrey] So in the 1970s, Chabad launched a campaign to shine a light on the miracle of Hanukkah.

- And runs with it in probably ways that the Maccabees could only have dreamed of.

- [Geoffrey] In 1974, Chabad of Philadelphia lit a 4-foot menorah in front of Independence Hall, which then housed the Liberty Bell, an icon of American freedom.

The following year, Chabad of San Francisco built a giant 22-foot mahogany menorah in the city's union square.

Other major cities followed suit, with more and more Hanukkah displays in public places.

This is the first night of the Jewish Festival of Hanukkah.

In New York City, it took a cherry picker to light the world's largest menorah.

- [Geoffrey] In 1979, Chabad took their campaign to the nation's capitol.

On the fourth night of Hanukkah in a park across from the White House, President Jimmy Carter lit the first national menorah.

- This national menorah, and this way, we share the message of Hanukkah with the world at large.

- [Geoffrey] And menorahs have been lit by every president since.

(crowd applauding) But some saw Chabad's public menorahs as unconstitutional.

- [News Reporter] In a pluralistic society like ours, it's a very sticky question.

- The point is to keep the state out of religion and religion out of the state.

- [Geoffrey] A series of lawsuits eventually made their way to the Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of Chabad.

And the group's towering menorahs can still be seen in cities around the world.

(light music) But for most Jews, a humbler version does the job just fine.

- For each night of Hanukkah, there's eight nights.

We usually say the prayers and light the candles.

- So this is a bus menorah that we picked up somewhere along the way.

And being the Busses, everybody kind of gets a kick out of it.

- One, two, three.

- [Geoffrey] At this synagogue, members brought their menorahs from home, and they held way more than just candles.

What's the story?

Who made that?

- A relative of mine gifted me and my twin brother with menorahs that have our name on it, and every year since, I've got to light it.

So it has a lot of memories, has a lot of love, and a lot of love for the Jewish community.

- [Geoffrey] That's beautiful.

What's your brother's name?

- Samuel.

He got more letters.

- He got more letters.

Wait, look, it's an emoji menorah.

(light music) So what's the story of this?

Where did this come?

- He brought it with him from Russia when he was 10 in 1906.

- Your father?

- My father.

- You light it every year?

- Yes.

- [Geoffrey] What does it make you think of when you light it?

- Right now, I see my father.

- This is a piano keyboard because I have been a pianist since I was 5 years old.

- How about that?

- It's really the thing that was closest to my heart and I thought would make the neatest personalized hanukkiah.

- [Geoffrey] Wait, did she say hanukkiah?

I thought it was called a menorah.

- A menorah is actually just a lamp.

So a menorah could be one branch, seven branches.

- In the ancient temple in Jerusalem, the menorah had seven branches and the hanukkiah has eight to commemorate the eight days.

- I'm going like this because here I have made a hanukkiah.

- Look at that.

- It's a helper candle in the middle called the shamash.

The shamash is used to light all of the other candles.

- It's one candle that you, first you light that with how you light normal candles.

Then you pick it up.

You need to be careful.

Whoa.

- Whoa, it's gonna burn my face off.

- And you light the rest.

- [Emily] We have three menorahs that we light every year.

- One of them burst into flames that year and caught on fire.

Yeah, that was the flammable Play-Doh one, but the rest are still with us.

- This is the menorah, hanukkiah, that we lit in my house when I was a kid growing up.

You know, for thousands of years, Jews have been lighting hanukkiot, that's the plural of hanukkiah, at sundown on each of the eight nights of Hanukkah.

The traditions vary slightly depending on where in the world you are.

In India, for example, members of the Bene Israel community, light wicks dipped in coconut oil, and eat onion fritters called kanda bhaji.

And in North Africa, the seventh night of Hanukkah is referred to as Chag HaBanot, and includes a special candle lighting ceremony to honor women.

(singing "Ma'oz Tzur") But the idea of lighting eight nights in a row, that's a Hanukkah tradition that unifies Jews worldwide.

(lively music) - There's not a lot of happy, happy Jewish holidays.

They usually celebrate something a little bit more serious.

Hanukkah, you kind of let it all out and the whole community gets together and dances.

(lively music) - [Geoffrey] We stopped by a retirement home for a performance by the Maxwell Street Klezmer Band.

(Klezmer band) - Klezmer music is the music that was played in the Jewish community, in the shtetls, in the little villages in eastern Europe.

My great grandparents, maybe yours, came from eastern Europe to the United States.

- [Geoffrey] And that makes Lori and me Ashkenazi Jews.

Our ancestors spoke Yiddish.

(singing in Yiddish) But Jews from other parts of the world developed distinct cultures, traditions, even languages.

(singing in foreign language) They performed one Hanukkah song in Ladino.

(singing in Ladino) This endangered language blends Spanish and Hebrew, and was once spoken by Sephardic Jews in Spain, North Africa and the Middle East.

(Klezmer music and singing in Ladino) (audience applauding) Hanukkah is fun, no matter how you sing it, or what you wear.

- For us, that's part of the pajama theme that you see.

We eventually evolved to matching pajamas so that we could all be wearing the same.

Our children are all adults now, and we're still doing the pajama tradition.

- [Geoffrey] At North Shore Congregation Israel in the Chicago suburb of Glencoe, everyone's dressed for the occasion.

♪ Hanukkah, oh Hanukkah come light the menorah ♪ ♪ Let's have a party, we'll all dance the horah ♪ ♪ Gather around the table we'll give you a treat ♪ - [Geoffrey] These children reenact the Hanukkah story.

- What happened to our temple?

- Look at this mess.

It's horrible, you guys.

Let's clean it up.

It's a mess.

You guys look, there must be some oil in the sanctuary.

We need the oil to light the hanukkiah.

- I found the oil.

- [Geoffrey] And we test our luck at a game of dreidel.

♪ Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, I made you out of clay ♪ ♪ And when you're dry and ready ♪ ♪ Oh dreidel I shall play ♪ - All right, ready?

- Shin.

- Shin, all right, I gotta put one in.

There we go.

A dreidel is a four-sided spinning top with the Hebrew letters, nun, gimmel, hei, and shin, which stands for the phrase, Nes Gadol Hayah Sham.

A great miracle happened there.

- Or if you're playing Dreidel on the land of Israel.

- It says, nes gadol hayah po.

- A great miracle happened here.

- [Geoffrey] Players begin with an even number of game pieces.

You can use raisins, pennies, or more commonly, Hanukkah gelt, foil-covered chocolate coins.

- You spin a dreidel and it depends on what you land on, but you get a certain amount of chocolate coins.

- So it looks like a coin on top, but then you peel it off and then it's chocolate.

- The only fun part about dreidel is spinning it, getting all the chocolate coins.

- Yeah, it's so yummy.

♪ Nun, Gimel, Hehhhh, Shin ♪ - [Geoffrey] I'm hoping for you.

I'm pulling for you here.

Nun.

You are not doing well, man.

Gimmel!

Right there.

(laughing) I've wiped him out.

I think I win.

Here, have one on me.

- [Kid] Thank you.

- The dreidel game is not my favorite.

It's never really been my jam.

- [Geoffrey] It's a little covetous, isn't it?

- Yeah, dreidel, it's a gambling game.

They say that all the way back in the times of the Seleucid conquest of Israel, they forbade Jews from studying Torah.

So Jews would gather together and study Torah, but when the army would come in to try to catch them in the act, they would pull out these tops and say, no, we're just playing a game.

So that's the story.

Who knows the exact source of it, but that's the story we tell.

- [Geoffrey] Could this ancient game of spinning tops use a little livening up?

Well, how about this?

- [Announcer] Are we ready?

(kids scream) - [Geoffrey] During Hanukkah in 2018, students at this New Jersey school set a record for the most number of dreidels spinning at once, 1,369 to be exact.

(kids cheering) - Something was missing.

- [Geoffrey] One company even designed a game board called a Spinagogue, where serious dreidlers can play.

- The stadium, which transforms into a star of David.

(light music) - [Geoffrey] And in 2023, 250 miles above Earth, this astronaut set a dreidel spinning in zero gravity.

- [Astronaut] Happy Hanukkah, from the International Space Station.

- [Geoffrey] With very little friction to slow it down, it might still be spinning today, as long as nothing gets in the way.

Now that's out of this world.

Back on planet Earth, Jews are a small minority.

They account for just one fifth of 1% of the population worldwide.

And just over 2% of people in the United States.

They're one tiny slice of the American pie.

But despite the group's relatively small size, Jewish culture and practice are thriving.

It's a key reason why Jews first came to this country, a place where freedom of religion is a basic human right.

- People can choose what they want to believe in and what not to believe in.

- Like, imagine if there was just one religion that everyone had to follow.

That would be pretty boring.

- People can think different things because like people are different, right?

(light music) - [Geoffrey] Christmas always falls on the same date, December 25th.

Hanukkah, on the other hand, begins on the 25th day of Kislev, a month on the Jewish, lunar calendar.

That corresponds to late November or sometime in December, making these two winter holidays like distant, but related cousins.

- I grew up in a school where I was the only Jewish kid in my grade and one of two in the whole school.

What was it like for you growing up Jewish in America where Christmas is king?

- I feel kind of left out.

- Do you talk to your friends about Hanukkah?

- Not really.

- It was a battle that couldn't be won really.

Like Christmas was the king.

- [Geoffrey] The LeeVees vent that frustration in this song, titled "Goyim Friends", about their pals who are not Jewish.

(upbeat music) ♪ All my goyim friends ♪ ♪ Are making up their lists ♪ ♪ And all my goyim friends get some pretty sweet gifts ♪ ♪ Like snowboards, cell phones, paintball guns and iPods ♪ - All of our non-Jewish friends are getting the best gifts right now during Christmas.

- I was a bit of a smart-ass, and I would challenge my friends.

I'm like, oh, well we get eight days of gifts.

- Like the reality of, yes, you get eight days of presents and those presents are far inferior.

♪ Six-Pack of socks from each of our Moms ♪ - And we used to put down socks, but socks are amazing.

- That's all I want now.

- Great socks.

- A box.

Look what I got for Hanukkah, a box.

- [Mom] Nicest box I've ever seen.

- Yeah.

- So I just really wanna get into it, like the pajamas, the clothes, the food, the family.

- The presents.

- [Mom] Okay, break down.

- I got a rocket ship.

- [Dad] Oh boy.

- How do we feel about presents?

- We like them.

- Yeah.

- We do one every night, right?

Changes a bit every year, too.

- Because we're interfaith too.

It depends on if it overlaps with Christmas.

- Right.

- Look, it's always been a time of giving.

Certainly in the old country there was gelt, little coins that were given and treats and games.

So it was always a time of festivity, and giving gifts to one another.

- [Geoffrey] That modest tradition got magnified in the late 19th century, as Jews emigrated in large numbers from Europe to the United States.

Christmas had just become a national holiday, with festivities filled to the brim.

- Jewish parents saw how beautiful Christmas was, saw how it was everywhere, trees and decorations and music, and didn't want their children to feel bad that they weren't celebrating this beautiful holiday.

- [Geoffrey] And neither did two Jewish leaders from Cincinnati, rabbis Isaac Mayer Wise and Max Lilienthal.

They grew concerned that many American Jews weren't celebrating Hanukkah, opting instead for the mirth and merriment of Christmas.

- That was very common, especially of German Jewish families who wanted to acculturate and wanted to take in beautiful things about being American.

It often didn't have anything to do with the religious parts of the holiday.

- [Geoffrey] The rabbis saw how churches appealed to children.

So they planned family-focused Hanukkah festivals at their synagogues, and in their weekly Jewish newspapers, they encouraged other temples to do the same.

That tradition continues today.

- I think it has led Jewish people to look deeper at Hanukkah and to want to celebrate our holiday.

(kids clapping) I feel like Hanukkah gets to enjoy some of Christmas's glow.

Christmas can be such an important holiday for folks.

- But the truth is, even Christmas and sort of commercialization around Christmas is a pretty recent phenomenon.

♪ Holiday time's a good time for the good taste of Coke ♪ - [Geoffrey] The first wave of mass advertising came in the 1920s and '30s.

