A Rugrats Chanukah

"A Rugrats Chanukah"
Rugrats episode
Promotional artwork featuring Grandpa Boris and the Rugrats lighting the Menorah
Episode no.	Season 4 Episode 1
Directed by	Raymie Muzquiz
Written by	J. David Stem David N. Weiss
Production code	999
Original air date	December 4, 1996 (1996-12-04)
Guest appearance(s)
Fyvush Finkel as Shlomo Ron Leibman as Rabbi / Old Man Alan Rachins as Lowell / Greek Bully / Donut Man Alan Rosenberg as Mr. Dreidel / TV Announcer Bruce Young Berman as Parade Crooner Mt. Zion's Women Choir Edie Lehmann - Choir Leader Joan Beal Susan Boyd Linda Harmon Luana Jackman Susan McBride Bobbi Page Sally Stevens Carmen Twillie
Episode chronology
← Previous "A Rugrats Passover" Next → ""Mother's Day""
List of Rugrats episodes

"A Rugrats Chanukah", titled onscreen as "Chanukah" and sometimes called the "Rugrats Chanukah Special", is a special episode of Nickelodeon's animated television series Rugrats. The first episode of the show's fourth season and the sixty-sixth overall, it tells the story of the Jewish holiday Chanukah through the eyes of the Rugrats, who imagine themselves as the main characters. Meanwhile, Grandpa Boris and his long-time rival, Shlomo, feud over who will play the lead in the local synagogue's Chanukah play.

Raymie Muzquiz directed "A Rugrats Chanukah" from a script by J. David Stem and David N. Weiss. In 1992, Nickelodeon executives had pitched the idea of a Chanukah special to the production team, but the concept was revised and became the 1995 special, "A Rugrats Passover". After production of the Passover episode wrapped, the crew returned to the Chanukah idea. Nickelodeon broadcast "A Rugrats Chanukah" on December 4, 1996; the episode received a Nielsen rating of 7.9 and positive reviews from television critics. Along with other Rugrats episodes featuring Boris and his wife, the special attracted controversy when the Anti-Defamation League compared the character designs to anti-Semitic drawings from a 1930s Nazi newspaper.

On Chanukah, Grandma Minka reads a book about the meaning of the holiday to the babies Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, and Lil. The babies imagine that they are the story's characters; Judah (Tommy) is outraged by King "Antonica", who has taken over the Jewish kingdom and forced Greek culture on its inhabitants. Judah leads an army of Jewish Maccabees to war against Antonica's Seleucid Empire, emerging victorious. The story is left unfinished as Minka stops to help make latkes in the kitchen with her daughter Didi.