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Hanukkah Harry

Hanukkah Harry is a fictional character on Saturday Night Live played by Jon Lovitz.

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 hat in blue with white edges (the colors of an Ashkenazi Jewish tallit, or prayer shawl, shared by the flag of Israel).

Other appearances[edit]

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".[5][6]


The Baltimore Sun has called Hanukkah Harry one of the best Saturday Night Live sketches of all time.[7]


Dollface Izzy dressed as Hanukkah Harry in the episode "History Buff".


The Goldbergs (season 3) Episode 10, Hanukkah Harry appears as a character played by George Segal as Albert 'Pops' Solomon.

 – Decoration for Hanukkah similar to a Christmas tree

Hanukkah bush

List of recurring Saturday Night Live characters and sketches