And with it Coca-Cola's now-ubiquitous image of a rotund man in red.

In the decades that followed, the picture-perfect Christmas was being sold on airwaves across the nation.

- [Announcer] Give the gift that keeps on giving.

- This Christmas, your kids can have this colorful, cuddly, Burger King doll.

♪ Add an extra touch to Christmas ♪ ♪ With a gift from Burger King ♪ - [Geoffrey] Americans opened their hearts and their wallets.

- This Christmas, get your boy a train that's built for the way young boys play, a big rugged Lionel.

- Christmas has become much more focused on domesticity, more focused on consumerism.

So it shouldn't surprise us, maybe, if Hanukkah has undergone a similar kind of evolution.

(light music) - [Geoffrey] Today you can walk into many big box stores and find shelves lined with Hanukkah items.

- Well now Jewish kids can get in on all the fun.

Much like the Elf on the Shelf, There's the Mensch on the Bench, and it is selling out in toy stores.

- So is there an irony in this?

Because, you know, in some ways modern day observance, it's a kind of assimilation of Christmas tradition, but the origin of Hanukkah itself is to reinforce your own culture against assimilation.

- Yeah, so it's really a fascinating irony.

But if somebody's gonna buy it, then somebody's gonna produce it.

(light orchestral music) - [Geoffrey] So all the good Christmas songs are written by Jews.

- Yeah, Irving Berlin, "White Christmas."

There are a number of them.

♪ I'm dreaming of a white Christmas ♪ - [Geoffrey] In the early to mid 20th century, Jewish songwriters, working under non-Jewish pen names, wrote some of America's most recognized Christmas hits.

♪ Silver bells, silver bells ♪ ♪ It's Christmas time in the city ♪ ♪ Although it's been said many times, many ways ♪ ♪ Merry Christmas to you ♪ - The Hanukkah repertoire is fairly thin, and it's unfortunate.

There's not a lot of big showstoppers, if you will, in the Hanukkah catalog of Jewish liturgy.

And I hope that there'll be more Jewish composers that are gonna be out there writing better Hanukkah songs.

- [Geoffrey] It wasn't until fairly recently that the list of Hanukkah hits grew to include, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings' "8 Days of Hanukkah."

♪ Eight days of Hanukkah ♪ ♪ Every one of them glows with love ♪ - [Geoffrey] And Tony Ward winner, Daveed Diggs' "Puppy for Hanukkah," which quickly went viral.

♪ You know what I want'a ♪ ♪ What you want, what you want ♪ ♪ What you want, what you want ♪ ♪ I want a puppy for Hanukkah ♪ ♪ Want a puppy, want a puppy ♪ (upbeat music) - [Geoffrey] And of course, the LeeVees.

Their songs run the Hanukkah gamut, but even they can't resist sounding a little Christmas-y.

Just listen to "Latke Klan."

- When we're writing that song, both of us went, bom bom bom bom.

♪ The sun is setting ♪ ♪ Get home as fast as you ♪ ♪ Bom bom bom bom ♪ So we're hearing bells together.

- We knew the tubular bells, we heard that.

That's what so freeing about making this album was that it was like, okay, it's a holiday album so we can go for broke on production and get as big and bombastic as we please.

♪ Come and join our ♪ ♪ Latke clan ♪ - [Geoffrey] If big and bombastic is your thing, check out the holiday spirit in Chicago's north side neighborhood of Wrigleyville, home to the Cubs and a lively bar scene.

- Throughout the years, Wrigley has become such a go-to location for Christmas pop-ups.

It's all green and red and vibrant with Christmas.

And then everyone kind of felt like, well how about, you know, the Jewish community?

- [Geoffrey] Most of the year, this is the Graystone Tavern, but during Hanukkah, it becomes a pop-up bar called 8 Crazy Nights.

Here you can savor the Messiah Melt, or the Gelt Fudge Sundae.

Look at this, okay.

Oy vey!

Play a spirited game of drinking dreidel, or sip holiday-themed cocktails like a gelt martini, or a blue margarita called the Sabbath Night Fever.

The Rockin' Rabbi is really good, too.

