I Don't Know About That - Hanukkah

Episode Date: December 15, 2020

In this episode, the team discusses Hanukkah with author of "Hanukkah in America: A History", Dianne Ashton.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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promo code IDK. Hi everyone before the episode starts I'd like to advertise our new Patreon show which is a compliment. A compliment? Complimentary. A compliment.

It goes along with the other show. $5 on Patreon is your starting price. If you want to listen, it's just going to be me, Forrest, and Kelly, comedian friends of ours, shooting the shit. Maybe talking about other episodes. Jack's going to be on there. Tell them how to get there. It'll be a little looser. No format. We're just about other episodes. Jack's going to be on there. Tell them how to get there. It'll be a little looser, no format. We're just having fun.

You can go to patreon.com slash IDKAT. And there are multiple tiers, but yeah, $5 a month for the bonus episodes with the comics. Hope you enjoy this show. Let's start the episode. Hang gliding. Hanging out. Hanging a person are they different in any way if so how you might find out and i don't know about that with jim jeffries good luck for that i hate you are they different are they different are they different

things being it like like when you hang a person you you go, oh, they're a good hang. Like, what do you do? I don't know. Poor Luis, who has to find the stock footage for these things. Hanging a person. Yeah, you've got to find a little visual there. Just show a noose. You don't have to show a person.

The other thing is Luis's uncle hung himself. Oh, well, there you go. He might be able to find a photo really easy then. Won't be hard being. Different angles. I really hope your uncle's alive. His uncle gardens for me occasionally. I better check my backyard.

No. That's his dad, right? That's his dad. No, but your uncle does it as well. Your uncle does it as well. Alright, cut that all out. Just go from the thing. Because you told the story about Will Ferrell and all that, and your uncle. Yeah, he

got promoted to Will Ferrell's house as his handyman. Alright, alright, alright. Well, then he didn't hang himself. Everything's fine. So he's hanging out. He's hanging out. Yeah, Forrest made the dark thing, and then I seem racist and all that. Fuck it.

I didn't do anything. Your dad works. No, you were right. You were right. Okay. Well, welcome to the show. Here we are, everybody. Very morbid. There's someone in the car who's feeling very sad right now about Forrest's comment.

Probably. Sorry, guys. It's holidays. Jack, what, guys. It's the holidays. Jack, what have you got for us? Common World. Come on down to Common World and get high on our five-star ride. We're all stoked with Common World. Jim and crew are all inside.

Come on down to Common World and get high on our five star ride You're not going to Hollywood I thought that was two different songs at first But then I got into it It could have ended after the first song But I liked that it was an accordion I enjoyed that Was it?

I thought it was a song I think it was a She had sent us one originally, right? That was the first one we listened to And then you guys told her to add some stuff. Yeah. She added too much stuff. This is Jenna Emery.

You said she has a porn star name or something? Yeah, Jenna Emery. Yeah, Jenna Emery. I'd watch that all day. I think you said to add either a saxophone. I think you told her to add a saxophone because I think she played a flute for us originally. You said, make it a sax.

Ah, well, I like it. You're over my stage, Jenna. I say throw in a mouth harp. What's a mouth harp? It's the thing that Snoopy would play. No, I think you're very close. Just at the end, put a triangle. Ping.

All right. Everyone's first instrument. Then the recorder. Or throw a borf at the end. Borf. Speaking of borf. Oh. We got a borf comment.

Oh. It says, I borfant can borf a Borf Borf Worf Borf Borfries. No, no, no. That's a Klingon talking to you. You didn't recognize that? Yeah. That's Klingon. You knew about Star Trek.

Wow. I'm so sorry. I didn't learn that. I learned Navi instead. Avatar. Avatar. Okie doke. Let's start off with a nice comment today we usually don't do

nice comments here we go sit back and enjoy why do i feel nervous i don't know yeah i'm not used to nice things uh i love and admire how unsusceptible you guys are when you're discussing and sometimes being quite harsh with one another and 15 seconds later you're just laughing about something else we should all learn from you especially those in the audience who get offended by your lack of enlightenment on some topics which is always graciously covered in self-derision because come on that's the idea of the show love you guys cheers from an argentinian in paris oh so they say that we get along even though we disagree yeah the u.n could learn a lot from us. We could roast each other and then nobody takes it personally. No one takes it personally on the air.

Yeah. On the air. No, I think it works when you know that people like you and you like them. You can roast each other and not take it personally. Yeah, you know what that roast means in... Okay, I won't tell you. What's that? It's when you have a threesome.

Two guys and a girl is a roast. Really? Yeah. Like a pig on a... It's a's a horrible thing oh i've had a roaster too wish you wouldn't have said that they said the eiffel tower yeah i've done that oh yeah you've done that all right we have all the parts not do it on the show no not on the air uh comment goes, I'm pissed as a fart, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot. An Irishman drunk as a skunk, 4.36 a.m. in Cambodia. Yeah, pissed as a fart.

That's a British term for being really drunk or Australian term, pissed as a fart. It's the Cambodia part at the end, though. Where in America it would be like, I'm angry as flatulence. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Angry as flatulence. Yeah, exactly. Angry as flatulence? Pissed as a fart because you're pissed. Pissed means drunk in other cultures. You know that.

You know that. Yeah, I know that, but then it would be drunk as a... He's just saying if you did it exactly. Yeah, like what it might sound like to an American. When you hear pissed as a fart... I got it. You're like, wow. But also, pissed as a fart,

why would you assume that a fart comes out drunk? Like it just comes out like this. Actually, it probably does come out drunk. It's just like gurgly. It just comes out. I'm out! What's up? Comes into a room, bothers everyone, then fucks off. Yeah, that's drunk.

Yeah, it makes sense. Sometimes you get those ones that go boop. I think those are like at your service. Hello, sir. With my hemorrhoids, I don't have a burp anymore. I have a flap of skin that just goes. Just like a whoopee cushion? So gross. Sounds like a bunch of stuff falling on the floor.

It actually looks like a whoopee cushion, my asshole. So people can sit on your ass as a prank. And they do. Which brings us back to the roasting. On the topic of alcohol, this person commented, I'm Russian, so I listened to episode 10 twice, which was the alcohol episode. The first time when I discovered the podcast,

it was the episode I came across in my routine search for new gym material. And the second time, I said to myself, maybe I'll invite friends and we play the game that we were playing in the. What game did we play? Just drinking so much, I guess. We played the game of alcoholism. Guessing what alcohol we're drinking. Yeah.

But the Russians like we decided to drink to drink more and she says which led to the hospitalization of one of them conclusion do not try this at home if you are the only russian in the group wow and that wow the hospitalization i feel like we've achieved something i mean there was one point where i thought you were you might be dead so i That was with the pink strawberry moonshine. I was like, we killed Jim. I'm well up for a weed episode where we can all get stoned or I just get really stoned and you question me. We don't need specialists for that, do we? I think we could have one, yeah.

Because the alcohol one did fine without the specialist. Well. People liked it. We only did that because we couldn't find one in time. Ah, yes. Where would you find a bartender? Well, we couldn't find one in time ah yes where would you find a bartender well we couldn't we couldn't get somebody on but uh but uh we have we have much better services at our disposal the booking guests i'm sure we can get a weed guest yeah give me a weed

guy and i'll get stoned we can all get stoned and try it but you know either either yeah uh dealer's choice i'll have to find out about that subject beforehand you can't just sit here and get stoned because then i'll get stoned at the end of the episode and have to go home no no no you do it like like we'd introduce the person and then you'd you'd have to smoke a joint because i know you like edibles oh no smoking gets in your system yeah i don't i don't inhale smoke anymore oh well then i guess we're not going to do that well then we'll have to tell you in advance. All the edibles. Okay, we'll tell you in advance.

But just tell me like the day. Just go, edible day. Oh, boy, get me a kid up from school. Look how I'm in. Jack, you'll have to pick him up for work. All right. It's good you're wearing the grumpy hat today because someone yells, I want a grumpy hat, you cunts.

Yeah, that person deserves one as well. They're already grumpy. I know where it is in the florida keys there's a seafood place where you know you buy fish and shrimp whatever and the guy that checks out at seafood all right uh and the guy that like owns the place always wear a hat like he was always grumpy so he started wearing a hat that's a grumpy and now they sell them there um i'm trying to find the name of it right now and you could buy it on grumpy's fish hut yeah it's called the fish shack with grumps bubba grumps yeah that's a good one it's good key largo fisheries there you go you go that actually sounds really familiar from when i

went to the keys if you go to key largo fisheries they have grumpy trucker hats they got them in red black blue and i want white so I'm sure they'll appreciate your business. You can get them down there. If you buy some on the company credit card, Jack, we'll all wear them one day. Then Forrest won't be an individual anymore. I was going to get a bunch of different colors and bring them, but you guys are welcome too, yeah.

Forrest Grump, somebody said earlier. I think that was like, that was. Anyways, so, you know, let them know we sent you. I don't know why. They're not a sponsor. Let them know I i sent you maybe they'll give me some free fish next time i'm in key largo good fish there too if you're there yeah forest is like a seal that just shows up every now and again i just flop on the dock they just throw him a fish give me some smoke fish dip someone says forest looks and acts like a disgruntled bowling

alley manager oh i think he acts like a disgruntled bowling ball just an angry ball there's just three holes in him all right finger him and let's see what happens pick him up by his face i gotta say during covid the bowling alley I've got to say, during COVID, the bowling alley, that's got to be the place that's snuffling the most. Snuffling. Because who wants to go, are you COVID ready? Yes, we are. Yes.

Can we have your shoes so we can give you some other shoes? Then can you touch a ball that everyone else has touched that goes through a machine that you cannot clean? The shoes, they always put that spray in there. That was like if you have any shoes like all right we're good like most uncomfortable shoes on it but some people have their own bowling shoes and own bowling balls then you could go they're made they're so ugly they made them ugly so that people didn't steal them they don't have to be that design they made them like that and then like hipsters started to think they look good and started nicking them. So the bowling people are really in trouble with the shoe design.

I always hated the shoes. I took bowling in high school for gym. Oh, yeah. Yeah, senior year. But my high score is a 198, which is not bad. What does that mean? It's out of 300. 300 is the top, but 198 is hard to get.

You never bowled? Oh, so you bowled in 198. I thought you were saying that your high school was a 198. Yeah, that's what I heard. Yeah, we were the 198th best bowling school in Illinois. No, 300's your perfect score. I know that. I know that Mookie Betts is like a professional bowler,

could be a professional bowler, but he gets 300s and stuff. Yeah, he's done it. Holy crap. Yeah, he's very good. Turns out he's quite the athlete. So he's Major League Baseball and Major League Bowling. He does compete in bowling. Yeah, he competed in good. Turns out he's quite the athlete. So he's Major League Baseball and Major League Bowling. He does compete in bowling. Yeah, he competed in some PGA events.

Yeah, but he just doesn't do it every now and again because he's busy with the baseball luck. Sure. I'm friends with a professional bowler. I could have him on the show. Oh. Remember that when Brad Williams and I were on the PGA Championship? Do you guys know that?

No. Oh, yeah. When you were on the PGA Championship? No, we were on TV pga championship no we were on tv we did we're doing gigs in reno and the pba the the the professional bowling association's hall of fame is in reno at the end of the movie pga is the golf no pba pbg yes p pba sorry professional bowling association and that the hall of fame's in reno when at the end of uh kingpin the movie they actually are at that place.

And so the first night we did a show, there was all these bowlers. There was this and there was a couple that I recognized from when I was younger that used to do trick shots and stuff like that on TV. And so met this guy, Rhino Page, and he was he was in the finals,

the five finals, and he invited us to come and sit there during the ESPN broadcast back behind where the bowlers are you know when you're seeing them there's all those people sitting behind them Brad Williams and I were sitting there like front and center right there and uh we ended up they ended up kind of asking us to leave at the end because then our friend got eliminated and then Brad got like uh this I'm shortening the story but he got like a little poster board that they

had there to put like go whoever or whatever whatever. And he just put his Twitter handle. And also he's a dwarf. So it was like really weird that it was like people kept being like, what's going on back there? And he just put funny Brad. And then that was all you could see during the PBA championship. The guy would bowl and then just be Brad with his sign. He was getting a lot of followers. And then this woman came over during the commercial break and she goes, she goes, put that with her teeth.

Put that down. Put it down right now like she's trying to say like i said he wasn't supposed to be advertising and then then when someone else got eliminated they were like are you guys gonna be here all day and we're like no no we got it yeah it's it's he he would have gotten a little bit more leeway because it's very hard to tell a dwarf to do something very uncomfortable yeah yeah yeah that's what it was. Yeah, because one time Brad booked me to do a dwarf convention out in Anaheim. Yeah. And I was well up for that, right? And it was just performing in front of hundreds of dwarfs.

And then afterwards, they had a nightclub. And from what I gather from looking at the convention, they all knock off with each other. They all get laid. It's a good convention. convention you know they're all in the same playing field and so i went to a nightclub that was like 200 just dwarfs i went there with brad and i was i was sticking out a fair bit yeah right in in the in the crowd and there was so much security that thought that i was like some pervert who just had a kink who just showed up to dwarf conventions and all that type of stuff right so they were all getting into me but i remember the lobby the hot they took over the

whole hotel and the lobby was just like a whole lot of um little people children skateboarding and riding their bikes around the lobby and the manager's like what am i going to do i can't tell them not to skateboard what am i going to do this thing's one foot tall. It's a child. And he's just looking like, ah, they're all having fun. And he explores getting all scratched up. Ah, yeah, yeah. They ran the place. Yeah. So there's more to it.

In the end, the PBA, they liked it. They liked all the promotional part of it, I think. There was one guy that didn't. But anyways, yeah, there you go. I don't know how we got off on that subject. Yeah. We have two more compliments, but they kind of go hand in hand. one is who doesn't love a little bit of jim jeffries makes my day better every time good job jim jack forrest kelly and the spanish fella keep up the great work

do you know that everyone who's had sex with me has always had just a little bit of jim jeffries and many people haven't enjoyed it and they've always turned to a spanish fella the next one goes wake it up on tuesday morning is like christmas to me because of your Many people haven't enjoyed it. And they've always turned to a Spanish fellow. They've always turned to a Spanish fellow. The next one goes, waking up on Tuesday morning is like Christmas to me because of your podcast. What a great way to start the day. The three of you plus Jack and the other fellow,

dot, dot, dot. Is it Carlos? For the best dynamic accommodation. Poor boy. All right. We've got a game for you all at home now. Try to guess Luis's name. Send in your answers.

What might Luis be called? Mexican. By the way, Mexican. The last thing is I've seen this comment come up throughout the week, so I figure we might as well answer it. People are curious how we all know each other. Well, me and Forrest used to do stand-up we still do stand-up together we've been doing stand-up together for over 10 years for over 10 years

uh kelly worked on the jim jeffrey show and jack uh worked on the jim jeffrey show as my assistant as well and and jack was also the assistant of scott who is also kelly's brother so there you go you got it all my favorite part of that is that when Scott asked Jim if he could hire me for the show you said all right but if she sucks I get to fire her myself and then yeah that's fair because yeah I wasn't offended by it at all I was like you can't just have fair I'll tell you what my brothers wouldn't do a great job on the bloody show when I when I was brought, they're like, yeah, Jim doesn't have an assistant yet, but he'll get one. And they came to me two weeks later. They went, yeah, you know, we've asked like all the PAs and like everybody.

No one wants to be Jim's assistant. What? Do you just want to fill in for it and be both? And if it's too much, you can figure it out. Okay. It turned out to be great. And I'm still here. So thank God.

Why did none of them want to be my assistant? Maybe you seem difficult. Ah, do I? I don't know't know you didn't seem difficult i was very intimidated by you at first now now i know you're the easiest person hey look i'm glad i didn't do it because i'm here yeah i'm taking you fucking golfing in phoenix next week you little prick fucking hell i know you like working for me i love working for you all right well i'm angry i'm angry at the person i would have fired if they bloody carlos worked on the show too thank you jose i appreciate it he and i shared an office do you want to tell about your your interview for the show because it's kind of funny i thought interview for the jim jeffrey show was i? No, I mean, because like it was mentioned before,

my dad has his landscaping business. Jim is a client. And so before I even worked in TV, I was helping him out during like a full summer. I would like help him garden. And so I was a fan of Jim's. I watched legit. And so I remember being in his backyard,

like watering his plants. I'm like, wow, Jim Jeffery's lives here. Like this is dope. And then Jim walks out and nothing but tighty-whities. It's smoking a cigarette. He just goes, well, I might. I'm just like, oh, hi. And so, yeah, I worked on like the Corden show.

And I met Brock, who was a PA. And then he asked me if I wanted an interview. So I go. And yeah, I interviewed with the producer. And she was like, yeah, by the way, Jim's great. You know, he's really nice. Talks to everyone like, you know, he pops in in the PA office and like, you know, hangs out sometimes. Like, oh, yeah, like, no, I know. Like I've seen him in his underwear. She's like, I'm sorry, what? I just told the story. Got the job. All right. That's how you got it. I'm a people person.

got the job all right that's how you got it i'm a people person i think like a weekend uh finding out that relationship louis is like hey i don't jim has forgot to pay my dad like two weeks ago come on in and we all like here's the check i handed to louis and he took it home in in all fairness my my ex for many years used to still pay my bills for me even after we broke up because you know yeah yeah yeah so like like so my ex still i think pays i don't know my gardener or cleaner or somebody someone pays some but my ex comes over and checks or tells jack or something like that but i i separated from kate and it took me a year to realize that i hadn't bought any toilet paper.

She was buying it for you. She was still buying it for me and getting it delivered to my new house because she worried about me. When Kate moved out, I came into your house one day and there was like all the light bulbs started going out. And I go, where are your light bulbs? You're like, I don't know. I was just like, I'm like searching for light bulbs. Like, you don't know anything? Like, how do you survive?

I didn't run the place at all. Let's start the show. Well, let's read some ads. I know, I know. Let's read some ads. Okay. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. This is coming in.

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at the top of the homepage and type in Jim, J-I-M. That's shipstation.com and enter the code jimshipstation.com. Make ship happen. All right, let's introduce our guests. Please welcome to the I Don't Know About That podcast, Diane Ashton. G'day, Diane. Hello, Jim. How are you? I'm just fine. All right, all right.

So we know that Diane's fine. We've got to play the song first. Yes, no. Yes, no. Yes, no. Yes, no. Judging a book by its cover. You know, at some point we'll get that all worked out where we just do it.

We'll just do it. Well, look. So, Diane, Jim's going to try and guess what you're here to talk about. You can ask him yes, no questions. I'll give him some hints. I can tell by looking at Diane she's a fellow glasses wearer, which means that she's an intellectual. And her eyes have gotten sore from reading too much.

That's why we intellectuals have glasses from our constant reading. And now I've got bifocals now, and now when I look down at it, I go, that penis isn't blurry at all. It used to just be like this fuzzy thing down there. Okay, Diane, let me have a look. You've got important – it looks like an important thing on your wall there. You've got a clock. That means you like to keep good time.

You're punctual. Yeah. We almost cracked it. Yeah. Diane, do you write books? Yes. All right. Are they educational books?

I hope so. All right. Okay. So she's not Dr zeus those are educational well they're not dr zeus is an education it's not dr zeus it's dr seuss no you got different books well dr seuss they're not educational because it's right at the age where your child's learning to read and then you're reading them just gobbledygook down like the thing and they're going oh is that a word yeah it's drunkung it back and whatever they say, you know,

oop-de-doop and all that type of stuff. And your kid's like, these are real words. Okay, so you write educational books. Do you lecture as well? Sometimes. Okay. At a university? Yes.

All right. So you're a lecturer at a university who writes books. So many things. Is your field of expertise in history? Sort of. Sort of, all right. You want hints already? Sure.

You want to give me? I have hints, but I haven't thought of any. Okay, you're aware of this, but I don't believe you've participated in it. You're a Nazi. I am definitely not a Nazi. All right. Okay. Well, that's one thing we can rule out.

I'm aware of this, but I have not participated in it. Yeah. Raising a daughter. I've never done that. Yeah. We're going to have an entire episode on raising a daughter. You haven't done that. Correct. I've never done that Yeah I thought we were going to have an entire episode On raising a daughter You're in charge of eating bananas You write books on that

I've never eaten a banana in my whole life Okay I'll give you another hint It happens Around the same time But at a different time every year Christmas No it happens at around the same time but at a different time every year Christmas no it happens at around the same time

very close around the same time but a different time so close each year oh the longest day of the year no you're very close

and you said Christmas Christmas New Year's Eve no that always happens the same another religion Hanukkah

you're an expert in Hanukkah that made the an expert in Hanukkah. That made the Nazi comment all the worse. I feel bad about that now. Yeah, you're definitely not one of them. Definitely. Let me introduce Diane Ashton. She holds a PhD in religious

studies and is a professor of world religions at Rowan University. She has published five books and 30 articles about modern Jewish life, especially among women in the U.S. Her most recent book is Hanukkah in America, a history. Thanks for being on the show, Diane.

I thought it always happened at the same time of year. But anyway, let's see. I guess I already gave you like an answer. Let's see if I know what I know. I know there's a lot of blue and white involved.

Jewish people and the Greeks have the same color scheme. Hold on. I just give a little opportunity for our guest to say something before you talk for a while. Diane, just tell us a little bit about yourself. That's anything that I haven't said or just in general, like how you came to be a professor in this. And yeah. Well, I've been teaching about religion in the U.S. for about 30 years. And over the course of that time, being Jewish, I happened to notice that there was a lot of confusion about Hanukkah.

People are very misinformed. And even Jewish people don't seem to understand how it came to be practiced the way it is in the U.S. So I thought this would be a good topic to write about. All right. Yeah. I don't know a lot about it either, except what Adam Sandler has sung about. way it is in the u.s so i thought this would be a good topic to write about all right yeah yeah all i i don't know a lot about it either except what adam sandler has sung yeah i know about what i don't know what adam sandler sings i know that the goldbergs are the only sitcom that celebrate

hanukkah they don't do a christmas episode they just do hanukkah episodes yeah um i yeah okay ask me away i think i know this the maccababees, they're hanging around. There was oil and there was a flame that wouldn't go out. So here's what we're going to do. That's for you. Yeah. Here's what we're going to do, Diane. We're going to ask Jim everything he thinks he knows about Hanukkah, and then we're going to ask him some questions too to help him along.

And then at the end of that, you're going to grade him on accuracy. You are 0 to 10, 10 being the best. Kelly's going to grade him on chutzpah. I looked this up. Confidence. Chutzpah's going to grade him on chutzpah I looked this up confidence chutzpah chutzpah chutzpah

terrible mispronouncing everything already I got three more words that I'm going to mispronounce then I grade him et cetera and then when you add those all together

if you get 0 to 10 you're putz 11 to 20 oi vey 21 to 30 oi vey oi vey what's the other one

like a schmutz or something there's another one I looked up a bunch isn't schmutz just like when you have something on your face schmutz a something? There's another one. I looked up a bunch. Isn't schmutz just like when you have something on your face? Schmier is when you put a bit of stuff on a bagel. I know words. We can do that later.

I don't know that they're necessarily Hanukkah related. Okay. So, all right, Jim. What's a ball? Is a ball made of crackers? What is Hanukkah? It is, right? It's the crackers you chip in your mouth and then make a ball.

No, it's just like a dough. It's just like a dough. I thought it was a dough. I thought it was crackers in there. I don't know. I've enjoyed it at a deli. I've eaten it. What is Hanukkah and what is it referred to as?

Hanukkah is the Festival of Lights. Wow. Thank you, Adam Sandler. That's going to be odd. Festival of Lights. It's a... I've got to look at that can cantaloupe I'm sure it's called there's dreidels involved

that's a big thing spinning a dreidel but like what is it what is it referred to as like what you already said that what is it what is

what's the origin of it how about like the Maccabees right had a lamp I might be way there's Maccabees and they had a lamp

and there was oil in the lamp it was only meant to last one day, but miraculously, it lasted. I want to look at that candle. Where? We don't have one in here. I know, but there's like three, and then there's like one in the middle. Are they even, or is it seven, or is it eight? I think it's eight.

I think there's eight days. So it lasted eight days? Yeah, it lasted eight days. It might last 10 or 12, but I'll go's eight I think there's eight days so it lasted eight days yeah it lasted eight days it might last ten or twelve but I'll go for eight eight's a good one okay and every day you get a different present

and the presents ramp up the first one so we're past the origin story already we're getting presents already the origin story so the Maccabees and then the

the light lasted for eight days and Jewish people were like that's pretty good that deserves a holiday and that was the end yeah okay The light lasted for eight days and Jewish people were like, that's pretty good. That deserves a holiday. That was the end? Yeah.

Okay. I've got to give it up for Jewish people, man. They rock out holidays. They do. They have more holidays. My manager had one where he had like a palm fond and was walking around. He was walking around. I don't know what that was for.

He said, I've got to go. It's a Jewish holiday. And he picked up a palm font and left the meeting. And I was like, all right, he's off to do something. And he said he was building a house with it or something inside the synagogue. And I was like, good for you. And also, one of the big benefits of Jewish holidays here in LA is the traffic really eases up.

And sometimes I'm driving to work and I go, what's going on here? And people go, oh, it's Passover. And I go, oh, that's good. So my son gets a day off school as well. So he loves them as well. He's well into them. I think we're done with the origin story. The origin story.

So Maccabee's father was shot dead and then he saw a bat. What are you talking about? We'll let Diane answer. Yeah, I don't know the origin story. I don't know that. How was it celebrated? You kind of said that a little bit. Now you can say it. What happens is there's a lot of blue and white decorations.

You have a candle. You light a candle, one candle every day for the eight days. It might be more. It might be less. But you light the candle, one candle every day. And then the children, I don't know if the adults get a present. I think everyone gets a present. Everyone involved gets a present a day.

And I believe, just from, I have a Jewish friend who told me about it, that, because I go, that must be good, because Christmas is just one day. Everybody who celebrates Christmas always looks at Hanukkah like, wow, you get presents every day? And they go, no, it's like one present. And the presents, from what I believe, and I may be wrong, ramp up. The first one's no good. The first one's like, here's a rubber band, right?

And then it's like, here's a shoe. And then the's like, here's a rubber band, right? And then it's like, here's a shoe. And then the next day, here's another shoe, right? And then like the last one's PlayStation, right? Last one, you're getting PlayStation games as you go along. And you're like, oh, God, I hope there's a PlayStation at the end of this because otherwise these games are no good. And then boom, PlayStation. Okay.

But I don't think you get maybe as many presents as you do at Christmas. But Jewish people, because they have things like bar mitzvahs and all that type of stuff, it all equals out. It all equals out in the wash. Everyone's getting the same amount of presents in our society except for those Jehovah's Witnesses who don't celebrate anything. They get nothing. You know the Jacksons were Jehovah's Witnesses

and they brought out a Christmas album? That must have been hard for them. What if Michael turned out bad? He's there going, Santa Claus is coming to town. Not for me. Spell Hanukkah. Give me an H.

Give me an A. Give me a car. What does it spell? Okay. Give me an A. Give me a car. What does it spell? H-A-N-A-K-A-H.

Okay. Car. Yeah, that's right. That's right. Is it the most important Jewish holiday? No, I believe that probably Passover is more religiously important. Yeah, yeah. Like more significant or holy.

I think more holy and significant Passover would be a bigger one. Okay. Yom Kippur. I don't know how that one ranks. I'll put that one at third. So I'm going to go Passover, Hanukkah, Yom Kippur. What about Rosh Hashanah? Rosh Hashanah is fifth.

That's fifth? Okay. Wow. I don't know what fourth is. Fourth is, I don't know. Okay. I don't know. All right.

So we already asked. You said it's eight nights. Eight crazy nights. I'm trying to remember the song. You would think because you learned from Adam Sandler, the song is called. I haven't listened to the song a lot. You just said eight crazy you learned from Adam Sandler the song is called I haven't listened to the song a lot but I

you just said 8 Crazy Nights 8 Crazy Nights yeah so here's there's a movie there's a movie that Adam Sandler

brought out it was a cartoon which I believe is called 8 Crazy Nights it could be called 10 but it's on Netflix right now

it's called Something Crazy Nights yeah Something Crazy Nights I think it's 8 Crazy Nights and thank you Adam Sandler

for that and the only other song so you get Adam Sandler's song, and you go dreidel, dreidel, dreidel. I made you out of clay. And I learned that song from South Park. We had to sing that in school here. We sang both. I've got to say this about Australia.

Not a lot of Jewish people. Not a lot of Jewish people in Australia. We had in my suburb a lot of South African Jewish people, but not like I never went to school with any Jewish people. There was a South African Jewish people, but not like... I never went to school with any Jewish people or anything. There was a separate school in Sydney, but that was the only one, yeah. Okay, I already...

When is it? Why does it change every year? So that's kind of given you a... It changes every year. Why? Because it has to start on the second Friday of December. And that that changes all the time it changes all the time that second friday hits man yeah you finish school you're like let's hanukkah this bitch up man what is guilt guilt is uh what uh jewish mothers give to their children i've i've i've i've met a

lot of i've met a lot of jewish stand-up comedians. Gelt. Gelt. Oh, Gelt. Not Gelt. Gelt. Gelt. I thought you were saying Gelt. It's something I carry around with me all day. I thought for sure you were doing a bit, so I was just letting it go. Oh, no, no. Gelt. G-E-L-T.

Gelt. I have no idea what Gelt is. Okay. I don't know about that. Okay. You already talked about some Hanukkah traditions. Is a trip to synagogue a staple of Hanukkah celebrations? It definitely is for Passover and Yom Kippur.

I believe that you'd probably have to do it at least once. You'd have to rock off to the synagogue at least once. Okay. And you mentioned the Maccabees. Do you know who they are or who did they defeat? I only like the name. Yeah, yeah. I don't know anything about the Maccabees. Do you know who they are or who did they defeat? I didn't like the name. Yeah, yeah. I don't know anything about the Maccabees.

How did you learn the name then? How did you just go along with it? Well, because I've heard the thing. Well, the thing is I remember that for a while after Mel Gibson said all the horrible things that Mel Gibson said, I believe that he was trying to get back into Hollywood. I remember reading an interview where he said, I'm going to make a movie about the Maccabees.

And I remember thinking, how have they not – maybe they have had films, but nothing that's really reached me. But how have they not had a big sort of – we have so many Christmas movies and so many Easter movies where we watch Jesus dying on crosses and all that type of stuff. I think a Maccabee movie is ready to go. All right. I don't knowcabee movie is ready to go. All right. I don't know if Gibson's going to make it.

But that's a true thing. Gibson said that in an interview, and I remember thinking, like, wow, that's a big swing, Mel. Yeah. Two more questions here, then we'll get to Diane here. What types of food are considered, like, traditional Hanukkah fare? There's the matzo ball soup. There's also a thing that they hide.

This might not be Hanukkah. This might be another Jewish thing. They hide a thing in a drawer or something, and Jewish kids all run around. They try to find it, and then there's a prize for winning. It's like a matzo ball or something. It's something like that. The way I found out about that was

I was once doing opening in Anthony, the radio show, and Dice Clay was the other guest and he's Jewish and he told me all about that. And that was about 15 years ago. It was like 12 years ago, man. We'll see.

I actually don't know the drawer, but we'll see what... Well, it's not a drawer, but it's a hide. It's a small thing. I've done that. Yeah, you've done it. Jack's done it. Okay. Here's your last question. how did hanukkah get the blue and white color theme um blue and white oh it's the color of israel okay it's the israeli flag

all right um i've been to israel a couple of times so that's how i got it from israel i've i've gone is that timeline check out for you oh yeah israel's not that old yeah is israel israel's only a hundred year old country well no no tel aviv's only a hundred year old city tel aviv's only a hundred year old city israel's the oldest place on earth um yeah it was there well consider the color the color scheme probably didn't come into play until the holiday became commercialized so you might be

you might be right I'm gonna say it is from Israel this is the thing about Israel I've been to so Tel Aviv is like 100 years old

and it's fallen to bits and then they've got cities next to it they're like 3000 years old that are pristine oh you're just saying parts of Tel Aviv though because I've been there

with you there's parts of it there's parts of it that are just a bit, like 30 minutes up the road, it's like an old place, and it's still like mint condition. And Jerusalem's still really shiny with all of its quarters and all that type of stuff. But Tel Aviv, I'm talking old builders are better. That's what I'm saying. Maybe it's the Mediterranean Sea, the sea air or something.

Yeah, the builders back in the day put more work into it. Well, I'm not going to argue with that. That's what I'm saying. Maybe it's the Mediterranean Sea, the sea air or something. Yeah, the builders back in the day put more work into it. Well, I'm not going to argue with that. Yeah, that's for sure. Okay. And Diane, there's other things you can feel free to talk about that we didn't go over. But on a scale of 0 to 10, how did Jim do on his knowledge of Hanukkah? I was surprised.

I think he's probably a 6.5. All right. All right. Everyone's so nice to you on this. Well, I'm a 6.5. All right. All right. Everyone's so nice to you on this. Well, I'm a pretty smart guy. I feel like they feel bad for you, and they give you a higher score. Would you have done better? No, I wouldn't have done better, actually.

I don't have any knowledge of the Maccabees at all, so I wouldn't even have gotten it. And I've been to Israel, but I just don't – I know maybe a little bit. I think I know. I knew how many nights it was. Your grumpy hat looks like a Hanukkah gift. Yeah, I wore it today. I wore a blue hat today.

Okay, Kelly on chutzpah. Yeah, I'm going to say they get the colors from the Dodgers. I'm going to change my answer. Just for that comment for chutzpah, he gets nine. Nine, wow. Et cetera. I'll give you ten, Jim. Yeah, right. That way way you're a mensch i don't want you to be okay good good good this is a this is a shout out to everyone in the world except for the people who live in north korea because the rest of us are watching

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for 1 million bonus chips when you sign up. That's 1 million bonus chips when you download the World Series of Poker app using the code WSOPGymim what do you got to lose well all right dan um thanks for being here let's start off with just simply like what is hanukkah like what else is it referred to and like what's the origin story jim said it's the

festival of lights and then he said mcabee's lamp will the oil was going to last a short amount of time it lasted longer we've all had that lighter when we were smokers you're like i can't even see any oil and this keeps going i've had that miracle myself but maybe we can just the general idea of like what hanukkah is and what it's referred to and yeah how it started okay well you know that's a lot of information. So Hanukkah began with the revolt against Antiochus Epiphanes IV. Can you imagine a name like that? He was the emperor of Assyria, which had conquered ancient Judea. And they were very, their culture was very Greek because I won't go into all the details but they were trying to get- I'd like to change an answer very quickly,

they got the colors from the Greeks. We're going back to Greek in a number of ways here. So Antiochus wanted to make the folks of Judea stop practicing Judaism and start practicing the Greek religion because he thought it would just be better for his whole country and would make them loyal citizens. And that was his goal. he banned teaching torah he um focused his attention on the temple in jerusalem because that was really the the centerpiece of jewish life and he installed a statue to zeus in the temple which is like are you kidding me um there's no graven images as it says in the ten commandments and the old temple in jerusalem because jews believe that god is a pure spirit so there's no statues but the other thing that was in the temple that antiochus wanted was that's where they stored the money for charity for widows and orphans so he wanted to get at the money

money for charity for widows and orphans. So he wanted to get at the money. So he had a couple of different motivations for this. At any rate, he decides to go ahead with this plan of stamping out Judaism and forcing everybody to do Greek religion. And there's a priest who was not one of the temple priests, but a village priest named Mattathias, who saw that this was really having an effect and it made him crazy. So he had five sons and he got his sons to kind of lead this revolt against Antiochus. It was the Maccabean revolt. His son Judah was called the Hammer, and he was the big leader of the thing. And they were very successful, miraculously. And so the revolt was in 167 BCE. They win this, they take over the temple, They take over the temple. They clean it out.

And the temple had a number of tall candelabras called menorahs that were. I've heard that word. I knew that word. We're right. We're right. The candelabra though. I call them your moras because they're not mine. That doesn't even check out. Menorahs. Menorahs. Okay. Menorahs. Menorahs. Menorahs. Menorahs. Menorahs. Menorahs. Menorahs. Menorahs. Menorahs. Menorahs check out menorahs

menorahs so the menorahs really were supposed to stay lighted at all times because those flames represented the presence of God so they had to be lighted all the time well there was only enough oil after this big desecration of the temple.

There was only enough oil to last, they thought, you know, maybe overnight, not long enough for them to make more oil. But miraculously, it lasted for eight days. And there you go. You got it. The lamp stayed lighted for eight days. And there you go. You got it. The lamp stayed lightened for eight days. They made more oil. They reclaimed the temple. Judaism survived. And so that's why we celebrate Hanukkah. And that's why we light a menorah at Hanukkah. But at Hanukkah, it's a special menorah. It's a Hanukkah menorah, an eight candle menorah for eight days of Hanukkah, it's a special menorah. It's a Hanukkah menorah, an eight-candle menorah for eight days of Hanukkah, as opposed to the seven candles that were in the temple in Jerusalem.

