so what's your favourite chanukah song?

Question

if you have one, that is.

lol okay, how about from songs that AREN'T by adam sandler?

Answer 1

I hope you'll forgive the lack of originality, but my favorite is always going to be Maoz Tzur.

I found in this old siddur, a version of Maoz Tzur with an English translation. While English translations of the song abound, this one is really cool because they've actually translated the ENTIRE song into Elizabethan English, and the whole thing rhymes. All the other rhyming translations I'd seen were abbreviated (usually two verses long) and very loose. Some in fact were often based on other poems with similar themes, that had perhaps been inspired by the original hymn, and not a translation in the true sense of the word.

Anyway, check it out. Here's the translation from the Avodat Yisrael siddur, with comments I've added to make it more readily understandable. Enjoy!

Rock of strength! Great Aid of yore!
'Tis sweet due praise to sing thee;
Rear our House of Prayer once more!
Thank-off'rings there we'll bring three:
When dread immolation
Checks the foe's elation,
I'll complete
With paeans meet,
The altar's consecreation.

(Note: If I recall correctly,a paean is a song of praise. The rest of the verse should be readable.)

Evils sore my soul oppressed,
Grief consumed my vigor;
Bitter bondage life distressed
Thro' proud Egypt's rigor:
But, whilst Heaven's devotion
Led us forth from Goshen
Pharoah's race
Sank apace
Like pebbles in the ocean.

(I would simply note here that the word "race" appears a couple times in this song, and its meaning has changed over time, and can be understood, for example, to mean an extended family, or a cultural group, as we shall see in the example of Haman's family.)

Scarce led until G-d's holy fane,
From duty's path I swerved there,
By harsh oppressor captive ta'en,
Because strange gods I served there.
The madd'ning cup I tasted,
Till, seventy sad years wasted
In Babylon spent,
Zerubbabel sent
To my deliv'rance hasted.

(A fane is a consecrated place, like a temple.)

To check our growth when Haman sought,
Our pine-like stature felling,
In self-laid snare himself was caught,
Soon ceased his proud heart's swelling:
Whilst Israel's power extended,
The foeman's race was ended,
When kith and kin,
Were, for his sin,
On gallows-tree suspended.

When Maccabees with Syrian foe
The mastery disputed,
My forts were crushed, my walls laid low,
My Temple-oil polluted;
One cruse, to Heaven's pure nation,
Sufficed for dedication;
Whence sages mine
Eight days assign
To song and jubilation.

(Note: Just to clear up any confusion, the empire against which the Maccabees were rebelling were the Syrian-Greeks. And a cruse is an earthenware container.)

This song, for me, captures the essence of the holiday. It's not Jewish Christmas. Don't get me wrong, pass the latkes and the chocolate gelt, please! But, Chanukah isn't about schmaltzy feelings of good will and a once-a-year emphasis on charity. It's about freedom (FREEDOM!), and re-dedicating ourselves to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, both of these being essential to the other for our people.

Answer 2

Chanukah song - by Adam Sandler I love him!

Answer 3

The one done by the great Adam Sandler.

(edited)
...wait a minute.
...there are chanukah songs that AREN'T done by Adam Sandler?!?
I'm shocked.

Answer 4

sorry im like the rest adam sandler its the only ones i know , happy chanukah

Answer 5

There are a ton of Chanukah kids' songs. I'm partial to "I Am A Latke" by Debbie Friedman.

Answer 6

Apple Sauce vs. Sour Cream by the LeeVees, from the album Hanukkah Rocks

Answer 7

I dont know why but it has to be Maoz Tzur. There is something really fun about a bunch of Yeshiva guys running around lighting lights and singing Maoz Tzur off key, and out of tune mulitple times.

Answer 8

Hava Narimah

Answer 9

My favorite song is "Herman the Chanukah Candle" to the tune of rudolph the red-rosed reindeer. it isnt made up by me its been around i also enjoy "Rock of Ages", "Oy to the World", and "Eat the latkes"

Answer 10

I love "The Chanukah Song" by Kenny G off his Miracles CD. Of course, you can't go wrong with "Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel".