Quite Possibly the Worst Hannukah Song Ever

Jeffrey Goldberg Dec 2 2010, 6:24 PM ET

I was at our synagogue last night for a little Hebrew school Hannukah sing-along type situation, and of course we covered Rock of Ages and the Dreidel song, the usual suspects. But on the song sheet was a song with which I was unacquainted, called, simply, "Judah Maccabee," and it turns out to be the most ridiculous Hannukah song I've ever heard. This is the chorus:

Oh, Judah Maccabee
How was I to see what you would mean to me?
No Syrian decree! Roman Calvary/German infantry
Could make you bend your knee
Not Judah Maccabee.

I'll be working to expunge this song from the collective memory of my people. Just as soon as I finish my biography of the aforementioned Mr. Maccabee.

Jump to comments

Presented by

Jeffrey Goldberg is a national correspondent for The Atlantic and a recipient of the National Magazine Award for Reporting. Author of the book Prisoners: A Story of Friendship and Terror, Goldberg also writes the magazine's advice column. More

Before joining The Atlantic in 2007, Goldberg was a Middle East correspondent, and the Washington correspondent, for The New Yorker. Previously, he served as a correspondent for The New York Times Magazine and New York magazine. He has also written for the Jewish Daily Forward, and was a columnist for The Jerusalem Post.

His book Prisoners was hailed as one of the best books of 2006 by the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Slate, The Progressive, Washingtonian magazine, and Playboy. Goldberg rthe recipient of the 2003 National Magazine Award for Reporting for his coverage of Islamic terrorism. He is also the winner of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists prize for best international investigative journalist; the Overseas Press Club award for best human-rights reporting; and the Abraham Cahan Prize in Journalism. He is also the recipient of 2005's Anti-Defamation League Daniel Pearl Prize.

In 2001, Goldberg was appointed the Syrkin Fellow in Letters of the Jerusalem Foundation, and in 2002 he became a public-policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C.