But isn't there like one in the middle? Yeah. That's the one in the temple. It can be at the end. It can be in the middle. But that one is the one you use to light all the other ones. So you light that one first. Oh, so there's actually nine?

Is there nine? Yeah, because it's eight candles, and then the ninth is this. It's called a shammas. And so you light the other candles with that. So arguably, this is even a bigger day than Christmas in the sense that your religion was saved and preserved, where Christmas is just like christ was born hurrah yeah well it started yeah it started yeah yeah yeah but i i feel like this is maybe a more poignant one well it would make a better move i mean i don't know why there i mean i'm sure

there's been movies made has there been movies not that i know of really wow because there's like battles there's like fights you think this would happen this would be like it could be an action i would say that to anyone who ever makes that Because there's like battles. There's like fights. You think this would be like, it could be an action movie. I would say that to anyone who ever makes that argument that there's too many

Jewish people in Hollywood, go, there's never been a bloody Hanukkah movie. That's a very excellent point. There's obviously not enough. You gotta pitch one. Yeah,

you're the guy. I can take it, Daniel. Jim Jeffers pitching the Hanukkah film you use this uh podcast look all the stuff i learned it feels like there was a battle there was a miracle there's things going on yeah yeah i think i've been i've been to i've been to jerusalem i've been in the four quarters and all that type of stuff i think i i'm a big fan of uh judaism in the sense that

um i'm i'm an atheist but you guys don't believe in hell, correct? No hell. Correct. No hell. No hell. No hell. Bring it on. It's because we're living in hell right now.

I'm just kidding. Then you said his son was. And also only the Old Testament, so half the reading. I can't remember his name. The priest that got his sons together. What was his name? Mattathias. Okay.

And one of his sons was nicknamed the Hammer? Yeah. Judah. Oh, because there's a movie, The Hebrew Hammer. I remember that. I've seen that. Yeah. That's who it refers to.

Oh, okay. And then in Glorious Bastards, too, the one guy that comes out with a bat and beats the guy's head. He's called something Hammer, too. It's called the Bear Jew. Ah, the Bear Jew. I got that one wrong. Okay. But The Hebrew Hammer. I remember that movie. I can't remember the guy's head. He's called something hammer too. It's called the bear Jew. Ah, the bear Jew. I got that one wrong. Okay. But the Hebrew hammer.

I remember that movie. I can't remember the actor's name. Jonathan Kesselman. All right. Adam Goldberg. That's it. Yeah. I remember watching that.

Okay. That makes sense then. All right. So what is next? How is it celebrated? Jim said a lot of blue and white decorations, light one candle every day. Every individual gets a present. It really, and the presents ramp up.

Rubber band, shoe, shoe, boom, PlayStation. I would take that. That's how I wrote the notes too. If I was a kid and I got a rubber band, a pair of Air Jordans, four computer games, and a PlayStation, I'd be well up for that. I'd be like, good haul. Okay, well.

So do adults get presents? The presents are an American thing. What? Yeah, yeah. Because, you know, America, everybody's got to buy junk for everybody, right? So that's what we do. It's a consumer economy. We buy gifts for people.

Not like those communists. So in Israel, the gift-giving isn't celebrated? No. Hanukkah is, first, you have to understand, Hanukkah is not an important holiday in Judaism. It's categorized as a minor festival. Wow. I'm at it at number two.

Yeah. Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, those are the top. Wow. I'm at it at number two. So... Yeah. Passover. Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, those are the top. Those are the top. Passover is an important festival. Not as important as Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, but way more important than Hanukkah. Is there any of the holidays that you get gifts in,

if you live in Israel? Do you get gifts at any stage for being Jewish? I don't know if you live in Israelrael i guess it's not going to hell yeah you gotta get the guy to hell they replace the playstation like just not going to hell that'd be great um well because christmas the only reason there's guests on christmas is because the guests were brought to jesus right that's the so they kind of, but again, it's like Diane was saying, it's commercialism of it here. Yeah, it's America. Yeah.

We buy stuff. So, and so how is it celebrated then without, forget the gifts then, like what else? Well, the gifts, I get that question a lot from people who are not Jewish, like seven days of gifts, eight days of gifts. That's really pretty terrific. And except that a lot of parents use that time to give kids like pajamas, school supplies. You know, you get one or two nice gifts that you were hoping for. And the rest of the time, it's stuff that you were going to get anyway.

You know, it is funny because people always say like, oh, eight days of gifts. But generally on Christmas, people get eight or more gifts i think hanukkah is better if you are gift giving because especially little kids they open a gift they love it for 30 seconds and they go okay next and so at least with hanukkah they said it's pajamas and school supplies dynamo 4 is a vaccination shot i mean it depends on the family you know but but from what people have told me that's really the way it goes um so well how do you celebrate if if not the gifts is it a joyous is there food involved oh yeah there's always food about if it's a jewish holiday you know there's going to be food involved um so because the miracle involved oil lasting for eight days,

we eat fried food. The oil is part of the whole thing. So it's like basically going to a carnival in Kentucky. I think it might be Jewish. Yeah, fried Twinkies and Oreos. Yeah, I'm in. So it's potato pancakes if you're from Europe. Latkes.

Does KFC get a good look in? I get a good looking i don't know i don't know it's fried chicken is that because that's the bed the ultimate fried food is fried chicken it is but that's kind of southern yeah um juice it's the potato pancake that became the big deal for uh folks in europe um what's that called what's what's the actual eight donuts what's Europe. And what's that called? What's the actual... Eight Donuts. What's the term for... Is it just called potato pancake or is it called a...

Lakas. A lakas. Yeah. Okay, this is something that's bothered me for a long time and I haven't met a Jewish person that I could corner to actually ask this question. What's a knish? I've seen it referenced in so many TV shows.

I thought when I came out to America, people would be trying to sell me knishes. I thought I would go into stores and go, I'll have a packet of smokes and a knish, please. Right? Never happened. Haven't seen one. Been here for 12 years. What is it?

A knish is dough that's stuffed with either potatoes or grits or spinach but mostly it's mashed potatoes because i eat pies or on the constant right meat pies or or spinach pies or whatever i'm always covering things in pastry i feel like the knish should have been marketed to me yeah and i i feel a little bit put off that no one's tried to sell me one. Well, I mean. They're hard to find. They're hard to find? I've never seen. I should walk up to a deli counter and go, hey, get yourself a knish on the way out.

If you can find a Jewish deli, they'll get you a knish. Oh, we got Jewish arts deli up the road. I think Cantor's might have it. Cantor's would, yeah. I think Cantor's deli might have it. I think arts would have it just up the road. But Cantor's, whenever I'm at Cantor's, there's stuff that I don't know what it is,

so I'm assuming they might have it all. They might have the whole thing. Did you guys invent pastrami? Because if so, bravo. Oh, I think the Germans had it first. Run it up again, Jim. What about brisket? Was that one yours?

No. We're going to say yes. All right, brisket. Yeah, you know what? Because I'm a Jewish person. Brisket's Jewish. Oh, I didn't know that. I always assumed it was southern because I just eat it.

Yeah, folks in Texas. Yeah. Folks in Texas love brisket. That's my favorite. I had no idea. Brisket's my favorite. I'm all in on Jewish holidays eating then. Potato, fried potatoes, brisket.

