Hanukkah of 2019 is not even over yet, but it’s already turning out to be the most epic Hanukkah of them all — at least when it comes to Hanukkah music.
There’s a new queer Hanukkah song to give us all happy feelings, and an entire star-studded Hanukkah+ album, featuring what I had previously believed to be the best version of “Hanukkah Oh Hanukkah” performed by Jewish dad Jack Black (who, by the way, is a master at saying the Hanukkah blessings).
But then I found an even more thrilling version of “Hanukkah, Oh, Hanukkah,” belted out by queer Jewish legend Ezra Miller and fellow Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald star and fellow member of the tribe, Dan Fogler.
The song is hidden in an album of holiday songs called “A Magical Time of Year,” released in November to benefit Lumos, a foundation that helps get children out of orphanages worldwide. It was started by Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling, who, yes, we have complicated feelings about.
The album is full of songs by Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts cast members, and right smack dab in the middle is this truly amazing version of “Hanukkah Oh Hanukkah” by Miller and Fogler.
I might have missed this jaw-droppingly awesome cover forever, except that today, as I dutifully searched for new Hanukkah videos on YouTube (I work for the Jewish Media, friends) I found something so beyond this world it gave me whiplash. You see, Miller and Fogler released a video for their cover, and it is truly something to behold.
Reader, this video is over six minutes long and not one second of it is wasted. It’s psychedelic, it’s Jewish, it’s queer, it’s metal — it is simply everything.
The video starts with Fogler and Miller explaining the Hanukkah story, or rather, Fogler trying to narrate it while Miller constantly interrupts with on-point fact-checking. The two then dedicate the video to the Goldstein sisters (we’re assuming that’s Tina and Queenie Goldstein from Fantastic Beasts) and start singing.
Honestly, this video has it all. There’s a menorah, hora dancing, and clandestine desert prayers. Miller wraps himself in sequins and a tallis to daven and paints a star of David on his forehead. There’s also a summoning of a golem to fight along the Maccabees, who are portrayed by Miller, Fogler, and a host of other cool witchy-looking Jews in the desert.
Model Guetcha Tondreau provides us with a badass portrayal of Yehudit, the forgotten feminist star of the Hanukkah story who lured evil Holofernes with cheese and beheaded him.
There’s fighting, there’s blood, there are Hermione 2020 t-shirts (because, of course), and there’s even a metal version of “Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel.” Seriously, this version of “Hanukkah, Oh, Hanukkah” will make all your artsy queer Hanukkah dreams come true.
Watch it below. And then watch it again, because it’s just so good.
