Adam Sandler's 'Chanukah Song' remains significant to the holiday

A millennial's guide to American Hanukkah specials

The 1990s and early 2000s were a boom time for television specials, including dozens of Hanukkah specials. See classics like Adam Sandler's "Chanukah Song" on "SNL" or the special "Rugrats" episode for the holiday.

Many iconic Christmas songs were written by Jewish composers

Jewish songwriters shaped the sound of Christmas, composing hits like “Let it Snow” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” Irving Berlin, a Jewish immigrant from Russia, wrote “White Christmas, which remains the bestselling single in music history.

For many Jewish people, Hanukkah represents the resilience of their community

Today, many Jews interpret Hanukkah in the context of several centuries of history, including the Holocaust. Alan Avery-Peck’s essay explores how the holiday's meaning has evolved according to each generation's struggles.

Unique Hanukkah traditions exist globally, thanks to the global spread of Judaism

In Mexico, they smash dreidel-shaped piñatas, while in Morocco, children make bonfires from the leftover candles. And in Tunisia, Hanukkah overlaps with the Festival of Daughters, during which women are freed from doing any labor and gather to snack on doughnuts and honey cookies.

The history of the White House Hanukkah party

Despite celebrating Christmas for hundreds of years, the US Presidential White House didn't have its first Hanukkah celebration until 1979, when Jimmy Carter oversaw the lighting of a menorah. Since then, the tradition has expanded, including lessons on playing with dreidels and big parties. See a timeline of the events here.

Hanukkah celebrates the miracle of the oil lamp and the Maccabees' military victory

The annual winter holiday celebrates both events, which ultimately resulted in increased religious freedom for the Jewish people.

The Borscht Belt was a haven for Jewish vacationers—and comedy fans

New York’s Catskills region resorts were informally named after a dish popular with Ashkenazi Jews. The area offered affordable vacationing, as well as cutting-edge stand-up from future stars like Milton Berle, Mel Brooks, and Joan Rivers.

Michaels doesn’t care when people say ‘SNL’ was funnier when they were younger

"Generally when people talk about the best cast I think, 'Well, that's when they were in high school,'" Michaels told "Today" in 2015. "Because in high school you have the least amount of power you're ever gonna have. ... Staying up with friends later on a Saturday is great, and people attach to a cast."

'Lazy Sunday' was YouTube's first viral hit

Initially aired on television, the 2005 "Saturday Night Live" digital short featuring Andy Samberg and Chris Parnell took off on YouTube, becoming one of the platform's first viral videos. The song may be a joke, but its success underscored how online video could extend the lifespan of regularly televised content.

As a kid, Jay-Z was inspired by the Broadway musical “Annie”

That led to the rapper’s 1998 track “Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)” which sampled one of the show’s most recognizable songs, “Hard Knock Life.” "When the TV version [of Annie] came on, I was drawn to it," he told NPR in 2010.

The simple melody in 'Auld Lang Syne' has led to the song’s repurposing

In addition to becoming a standard tune to ring in the new year, the song has been reworked as a Dutch soccer anthem, a Japanese standard, and the South Korean national anthem. A significant part of its widespread use is that it has no copyright limitations. It helps, too, that it's simple melody is easy for even the most amateur singers to tackle.

Working as a mall elf is not always merry

Humorist David Sedaris’s classic radio piece on his time working as Crumpet the Elf at Santaland in a Macy’s revealed a darker side of Christmas, filled with tantrums and fights. First broadcast in 1992, Santaland Diaries was Sedaris’s breakout story, and NPR has annually aired the story ever since.

A list of every ‘SNL’ host and musical guest

Every episode, "SNL" welcomes a host and a musical guest, bringing a wild range of personalities to the stage at 30 Rock. That’s evident by browsing this comprehensive list of every “SNL” episode, which features mind-boggling combos, including Buck Henry and Sun Ra, Helen Hunt and Snoop Dogg, and Jackie Chan and Kid Rock.

Liza Minnelli's 'New York, New York' used to play after the Yankees lost

For a time, Minnelli's version of the song was played following defeats. After each Yankees victory, it was Frank Sinatra's version. Ultimately, the team stopped using Minnelli's version, though Sinatra's is still played after every Yankees win.

Why Robyn's 'Dancing on My Own' became an anthem

Robyn's "Dancing on My Own," was a low-key hit when it was released in 2010, but it's become an anthem in the time since then, influencing artists like Lorde and Charli xcx and inspiring an iconic scene on HBO's "Girls." This article breaks down why that is, studying the song's beats per minute, which match humans' typical walking pace, and the queer experience reflected in its lyrics.

Sondheim was the king of the patter song

Patter songs are up-tempo numbers that match beats and syllables, requiring singers to flex serious verbal dexterity. Stephen Sondheim's patter songs are some of the most famous in Broadway history, featuring rapid-fire speech and clever turns of phrase. This video breaks down some of the finest examples.

Bob Newhart was the first comedian to have a chart-topping album

In 1960, “The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart” reached the top of the Billboard charts and stayed there for 14 weeks. A few months later, a sequel, “The Button-Down Mind Strikes Back!,” was released. Both records occupied the top two spots for 30 weeks, a record that stood until 1991, when Guns ‘n’ Roses released their “Use Your Illusion” albums.

How one trial tested the limits of satirical music

The rapper Afroman, who earned jokey hits in the '90s with songs like "Because I Got High," was taken into court by police officers by police officers in Adams County, Ohio, who alleged that he'd defamed them in his songs. The music in question was recorded after those officers raided his house and satirized the situation, often in graphic terms. The rapper beat the case, but not before his satirical songs were analyzed in court.

The 'Seinfeld' characters would likely be financially successful today

Even though Kramer probably doesn't have a 401(k) plan, he also probably struck gold as an investor with many side hustles.

The sophisticated math jokes of 'The Simpsons'

"The Simpsons" has always been a slyly sophisticated show and has featured more than a few references to complex mathematical concepts. That's largely due to its writers' room, which has featured more than one writer who studied math before transitioning to comedy.

NFTs are unique assets that exist on the blockchain

This SNL skit accurately defines non-fungible tokens in a song and skit. They are cryptographic tokens that represent digital assets like art, and their value can be volatile.

Billie Holiday ensured performances of 'Strange Fruit' had the right context

In the song's earliest performances at Cafe Society in New York, one of a few truly integrated nightclubs in the society, the song was always performed last, after bar service had stopped, with a single spotlight on Holiday so audiences would pay close attention to the lyrics. Later, Holiday included her ability to perform the song in her concert contracts, allowing her to sing it even if venue owners were nervous about its protest message.

‘Shoah’ director criticized ‘Schindler’s List’ for its portrayal of the Holocaust

“I was watching the Spielberg film, and I thought he’ll never go so far,” Claude Lanzmann said. “And he did. But he even created suspense … And these people, all of them are actors. All of them. They’re actors. They do not look like people who have had these experiences. It is an adventure film.”

'The Big Lebowski' slowly spawned a cult following—and a religion

When it was released in 1998, the Coen brothers' film didn't garner overwhelming critical praise or generate impressive ticket sales. Over time, though, it's become one of the defining cult movies, with midnight showings where audience members dress as Jeff Bridges' "Dude" and drink White Russians. It's even spawned its own religion: dudeism.

The Chicago Bears are the only professional sports team to score a Billboard Hot 100 hit

The 1985 track "The Super Bowl Shuffle" was recorded for charity, but the song (with its rudimentary raps and goofy taunts) became an unexpected hit, reaching No. 41 on the Hot 100 chart. This podcast digs into the history of the song and how it became an unexpected pop culture phenomenon.

Prince's sexually explicit 1984 track 'Darling Nikki' attracted the ire of the Parents Music Resource Center, an advocacy group that inspired the Parental Advisory sticker, even though the song ends with a Christian message.

'Saturday Night Fever,' the 1977 film that introduced disco to the mainstream, was based on a fabricated magazine story.

Comedy legend Catherine O'Hara, star of 'Schitt's Creek' and 'Home Alone,' quit 'Saturday Night Live' after just one week to return to her old job.

A small portion of The Winstons' 'Amen, Brother,' an obscure '60s gospel record, is the basis for thousands of hip-hop tracks, making it one of the most sampled records ever that's informally known as 'the Amen break.'

The Ramones' 'Pet Sematary,' the theme song for the Stephen King novel of the same name, was written while the band was admiring the writer's collection of horror memorabilia.

Jimmy Carter signed a 1978 bill that legalized home brewing, a move credited with kick-starting the craft beer industry.

American dance legend Martha Graham, sometimes called 'the Picasso of dance,' refused to perform at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and conceived the piece 'Chronicle' in response to the experience.

In preparation for this weekend's Eurovision finale, which is something like the World Cup of pop music, here's a young Céline Dion performing (for Switzerland?) at the 1988 competition.

Fast-casual restaurant Chili's is experiencing a resurgence, with its parent company recently reporting a nearly 32% increase in sales, thanks to passionate Gen Z fans on TikTok.

El Niño, Spanish for 'the boy,' was named after Jesus Christ because the phenomenon resembled the weather changes observed around Christmastime.

After NASA's Voyager 1 captured Earth as a single pixel as it left the solar system in 1990, astronomer Carl Sagan used the image to reflect on humanity's fragility and the responsibility to protect 'the only world we've ever known.'

'Shogun,' a 1980s TV series, helped popularize sushi in the US by stimulating an American interest in Japanese culture.

Up to a million Girl Scouts sell about 200 million cookie boxes every spring, generating $800 million, largely because refusing a child is frowned upon

Poison ivy can cause rashes year-round since all parts of the plant contain urushiol, the oil that triggers our allergic response.

'Silent' fireworks have gained more interest in recent years as a quieter celebratory option.

Mid-century modern graphic designers, known for their bright colors and bold lines in advertising, also found success with children's books.

The word 'jazz' evolved from 'jasm,' 19th-century American slang for 'energy'

SpongeBob exemplifies Aristotle's philosophy for living well because he understands that happiness doesn't come from external factors like money, recognition, or power.

Many legends about George Washington, including his supposed wooden teeth and the story of cutting down the cherry tree, lack evidence.

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

In 1939, baseball star Lou Gehrig delivered his inspirational 'Luckiest Man' speech after retiring due to the health condition that now bears his name.

20,000 letters to the advice columnist 'Dear Abby' provide insight into prevailing sex, religion, and LGBTQ fears, anxieties, and concerns from the 1950s onward.

'Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone,' a work by American painter Thomas Moran, inspired Congress to establish Yellowstone National Park.

Clever Hans was a 1900s horse that was believed to be able to solve math equations, tell time, and read and comprehend German, until a psychology student discovered how he got his answers.

Studies suggest when you sleep is as important as how much you get, and syncing with your circadian rhythms may lead to less fatigue and improved long-term health outcomes