Jewish holidays are all about food for sure. I love a good Jewish delicatessen. I mean, I'm in on the food for sure. But in Israel, they eat jelly donuts. Oh, I love a jelly donut. I had one in Israel. That's weird, but I didn't know why they were offering them actually. I liked every restaurant you went to in Israel.

I had a bodyguard while I was there, every time we went there he took me to a different place and they just put hummus in front of you as you sat down like as if like like you're an American restaurant you got a glass of water they just put a plate of hummus straight away and then like I'd eat it and it would be the best hummus ever and he'd be like this hummus is no good. I have another place you have to go to the hummus is uh like this right so we'd go to the next place it tastes exactly the same and i'd have to fake it out like oh yeah now now i've got these chickpeas down i tell you i am a hummus fan but this guy bigged it up yeah when i was when i was

there too when i went to jerusalem i was there by myself. I was traveling with Jim, but I went to Jerusalem by myself that day because I think you were ill, actually. Right. Yeah, yeah. So I ran in a car and drove from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and then I was walking through the old city, and I bought a ring as a gift. And then the next guy was like, oh, you got to get these earrings. They all were sort of related somehow in each one of these stores. And the catch was the hummus. I walked out and bought the ring and these three guys were just eating hummus.

And I go, hey, come in here and have some hummus. I was like, all right. And it was like, I heard you in my head because I go, this is the best hummus. And they would not let me leave. They're like, you have some hummus? Do you like coffee? I'm like, no.

And then they just handed me a coffee, like a Turkish coffee or something. I was like, okay. And then I left with like earrings. I left with a whole assortment of things. But the hummus was like the selling point. It was very good. I was eating baklava every 10 meters.

Because there's all these trays and there's such a small portion. I go, I'll buy a bit of baklava. It costs like $1 a piece or something. So I buy that and I walk a bit further. That was good. Then I pass another tray. I'll buy that baklava. So it's basically just Costco over there.

I was buying back liver like I was on a pub crawl for back liver. But the food in, for me, the food in Israel is amazing. It's very diverse. There's so many different you know. One of the best places I ate there was like a Persian place in Jerusalem that was like just slow cooked.

It was amazing. The food was really good. What's your latke preference? Applesauce or sour cream? Applesauce. Okay. Oh, yeah. I'm sour cream through and through. Yeah, no. I'm a sour. Well, I was when I was a child, but at this age, applesauce.

I got some growing up to do. Okay, so I'm sour cream with pierogies, which I know are a different country and different thing and all that type of stuff. But it's a similar thing. Yeah, but it's all the same. It's the same, similar thing. It's pastry and potato and everything. I like the sour cream with the produce um also i use i don't eat pork anymore i don't eat pork i've taken for you i took pork out of my diet just

because they're an intelligent animal and my wife is a vegan basically she eats crustaceans but um but uh she educated me on pork and uh the pigs are smarter than dogs they're as smart as a three-year-old child i don't do it for any religious reasons but i don't eat the pork but i missed the pork it was it was a good meal now this next question i've seen it spelled many different ways that's the thing jim didn't get it right at all in any of the different ways. He said H-A-N-A-K-A-H. That's wrong. Hanukkah. Yeah, I know you can keep saying it out loud, but you're not saying it right.

I can't spell the name. It can be tricky. It can be tricky because Hanukkah is not an English word. It's a Hebrew word. And the first letter has no equivalent sound in English. The first letter is chet. There's no ch in English. So people in English kind of make it up as they go along, that they do it phonetically.

So in 1892, the New York Times started spelling it H-A-N-U-K-K-A-H. You see a lot. That's when I put in my book. But you also see it C-H-A-N-U-K-A-H Chanukah. Oh, Chanukah. Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

People who don't know it's a Ch pronounce it like chair, which is, you know, totally wrong. Yeah. I usually put... Oh, I call chairs Ch-A-N-U-K-A-H I put a Ch with an A. What do you call them? Ch-A-N-U-K-A-H Oh, yeah. I kers. I put a k with an A.

What do you call them? Oh, yeah, I've heard you say that. I always get it wrong because I say H. I put two Ns and one K and not one N and two Ks. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. It's not an English word. What does it mean in English?

What does Hanukkah mean in English? It means the festival of lights. Festival of lights. That's a very succinct word for all those words. Yeah, well, we're not doing that. Well, it comes from the word that means dedication. So Hanukkah is really all about dedication, the dedicating of the temple in Jerusalem.

So it's really a holiday about being dedicated. So it's linked with education because it's your education in the religion. You asked another question about gelt. And gelt means money. And in Eastern Europe, parents used to give their children coins at Hanukkah, and part of that money was supposed to be given to their teachers. Again, carrying out the idea that Hanukkah is linked to education and dedication. And that's the gold chocolate coins? Yeah, that's America.

In Australia and Britain, I don't know if they still do, but when I was a child, this was a thing. They put coins, just real money, in Christmas puddings. What? Inside your Christmas pudding, they'd put coins just rent like real money in christmas puddings what inside your christmas pudding they'd put coins and like you'd go your spoon you hit a bit of metal and you go i got myself 20 cents i don't know if it's multiple coins but there was definitely might be one coin or a few coins right they put the coins inside the christmas pudding the days of covert you couldn't even believe that would happen right but the dirtiest thing you could possibly find in pudding. Yeah, the pudding's cooked.

I don't know if my mom sterilized the coins anymore. I don't know if she boiled them. Could you accidentally bite a coin? If you're eating your pudding like a pie, if you had a spoon, if you had a spoon, it was like a 20 cent coin there, a big coin. It wasn't like pennies.

Got to wash off the coins in the colander. Yeah, you put coins in Christmas pud puddings it's a real thing um you sort of touched on this already damn but i asked him if it was the most important jewish holiday he said no he had passover is the most important but you said i'm sorry what you said rosh hashanah and yom kippur and yom kippur are the the two most important and the sabb. Actually, the Sabbath, which comes every week, it's the only one in the Ten Commandments. So that's really at the top. And then Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. And then you get, those are the big ones.

And then you get the festivals, Passover, Shavuot, the weeks, and Sukkot. Those booths that you were talking about, Jim, the guy who was carrying the palm fronds, going to put on the roof of a little hut, that's Sukkot in the fall. So why do you think Hanukkah became like the poster holiday for non-Jewish people? Is it simply because it's close to Christmas and we're like, here's the equivalent?

Okay. Can I just say, I used to have an acidic, am I saying that right? Acidic Jewish person? Acidic. Acidic. Acidic. A Jewish person who lived downstairs from me in London. He lived there for a few months when I was leaving.

Now, he used to, when the sun went down, he used to come up and knock on my door to make me come downstairs to change the channel on his TV. Come on, that's a bloody loophole. He couldn't work mechanisms or something after this. Go on, you've got to say that one's a bit crazy. Okay, I've got to explain that. Okay, I've never heard of this. There are a few things that you're not supposed to do that's considered work

because you're not supposed to work on the Sabbath. Well, so then the question is, well, what's work? So one of the things that was considered work was lighting a fire. So you're not supposed to light a fire on the Sabbath. Well, what if the fire is electricity? So that's why Jews who are really very devoted to maintaining all the rules which are the chassidic jews they don't do anything that would light a fire which means they don't turn electrical items on or off right i was only once a week he made me do this yeah yeah i was like yeah because i i was

the hospital my mom was in last year there's on like on the sabbath the the elevator would stop on every they had one elevator that would stop on every floor so that you could walk in the elevator and you would make sure you get to your floor, but you didn't have to touch anything. Right. The thing is, this is a workaround. He's making me sin.

