14 Hanukkah Movies to Stream This Holiday

• Suitable for: kids ages 7+
• Run time: 1 hour, 30 minutes

This family-friendly Disney drama, based on the true story of basketball coach Lamont Carr, is about a basketball player who goes on to coach a (pitiable) team at a Yeshiva after sustaining an injury that takes him out of play. Religious narratives are used to motivate and inspire the team, and there are positive messages throughout the movie. Judaism and basketball might seem like an odd pair, but let’s just say it works.

• Suitable for: kids ages 7+
• Run time: 1 hour, 40 minutes

As you might have guessed from the title, All I Want Is Christmas plays on the notion that Jewish kids see Christmas as the superior holiday. In the movie, a young Jewish boy on his way to Florida attempts to trade places with a kid heading to Christmastown, Washington for a more festive holiday stay. Needless to say, this one isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement of Hanukkah, but it’s a harmless and entertaining watch, nevertheless.

• Suitable for: kids ages 5+
• Run time: 1 hour, 21 minutes

Here, a young Russian mouse named Fievel gets separated from his family while emigrating to America, and adventure ensues. An American Tail is not about Hanukkah per se, but Steven Spielberg’s beloved animated feature does present the Jewish immigrant experience in a heart-warming and family-friendly way.

• Suitable for: kids ages 9+
• Run time: 1 hour, 25 minutes

A Jewish man who’s trying to impress his girlfriend’s dad by making his pad more Christmassy and a female toy executive who’s trying to impress business associates by learning about Hanukkah discover they can both benefit by sharing their holiday know-how…and sparks fly in the process. This entertaining Lifetime rom-com has an oh-so sweet message about the coming together of different faiths that feels perfectly festive.

• Suitable for: kids ages 17+
• Run time: 1 hour, 46 minutes

We bet you didn’t know a Hanukkah horror film had been made. Well, friends, here it is—a 2019 horror flick from director Eben McGarr about a psychotic and murderous father-son duo who believe God has commanded them to kill fellow Jews who have not properly practiced their faith. In a ritual referred to as the “Festival of Frights,” the pair light a candle each time a new victim has been killed…so (fair warning) you may never look at your menorah the same again. Note: This flick gets pretty violent and doesn’t exactly boast rave reviews, so maybe save this one for horror film aficionados only.

• Suitable for: kids ages 9+
• Run time: 1 hour, 23 minutes

Double Holiday—Hallmark’s commendable but still kind of Christmassy attempt at a Hanukkah movie—is a 2019 rom-com in which an ambitious Jewish woman has to forgo her Hanukkah plans and organize the office Christmas party alongside an extremely obnoxious coworker with whom she’s competing for a promotion. We’d tell you what happens next, but you already know it’s a rom-com, so we bet you can guess.

• Suitable for: kids ages 9+
• Run time: 1 hour, 24 minutes

Hallmark took another stab at a Hanukkah movie in 2020, and the result is a decidedly more Jewish rom-com. After learning of her Jewish heritage from a DNA test, a restaurateur decides to track down her birth mother and is treated to a crash course in Jewish culture that includes an introduction to menorahs, latkes, kugel and more. As for the romance, let’s just say that things start heating up between said restaurateur and a previously unforgiving food critic (played by Ben Savage) once she discovers her inner Jew.

• Suitable for: kids ages 13+
• Run time: 1 hour, 36 minutes

This 1980s rom-com about a Jewish woman discovering herself and finding love in New York City is a keeper. The main character, an employee at an independent bookstore named Izzy, falls head-over-heels for a pretentious literary icon, but finds herself pulled in all directions when her overbearing grandmother hires a matchmaker to set her up with a nice Jewish boy, a pickle maker who’s quite smitten with her. Funny, fresh and charming—Crossing Delancey has stood the test of time.

• Suitable for: kids ages 13+
• Run time: 1 hour, 28 minutes

Seth Rogan stars as a Jewish immigrant (Hersechel Greenbaum) from the early 20th century who, after being stored in a jar of pickles, wakes up in modern day New York, and as Herschel’s great grandson (Ben Greenbaum) in this offbeat and poignant comedy. Rogan wears both hats well, and while Hanukkah isn’t part of the cross-generational storyline, the movie does serve up a generous helping of Jewish traditions and culture with sweet, family-oriented messages, to boot.

• Suitable for: kids ages 10+
• Run time: 3 hours, 1 minute

No Jewish holiday would be complete without a viewing of Fiddler on the Roof, the sweeping musical film about a humble and devout milkman, Tevye, his three rebellious daughters and their life in a rural Ukrainian village with the Russian Revolution looming just outside the front door. The soundtrack is rich (pun intended), the comedy is on point, and the heart-warming celebration of Jewish culture during hostile times is poignant enough to make the Maccabees proud.

• Suitable for: kids ages 17+
• Run time: 1 hour, 41 minutes

Three Jewish childhood friends—played by Seth Rogan, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Anthony Mackie—reunite in NYC on Christmas Eve to do some serious partying, and what ensues is just what you’d expect from a goofy stoner comedy. The Night Before is definitely more of a Christmas movie than anything else, but there are humorous moments that involve the main characters objecting to (or should we say tripping out over) stereotypical portrayals of Jews, and an ugly Hanukkah sweater even makes an appearance, so there’s that.

• Suitable for: kids ages 9+
• Run time: 1 hour, 26 minutes

After meeting through a dating app, two singles—one Catholic, the other Jewish—decide to play the part of plus one at their respective holiday celebrations in order to appease pushy family members. Hitched for the Holidays is a romantic comedy, so we all know how this “charade” ends—but it does give Hanukkah a fair shake and, like most films in the genre, it goes down easy, too.

• Suitable for: kids ages 15+
• Run time: 1 hour, 25 minutes

Andy Dick, Judy Greer and Adam Goldberg star in this goofy holiday comedy about an orthodox Jewish vigilante and his mission to save Hanukkah from the villainous son of Santa Claus. The Hebrew Hammer is completely silly and absurd, and the comedy is rather mature, so it’s not an entirely kid-friendly film. Still, the premise is likely to resonate with adults who are all too accustomed with having Hanukkah celebrations eclipsed by the fervor of Christmas. Plus, it’s just plain fun to watch.

• Suitable for: kids ages 14+
• Run time: 98 minutes

Fans of Meet the Parents might be slightly disappointed by this, the third film in the franchise. (Little Fockers was destroyed by critics.) Still, there’s an all-star cast that includes Robert DeNiro, Ben Stiller, Jessica Alba, Dustin Hoffman and Barbara Streisand, and the family-friendly, screwball comedy takes place at a Hanukkah celebration, so the movie certainly fits the theme.