Here Come the Hanukkah Videos: "Puppy for Hanukkah" by Hamilton Star Daveed Diggs

On Thursday evening we light the first Hanukkah candle, so it's time to roll out this season's music videos.

Let's get started with an original Hanukkah song that Jewish Hamilton star Daveed Diggs has released for the Disney Channel.

As Lior Zaltzman wrote in Kveller,

“Puppy For Hanukkah” will air until December 18, the last day of Hanukkah.  It has klezmer, it has hip hop, it has a diverse cast of kids dancing up a storm.

One thing the video doesn’t feature is Diggs himself. Instead, we get the adorably talented Ethan Hollingsworth, 11, and two other young actors and dancers, as stand-ins for young Daveed. They wistfully lip-synch about how much they want a puppy for Hanukkah. They go through each night, hoping their new canine best friend will emerge from gift-wrapped boxes, only to be met with more knitwear. The video, of course, culminates with the appearance of an adorable puppy emerging from one of the boxes.

“I was honored when Disney Channel approached me to come up with a fresh Hanukkah tune and embraced the opportunity to share my love of music and a little piece of my culture,” said Diggs, who also co-created and starred in Blindspotting, a 2018 movie that will soon be adapted for TV.

Diggs opened up about his Jewish roots in 2015: “I went to Hebrew school, but opted out of a bar mitzvah,” he said. “My mom is a white Jewish lady and my dad is Black. The cultures never seemed separate — I had a lot of mixed friends. When I was young, I identified with being Jewish, but I embraced my dad’s side, too.”

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.