John Lucas

So, my diligent monitoring of non-Christmas holidays and observances finally pays off today.

No, not because it’s National Bouillabaisse Day or even because it’s Monkey Day, whatever that might be. Turns out December 14 is actually the start of Hanukkah. It’s also the start of Chanukah. Likewise Hanukah, Chanuka, and Chanukkah. That’s a lot of different English spellings for one holiday, but then again, there isn’t just a single spelling in Hebrew, either, where it’s written as both חֲנֻכָּה‎ and חֲנוּכָּה.

However you spell the name of the Jewish holiday, it gives me an excuse to post Neil Diamond’s cover of the song Adam Sandler wrote about it, which is mostly a catalogue of famous people who happen to be Jewish. The fact that Diamond himself falls into that category didn’t stop him from releasing four Christmas albums over the course of his career. Give the people what they want and all that.

Chag Sameach!