Hanukkah Movies: Top Hanukkah Cinema

The Hebrew Hammer: Hanukkah Movies

The Hebrew Hammer Story, The Hebrew Hammer Movie Review

“The Hebrew Hammer” is a Jewish film that was released in 2003. The film was premiered at Sundane Film Festival and also many other film festivals. Jonathan Kesselman is the director of the movie and the main star casts include Adam Goldberg, Judy Greer, Andy Dick, Mario Van Peebles, Peter Coyote, Nora Dunn, Sean Whalen, Tony Cox, Rachel Dratch, and Melvin Van Peebles. The film features the plot of the destruction of Hanukkah by the evil son of Santa Claus. Read on to explore the story and summary of “The Hebrew Hammer” in detail.

Movie Plot:

The Hebrew Hammer is based on the superhero, Mordechai Jefferson Carver, who grows to be the Hebrew Hammer. He is entrusted with the responsibility of saving Hanukkah from the evil son of Santa Claus. The son of Santa Claus is set to destroy Hanukkah and force everyone to celebrate Christmas. The movie starts with a flashback. Hebrew Hammer is seen recalling his childhood days when he was tormented by his teachers and his fellow students for being a Jew. The depressed child walks along the streets only to find the store windows displaying the sign that Jews aren’t welcome. Overcome by these frustrations, the child lays down the sidewalk and spins his dreidel. Santa appears in the scene and crushes the dreidel under his foot. The boy could nothing other than gazing furiously at Santa Claus.

Now, Mordechai is the retired Captain of the Israel Defense Forces. He is called the Hebrew Hammer, owing to his great works towards defending the Jews. He is widely acclaimed as a hero everywhere among the Jews. The old Santa is murdered by his own son, Damian who takes over the title of Santa now. Damian plans to make Christmas the only holiday in December, which alarms Jews. The elite group of Jews calls a meeting to decide on sending someone to confront Damian. The meeting includes members of Jewish Justice League, led by Chief Bloomenmergansteinenthal. When they are unable to find a proper person for the mission, the Chief’s daughter, Esther, suggests the name of Hebrew Hammer. The Chief, being the IDF commander for Hebrew, is well aware of Hebrew Hammer’s aggressive nature. Though he initially declines Esther’s proposal, he has to agree with her later on.

Esther takes decisive steps to persuade Hebrew Hammer to undertake the task and succeeds. His first step in this mission is to go to headquarter of the Kwanzaa Liberation Front and meet with its leader, Mohammed Ali Paula Abdul Rahiem. With the help of Mohammed, he speaks to Jamal, the former elf of Santa. Jamal plays a double game with Hebrew Hammer and leads him into the trap of Damian. But, the latter manages to come out of it in his natural heroic form. Damian, on the other hand, is engaged in distributing the copies of “It’s a Wonderful Life” to the Jews, urging them to celebrate Christmas. Hebrew Hammer counterattacks this step of Damian by showing those Hollywood movies to the Jewish children that portray Jews in a positive light.

Hebrew Hammer and Esther go to local K-Mart to confront Damian. But they are chased by an angry mob of children, who are convinced to celebrate Christmas. They manage to have a narrow escape from the situation. Some misunderstanding crops up between the two, but is soon cleared off. The final confrontation with Damian happens during the latter’s mission to drain the energy from the Jewish Atomic Clock in Jerusalem. Damian kidnaps Esther and orders Tim to kill Hebrew Hammer. Hebrew escaped from Tim and uses Judaism’s ultimate weapon of complaining and guilt to defeat Damian. He saves Esther and proposes to her. Both unite and the movie ends with the scene of Santa’s sleigh flying in the air, being driven by Jamal, the new Santa Claus.