8 Best Hanukkah Videos of 2014

By Jason Miller December 16, 2014

Rabbi Jason Miller, tech entrepreneur and blogger, has once again come up with a list of the best Hanukkah videos of the year on his blog.

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):

SIX13 — ”Shake It Off” (The Hanukkah Version)

MACCABEATS — “All About That Neiss”

ELLIOT DVORIN AND KEY TOV ORCHESTRA — ”Hanukkah Song Mashup”

ARI GOLDWAG — ”Hanukkah Light”

SHIR SOUL — “Dreidel (A Capella)”

SHTAR — ”Lights”

ADAM KAROL — ”Shake It Off” (Another One)

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!

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO