Arts & Entertainment
New Geoffrey Baer Special Highlights the History and Traditions of Hanukkah
WTTW’s Geoffrey Baer is shining a light on the Jewish Festival of Lights this holiday season in the new special “A Celebration of Hanukkah.”
From uncovering the holiday’s 2,000-year-old origins to frying up golden potato pancakes, Baer does a deep dive into what makes Hanukkah, well, Hanukkah. While the Chicago-based host grew up in a Jewish household, he admits that his family didn’t observe most of the religious holidays, so getting to learn about the “other mid-winter holiday” was a treat for him.
The documentary started to come to life last year when Baer and his team recognized the lack of Hanukkah specials on PBS and the abundance of Christmas-centric ones.
However, there’s been a concerted effort in the last few decades to make the Jewish winter celebration more publicly visible, partially thanks to Adam Sandler, The LeeVees (who are featured in the special), and a push from a major orthodox organization called Chabad.
“Long ago, they [Chadad] were seeing Christmas trees and things in the public square, which is thought to be a neutral space,” said Baer. “Many Jews and the ACLU were objecting to this but Chabad went the whole other direction, went to the Supreme Court and won, so now you see menorahs displayed in public squares all over the world.”
You can learn more about Hanukkah and dive deeper into the holiday at wttw.com/hanukkah.