The Broflovski family is celebrating Hanukkah together when a Canadian couple, who introduce themselves as Harry and Elise Gints, come to their house.

Hanukkah Harry is portrayed on the show as a variation upon the modern-day image of Santa Claus, with a beard characteristic of a male adherent of Haredi Judaism, and with his clothes in blue with white edges ( the colors of the flag of Israel ).

Hanukkah Harry's first appearance on SNL was on Season 15: Episode 9, a show first broadcast on December 16, 1989, with guest host Andie MacDowell, in a sketch titled " The Night Hanukkah Harry Saved Christmas ", that viewers are told is sponsored by Hallmark Cards in association with the Jewish Anti-Defamation League.

Unable to work due to his illness, Santa calls Hanukkah Harry ( Jon Lovitz ) at his workshop on Mount Sinai, asking if he could fill in to deliver toys to children around the globe.

Hanukkah Harry agrees and flies through the air on a cart pulled by three donkeys, Moische, Herschel and Schlomo.

Hanukkah Harry lands on a roof and climbs down the chimney of the home of Scott ( Mike Myers ) and Christine ( Victoria Jackson ), offering gifts of socks and slacks respectively.

While the children are initially disappointed at their gifts, their realization that Hanukkah Harry had helped Santa, makes them recognize that " Christians and Jews, deep down, are pretty much the same.

Hanukkah Harry's second appearance on SNL was on Season 15: Episode 17, with guest host Corbin Bernsen, first broadcast on April 14, 1990, in a sketch titled " The Night Hanukkah Harry Saved Easter.

Building on these two SNL appearances, Hanukkah Harry has been referenced as a personification of Hanukkah to correspond to Santa Claus in various other media, including on National Public Radio, and on the pages of The New York Times in which Jonathan Safran Foer satirically described him as " a real person who drops in on Jewish homes each of the eights nights of Hanukkah to deliver gifts that are in no way dependent on children's good behavior ".

The Baltimore Sun has called Hanukkah Harry one of the best Saturday Night Live sketches of all time.

pl: Hanukkah Harry

Hanukkah Harry, one of his most memorable roles, cast him in 1989 as a Jewish contemporary of Santa Claus who lives on Mount Sinai and travels the globe with a cart flown by three donkeys to give bland gifts to Jewish boys and girls.

* Hanukkah Harry

U. S. President Harry S. Truman in the Oval Office, receiving a Hanukkah Menorah as a gift from the Prime Minister of Israel, David Ben-Gurion ( center ).

Hanukkah (, Tiberian:, usually spelled, pronounced in Modern Hebrew ; also romanized as Chanukah, Chanukkah, Chanuka, or Khanukah ), also known as the Festival of Lights, is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple ( the Second Temple ) in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt of the 2nd century BCE.

Hanukkah is observed for eight nights and days, starting on the 25th day of Kislev according to the Hebrew calendar, which may occur at any time from late November to late December in the Gregorian calendar.

The purpose of the shamash is to have a light available for use, as using the Hanukkah lights themselves is forbidden.

* ( Hanukkah ) is also the Hebrew acronym for — " Eight candles, and the halakha is like the House of Hillel ".

This is a reference to the disagreement between two rabbinical schools of thought — the House of Hillel and the House of Shammai — on the proper order in which to light the Hanukkah flames.

The story of Hanukkah, along with its laws and customs, is entirely missing from the Mishna apart from several passing references ( Bikkurim 1: 6, Rosh HaShanah 1: 3, Taanit 2: 10, Megillah 3: 4 and 3: 6, Moed Katan 3: 9, and Bava Kama 6: 6 ).

The story of Hanukkah is preserved in the books of the First and Second Maccabees.

The story of Hanukkah is alluded to in the book of 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees.

This work ( also known as " Megillat HaHasmonaim ", " Megillat Hanukkah " or " Megillat Yevanit ") is in both Aramaic and Hebrew ; the Hebrew version is a literal translation from the Aramaic original.

This provoked the 174 – 135 BCE Maccabean Revolt led by Judas Maccabeus ( whose victory is celebrated in the Jewish festival of Hanukkah ).

Hanukkah (, " dedication ") also known as the Festival of Lights, is an eight day Jewish holiday that starts on the 25th day of Kislev ( Hebrew calendar ).

Hanukkah is not mentioned in the Bible and was never considered a major holiday in Judaism, but it has become much more visible and widely celebrated in modern times, mainly because it falls around the same time as Christmas and has national Jewish overtones that have been emphasized since the establishment of the State of Israel.

It is also used to describe Hanukkah and Purim, as well as Yom Ha ' atzma ' ut ( Israeli Independence Day ) and Yom Yerushalayim ( Jerusalem Day ).

The story of Hanukkah is preserved in the books of the First and Second Maccabees.

The eight-day festival is marked by the kindling of lights — one on the first night, two on the second, and so on — using a special candle holder called a Chanukkiyah, or a Hanukkah menorah.

There is a custom to give children money ( Hanukkah gelt ) to commemorate the learning of Torah in guise of Jews gathering in what was perceived as gambling at that time since Torah was forbidden.

The Menorah is also a symbol closely associated with the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah.

The Hanukkah menorah therefore has eight main branches, plus a ninth branch set apart as the shamash ( servant ) light which is used to kindle the other lights.

One candle is lit on each day of the week-long celebration, in a similar manner as the Hanukiah ( which was modeled after the menora ) during Hanukkah.

This event is commemorated each year by the festival of Hanukkah.

Among American Jews, the practice of eating latkes ( fried potato pancakes ) is common during the festival of Hanukkah.

He is not the king who oppressed Judea and was resisted by the Maccabees in the Jewish story of Hanukkah ; rather, that was his son, Antiochus IV.

Like Hanukkah, Purim has more of a national than a religious character, and its status as a holiday is on a lesser level than those days ordained holy by the Torah.

And she wrote the libretto for an oratorio on the subject of Judas Maccabeus performed at the Hanukkah festival which came in December.

Gifts of chocolate molded into different shapes have become traditional on certain holidays: chocolate bunnies and eggs are popular on Easter, chocolate coins on Hanukkah, Santa Claus and other holiday symbols on Christmas, and chocolate hearts or chocolate in heart-shaped boxes on Valentine's Day.

The Gemara, in tractate Shabbat 21, focuses on Shabbat candles and moves to Hanukkah candles and says that after the forces of Antiochus IV had been driven from the Temple, the Maccabees discovered that almost all of the ritual olive oil had been profaned.

These lyrics were rediscovered by Nora Guthrie and were set to music by the Jewish Klezmer group The Klezmatics with the release of Happy Joyous Hanukkah on JMG Records in 2007.

A narration of Bone Button Borscht by Barbara Budd traditionally airs across Canada on CBC Radio One's As It Happens on the first day of Hanukkah.

The commandment to read the Megillah ( Book of Esther ) on Purim and to light the Menorah on Hanukkah are Rabbinic innovations.

At the start of the Christmas / Hanukkah season, many residents and business owners place large, illuminated stars, some as big as or more in diameter, on the " downhill " sides of homes and offices throughout Brisbane.

In the winter of 1975, on the seventh night of Hanukkah, a Gush Emunim group of 23 families and six singles erected a prefabricated concrete structure and two wooden huts at the site now known as " Founder's Circle " in Mishor Adumim.

Polish Jews fried pączki (, pontshkes ) in oil, and ate them on Hanukkah, following the tradition of eating food cooked in oil on Hanukkah.