This is a workaround. Well, Jim, these are really old rules. I know, but why make me go to hell? Oh, there's no hell. That's right. But why make me do bad things? Well, you're not Jewish. Yeah.

I remember cause he used to be really mean to me. Like, it's like, like tell me off if I was noisy or I stayed up late. He wasn't mean. He was all right, fella. Right.

But a couple of times I remember saying to him once on the stairs, he was telling me off. He goes, you were a bit loud yesterday. Like this, right? And I said, I'll bloody change your channel next time. And I'll put a fucking show on.

You know what? That's what we're going to do, mate. That was a trade off. He knew, time and i'll put a fucking show on you don't want if that's what we're gonna do mate and it was a trade-off he knew he knew i held the power on sundays um we asked how many nights it is you said eight and what does that represent diane already told us what that represents so that's good um okay so when when is it and why does it change every year and jim said has to start on the second friday of december yeah it changes all the time i don't know if that's right oh that's a

lovely lovely idea you tried to thanksgiving that one that's what he tried to do judaism has its own calendar uh and hanukkah starts on the 25th day of the month of Kislev. Have you ever heard of Kislev? No. That's a whole other episode, Kislev. Is that like Questlove? So the Jewish calendar is a lunar calendar. All the months are 28 days, which is fine, except that we have a solar calendar, which 365 days these two things don't match up

so the jewish calendar has to have kind of interpolations and every few years we add a fourth month to kind of keep the holidays in the season where they're supposed to be right okay so that's why you don't have a direct correspondence between when hanukkah is going to begin and what the what happens with the days of the solar calendar. What's your extra month called? What do you name that? It's a second Adar. There's a month called Adar and every few years there's a second Adar. I'd call it December to the max.

So, so the 25th of K love it starts over here okay yes and so this year jim we are currently in the middle of hanukkah right now i could feel it yeah it actually well this comes out next tuesday this episode will come out on the 15th i believe does everyone get the day off work for the eight days do No, it's not that kind of holiday. This is part of being a minor festival. You get no days off work. Yeah. But you get days off on the other holidays.

Well, I mean, here they do it in the States at least. But the kids still have to go to school and everything. I guess so. My son's in school with some Jewish kids and they're all there. What are some Hanukkah traditions? Dreidel. Youukkah traditions dreidel you did mention a dreidel there's the decorating blue and white

and there's the let's go with that blue and white there's the Mallorca what's it called Mallorca Mallorca you made me mess it up I knew what it was

Mallorca is an island of Spain that's Mallorca. Menorca. Menorca. You made me mess it up. I knew what it was. It's in front of me. Menorca is an island off Spain. That's Mallorca. Menorca. Menorca. You made me mess it up. So blue and white. So the blue and white comes from the need for Hallmark and other companies that are going to commercialize cards

and decorations and wrapping paper and all that stuff, they needed a way to market it in a grocery store and in their shops so that you could tell it from the green and red Christmas stuff. You could put it next to the green and red Christmas stuff, but it would be obviously different from the green and red Christmas stuff. So blue and white comes from the colors of the Israeli flag, which itself comes from the colors that are often found in, you know, Jewish men will wear a prayer shawl in services or wear, you know, it's a cloth thing with fringes.

And that is often blue and white. And does it go back to the the greeks at all from there's nothing to do nothing to do with the greeks no okay yeah you changed your answer you should have got and then you said the greeks you said the dodgers i did i like to throw jim off sometimes the israeli flag yeah you said and that comes from the scarves yep i'm sure they've got a better name. You're saying it right now. And then blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, you tricked me. We already talked about the traditional types of food.

You remember that and the Maccabees who they defeated. But Jim mentioned hiding things in a drawer. That is not part of it. They hide a matzo ball and the kids have to look for it. There's something in that. I think it's Passover. Passover, yeah. Passover.

People will hide. There's a custom of hiding a piece of matzo. That's Passover. Passover, yeah. Passover. People will hide. There's a custom of hiding a piece of matzah. That's it. Hide a piece of matzah. And because Passover is really, the whole thing of the Passover Seder is to teach kids about the Exodus story and getting the Ten Commandments. So it begins with kids asking four questions why is this night different from all other nights blah blah blah goes on from there then you do the whole seder and then part of it is towards the end you will hide something and kids have to go find it and if they do they get a

prize i got five bucks when i did it you got five bucks bucks? that's not a bad price you can't see Jack he's off camera but Jack is not Jewish my Jewish friend invited me over to experience Passover and it was very fun that's good what other games happen in Hanukkah is there a board game you're all into so the dreidel

spinning the dreidel is a custom that uh has been around for oh boy a couple of hundred years i would say if not more i don't know the origin of it so don't ask me that but is there is there a game involved with the dreidel you just look at it and you go that's fun or if you get i got two squiggly lines i get this yeah yeah so the dreidel is a top with four sides and there are letters on each of the four sides. They're not squiggly lines. I'd like to apologize.

I was doing this with my hands to see how many sides there are. I was like, yeah, okay. So each of those letters stand for the words in the phrase, a great miracle happened there. But they also in the game stand for either put something into the pot, take something out of the pot, take half, take all. So they make a game out of it and it teaches kids, you know, the basic principles of a great miracle happened there. Have some fun. Okay. Here's a bonus question, Jim. Matzo balls. What are they made out of? You said something. Crackers.

Really? The final answer? Yep. Okay. They're vegetarian. What are matzo balls made out of? Matzo balls. What are they made out of? You said something already. Crackers. Really? Is that the final answer? Yep. Okay. They're vegetarian. What are matzo balls made out of? Matzo. Yeah. It's a pretty easy question.

Which is a cracker. Which is a cracker. No, I wanted matzo as the answer. Don't give it to him. If I said to you, I said they made out of matzo, you would have gotten into me for saying, oh, you're just repeating what I said. I said what matzo was. That was the whole trick.

Okay. Okay. Okay, this is the time of the show called Dinner Party Facts, Dan, where we ask our guests to give our audience an interesting or obscure fact about our subject that they could use to impress people with their knowledge of this subject. So I don't know if there's something that we haven't discussed already that most people might not know about Hanukkah or the holiday. Oh, there's a lot. Give us more than one if you want, but yeah. Okay, so the first Hanukkah cards

created in the U.S. that were sold in the U.S. were created by a Jewish women's organization called the National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods. In 1926, they came up with Hanukkah cards and sold them as a fundraiser for their organization. And then they were successful. So then they went to a local printer printer who's who usually made christmas cards and said can you do more of these for us and that's how it caught on so you can't blame hallmark you can't blame them yeah well no no um all right great uh and what was our kids yeah yeah we're like next to like a school it's like a learning center now oh i didn't know that okay um all right great uh well there anything else you want to ask her ask her

jimmy no no i i i i am very happy you came on the show because i did not know uh much about this and now i do yeah and then we're right in the middle of Hanukkah and uh like I mentioned before now I can have a fun conversation without being worried that I'm going to be offensive uh if you'd like to learn more about Hanukkah Diane uh Ashton her most recent book is called Hanukkah in America that's h-a-n-u-k-k-a-h in America a history uh thanks for being on the show Diane it was my pleasure thank you uh okay thank you for being on the show, Diane. It was my pleasure. Thank you. Okay, thank you for being on the show, Diane.

Look, if you're ever in a bar and someone walks up to you and goes, Hanukkah, that's a nice nine-day festival, you go, well, I don't know about that. See you next week. Hey, everybody, Jason Ellis here from the Jason Ellis Show podcast, reminding you that my podcast, new episodes every Wednesday, downloadable where all podcasts are available. Come see my friends, Michael and Kevin,

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