The Best Hanukkah Videos of 2018

The number of Hanukkah music videos has really gone down the past few years. There was a time when I would come up with a list of at least a dozen fun and creative Hanukkah videos. This year, there are really only two that are worth mentioning. Six13, the Jewish a capella group from New York clearly has this year's best video for Hanukkah... and maybe the best one for the entire decade. With the recent success of the biopic of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, Six13 was very smart to use Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody for their Hanukkah video this year. Of course, The Maccabeats produced another great video this year for Hanukkah, which is more of a mishmash of different type of music. Happy Hanukkah everyone!


Six13 - Bohemian Chanukah (a Queen adaptation)

The Maccabeats - I Have a Little Dreidel - Hanukkah

2015 Best Hanukkah Videos

Hanukkah begins this Sunday at sundown and for those of you keeping track, this will be the 11th Hanukkah holiday observed since YouTube.com launched back in 2005. That means there have been countless entertaining and amusing Hanukkah-themed videos. 2015 has been a good year for Hanukkah parody videos and I'm sure there will be a few more released during Hanukkah (and I'll add those as they're released).

Here's my annual list of the top Hanukkah videos this year (and if you thought I wasn't going to put Adam Sandler's "Chanukah Song Part 4" first, you'd have been mistaken!):


Adam Sandler - Chanukah Song Part 4

The Maccabeats - Latke Recipe - Hanukkah

(Bonus: Get the Maccabeats' Perfect Latke recipe)



Blau Bright Productions - Shalom (Adele's "Hello")

Erez Cohen & Six13 - A One Direction Hanukkah

Ari Goldwag and Sheves Chaverim - Hanukkah - Shir Ushvacha

Jimmy Kimmel Live - Jake Owen’s Chanukah Album

Julie Geller - The Spark (Hanukkah Song)

Hanukkah Song 2015 - Fighting The Darkness

Shir Soul - Hanukkah: Lift Yourself Up

Best Hanukkah Videos for 2014

Each year I put together a list of the best Hanukkah videos for the year and this year I've really narrowed the list to only the best of the best. What makes a great Hanukkah video? Is it the music? Is it the quality of the video? Both?

The best Hanukkah videos are usually song parodies of currently popular songs, but just because you come up with the idea for a Hanukkah song parody changing Ariana Grande's "Love Me Harder" to a song about a Hanukkah menorah called "Light Me Longer" doesn't mean you can write the lyrics, sing it well, and produce a video that will garner a million views on YouTube. Some of these videos aren't song parodies about Hanukkah, but original songs or mashups of several Hanukkah songs. So here are the best new Hanukkah videos for this year (and scroll to the bottom for a surprise from one of my favorite comedians, JB Smoove):

Eric Schwartz (Smooth E) - 8 Hanukkah Song Parodies

Six13 - Chanukah - Shake It Off (Taylor Swift)

Maccabeats - All About That Neis (All About that Bass by Meghan Trainor)

Hanukkah Song Mashup - Elliot Dvorin and Key Tov Orchestra

Ari Goldwag - Chanukah Light

Dreidel (a capella) - Shir Soul

Lights featuring Shtar (by Brian K. Spector)

Shake It Off Hanukkah Edition - Adam Karol (Taylor Swift)

Glee - Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah

And here's the bonus Hanukkah video from the very funny JB Smoove, who has a wonderful performance in Chris Rock's new movie "Top Five," which I think will be one of the year's best movies. It turns out that Larry David's friend JB Smoove, who wished me "Shabbat Shalom" last year, has some questions about the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah:



Happy Hanukkah everyone!

Best Hanukkah Videos of 2013

Well it's time for Hanukkah 2013 and we still haven't come up with a consensus opinion on how to spell Hanukkah -- is it Hanukkah, Chanukah, Hanukah, Chanukkah or Janukah? This year we've seem to have discovered an even bigger spelling problem as we've added Thanksgivukkah into the mix. Some are into this mash up of Thanksgiving and Hanukkah while others are ready to be done with all the buzz. Comedian Judy Gold, with whom I appeared on the Thanksgivukkah episode of HuffPost Live yesterday, tweeted her feelings on Thanksgivukkah: "‏@JewdyGold - The term 'Thanksgivukkah' is getting on my nervukkahs. #annoying." Well, I guess you can't please everyone!

Here is this year's installment of the best Hanukkah videos. Enjoy!

Benji Lovitt's "Thanksgivukkah Pie"




Oil - Main Line Reform Temple




Maoz Tzur by Science Students at Technion University in Israel




One Direction Parody: Jew Direction's "Chanukkah Makes You Jewtiful"




The 1st Hanukkah Thanksgiving by the Shepard Hill Elementary Players on Jimmy Kimmel Live




The Thanksgivukkah Song




Thanksgivukkah: The Movie (Trailer) by Yisrael Campbell




Julie Geller's "I Believe in Miracles" Song




Maccabeats - "Burn"




Hanukkah Song - Adele Parody by Ash Soular
Technically, this is from Hanukkah 2012 but I missed it in last year's list




Matthew Rissien's "The Dreidel Song: Hanukkah Rap"




Duck Dynasty's Hanukkah Album" on Jimmy Kimmel Live




Best Hanukkah Videos of 2012 - http://blog.rabbijason.com/2012/12/best-hanukkah-videos-of-2012.html

Best Hanukkah Videos of 2011 - http://blog.rabbijason.com/2011/12/best-hanukkah-videos-for-2011.html

Best Hanukkah Videos of 2010 - http://blog.rabbijason.com/2010/12/best-hanukkah-videos-for-2010.html