- Rockin' Rabbi.

- The Mensch Mule, it's really nice, super sweet.

- Mensch Mule.

- Yeah, and we do the Aperol Shwitz.

- Schvitz, schvitz, you gotta get schvitz.

- See, I got so much to learn.

- [Geoffrey] That's when I started to wonder.

- No.

- You're not Jewish.

- We're not Jewish, no.

- How did you know about gelt and mensch?

- We did a lot of homework.

- But you do have bacon and cheese latkes.

- But it's beef bacon.

- Oh, it's beef bacon.

- We thought of everything.

- So that's not well, but it's beef and cheese.

- Yeah.

- That's treif.

- It is?

- Yeah, you can't have meat and milk together.

- Well, we didn't do that much homework then.

- See?

(both laughing) - Putting these together and finding names.

Again, we had to go and make sure that we weren't doing something that was inappropriate.

- No, none of this is inappropriate.

No, of course not.

Some might raise an eyebrow, but these Jewish patrons love it.

What about the fact that they're not Jewish?

- First of all, it's a great idea.

It shows that the non-Jewish community recognizes, oh, there's a culture that we need to make sure has representation, and it gives us a space and a place.

- I didn't even think that the bar that I go to and my regular spot would become a Hanukkah bar, but it's been pretty amazing and I love the fact they do Manischewitz, that you can just order the bottle service of Manischewitz.

- Oh, Hanukkah's cool, Hanukkah's blue, it's bright.

It's something that we can get excited about.

- There are all kinds of ways to celebrate Hanukkah, a time when we honor our traditions and create new ones, year after year.

- There's actually a principle in Judaism called Chidur Mitzvah, to beautify a mitzvah.

And it means that in addition to doing what we're supposed to do from Jewish law, we're supposed to make it special and make it beautiful.

(acoustic guitar music) (fireworks exploding) - When I was a kid in the '30s and early '40s, Hanukkah was very low key.

It's terrific that it's so easy and acceptable now, in all of its forms.

(acoustic guitar music) - [Geoffrey] While Hanukkah's public persona continues to evolve over generations, the heart of the holiday remains the same.

- It's family.

And it's every year, every year.

- It's eight nights, so you get a lot of opportunities.

So in our busy schedules, in our busy lives.

- Just to sort of come together and, you know, light some candles, say some prayers, and have some fun.

- The holiday also seems to me about Jewish survival, the idea that here we are lighting this hanukkiah that our ancestors have done for 2,000 years.

- Help me say the blessing.

Baruch ata.

Baruch ata.

(light acoustic music) ♪ For the terrible sacrifice ♪ ♪ Justice and freedom demand ♪ ♪ And light one candle for the wisdom to know ♪ ♪ When the peacemaker's time is at hand ♪ ♪ Don't let the light go out ♪ ♪ It's lasted for so many years ♪ ♪ Don't let the light go out ♪ ♪ Let it shine through our love and our tears ♪ ♪ Light one candle for the strength that we need ♪ ♪ To never become our own foe ♪ - [Geoffrey] This holiday season, consider Hanukkah's broader message, one we can all hang onto for the rest of the year.

- Hanukkah is a very beautiful word.

It means, to dedicate.

It was a time they rededicated the temple in Jerusalem.

But it's also time for personal rededication.

What am I committed to?

What are my values?

What's the light that I'm gonna bring into the world?

♪ Don't let the light go out ♪ ♪ It's lasted for so many years ♪ - It can feel sometimes like we're in a cold, dark night of our lives, when struggle or illness or heartache makes it feel completely dark.

I'm really proud that we have this story that lifts up the miracle of light, that things can grow and grow even in times of darkness.

That gives me great comfort and peace.

- I'm Geoffrey Baer.

To all who celebrate, I hope you have a very happy Hanukkah.

I know I will.

- Happy Hanukkah!

- Happy Hanukkah or Chag Sameach.

- Have the best Hanukkah you've ever had.

- Happy Hanukkah.

- Happy Hanukkah.

- Happy Hanukkah!

♪ Don't let the light go out ♪ (audience applauding and cheering) (light instrumental music) (light instrumental music) (light instrumental music)