From ‘The Chanukah Song’ To ‘Bat Mitzvah,’ Adam Sandler Embraces His Jewish Faith

Actress Julianna Margulies is getting a crash course in Hollywood’s complicated Jewish ties.

Not only does the “Morning Show” star lament the lack of industry outrage over Hamas’ terrorist attacks on Israel, she also bemoans how few shows and films embrace Jewish faith.

“On TV, characters are not ever wearing the Star of David,” the former “ER” star said at Variety’s Hollywood and Antisemitism summit earlier this month. “It’s so easy to put on a cross. Why isn’t it just as easy to put on a Star of David?”

Comic actor Adam Sandler is a notable, relentless exception.

The “Saturday Night Live” alum has spent decades highlighting his Jewish roots in both big-screen comedies and in tunes. Unapologetically so.

And it all started with a song on the show that made him a star.

Each Christmas season, radio stations break out Sandler’s “Chanukah Song,” one of the few Jewish ditties to go mainstream over the past 30-odd years. Sandler introduced the number via “Saturday Night Live” in 1994, and it quickly became a sensation.

“Paul Newman’s half Jewish, Goldie Hawn’s half too

Put them together, what a fine lookin’ Jew.”

Silly, self-aware, and sweet, the song became a Sandler trademark, one he updated a few times to add more current Jewish celebrities.

Dana Edelson/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via

The song proved more than just a seasonal ditty.

Village Voice critic J. Hoberman praised Sandler and the song for changing perspectives about American Jews.

Sandler’s open cultural narcissism — identifying a “list of people who are Jewish just like you and me” on national TV without fear that this might be a problem — dispensed with the underlying subject of American Jewish comedy. Say it loud. No more anxious self-deprecation. Just the slightest bit of irony!

The comic actor followed the song up with “Eight Crazy Nights,” 2002’s animated ode to Chanukah that failed to replicate the song’s pop culture sting. The film may have borrowed a lyric from the song for its title, but both critics and audiences soured on its collection of crude gags and uninspired storytelling.

It might be better than nothing as far as mainstream animated films dedicated to Chanukah, but it’s pretty close to zilch.

Unbowed, Sandler continued to embrace Judaism in his films and TV projects. Many of his film characters are Jewish, and given they hail from his Happy Madison production company that’s no accident.

Even wacky Sandler romps like “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan” found the star addressing his spiritual connections. The title character of the 2008 comedy, a hairstylist and Israeli counter-terrorist agent, moves to America hoping to leave the simmering tensions back home behind.

Michael Loccisano/FilmMagic

Sander’s sexually-charged hero ends up mending fences with his Palestinian frenemy, (John Turturro) a hopeful message amidst the usual Sandler shtick.

His Jewish pride carried over to dramas made beyond his Happy Madison universes.

Slate Magazine called his celebrated turn in 2019’s “Uncut Gems” the “most Jewish movie in years. Co-director Josh Safdie told the site it was no accident.

I think the humor of the film is explicitly Jewish. I think that the concept of being a Knicks fan is explicitly Jewish. This concept of learning through suffering is very Old Testament. Obviously, we are Jewish, so that perspective is easy for us. But in addition to that, the early inspirations were these titanic 20th-century Jews, these overachievers, these overcompensators, these guys with interesting perspectives based on that, trying to work their way into society: the Rodney Dangerfields, the Lenny Bruces, the Don Rickles, the Al Goldsteins.

Vulture.com dubbed Sandler’s 2017 drama “The Meyerowitz Stories” “the Perfect Hanukkah Movie, Just Without the Hanukkah.”

While each character has been individually shaded with fine strokes, the big, fractious Meyerowitz clan falls into a lot of the classic portrayals of Jewish families. They’re preoccupied with education and academic accomplishment, expert-level kvetchers, and noisily dysfunctional. Moreover, they hail from the Upper West Side of Manhattan; flanked by Barnard and Columbia to the north and Lincoln Center to the south, it’s an epicenter of culture and identity for the Tribe.

Sandler’s most recent film, another Netflix original, revolves around Jewish tradition.

“You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah” finds Sandler working alongside his real-life daughters Sunny and Sadie Sandler and his wife, Jackie. Yes, the story is spun from the 2005 novel of the same name, but Sandler used his movie star clout to bring it to Netflix, cultural touchstones firmly in place.

The focus is on PG-rated laughter, but elements of Jewish tradition get a sizable closeup.

IMDB. Happy Madison/Netflix.

Sandler doesn’t involve himself in Hollywood politics, nor does he pick sides in election years. He lets his comedy speak for him. He still took issue with Pink Floyd alum Roger Waters, renowned for his savage opinions against the state of Israel, during a 2015 interview on “The Howard Stern Show.”

I’m proud of being a Jew and that’s what I am,” Sandler said. “I get that from my father and mother … I’m very pro-Israel and when someone says s*** about Israel, and I know people say shit about Israel and they f***ing won’t play there… and when you go off on Roger Waters I love that you do that. I’m disgusted that they single out Israel that [they say], ‘We can’t play Israel.’ All these f***ing nice Israeli people are getting a ‘f*** you’ from Roger Waters.

Sandler’s open embrace of his faith began with a simple confession made prior to playing “The Chanukah Song” for the first time on “SNL.”

When I was a kid, this time of year always made me feel a little left out, because there were so many Christmas songs and all us Jewish kids was the song ‘Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel.’ So I wrote a new song for Jewish kids to sing.

Since then, he’s leveraged his movie star clout for unapologetically Jewish characters so future generations will feel a little less left out.

Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic and editor of HollywoodInToto.com. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News’ Big Hollywood. Follow him at @HollywoodInToto.

The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.