It may be hard to think of a time post-Chanukah, but it’s sooner than you think. And in that week between Christmas and New Years, when you’ve run out of excuses to get out of the house, we present you with one more: Jewcy’s end-of-year, Notakkah party!

We will be celebrating by watching the greatest Chanukah film of all time— The Hebrew Hammer. Conspiracies! Romance! Evil Santa! How does the 2003 film hold up? Well, we may be getting a sequel soon, so now’s the time to re-watch and decide for yourself!

Plus, for an amazing treat after the movie, the film’s creator Jonathan Kesselman will be virtually visiting us for a short video interview!

The shindig is Thursday, December 28th at Halyards Bar (406 3rd Avenue) in Brooklyn.

RSVP on Facebook here!

Doors open at 7 p.m., and we’ll start the movie promptly at 7:30. That will wrap up around 9, and we’ll then have about an hour or so of music, food, surprises, and more.

Admission is free, with a 2-drink minimum.

Including: Did you receive a Chanukah (or other holiday) present that you don’t want? Sweater the wrong size with no gift receipt? A book you already own? Something you just hate? No judgment! Just bring it to the party, and we’ll pool the reject gifts and redistribute them— socialism style! From each according to her Chanukah ability, to each according to her Chanukah need! Heck, bring your leftover chocolate gelt; someone will want it!

Let’s have a party; we’ll all dance the hora.

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Oh, The Hebrew Hammer. Every Jewish middle schooler’s favorite parody of exploitation film-making featuring swearing, ass-kicking, neurotic “certified, circumcised dick” Mordechai Jefferson Carver as he fights an evil Santa Claus attempting to end Chanukah forever.

The film came out nearly fifteen years, in 2003, but writer/director Jonathan Kesselman has never given up hope of a sequel. Talks started in earnest back in 2006 (yep, a dull decade ago), and back in 2013, for the film’s anniversary, he successfully ran a Jewcer campaign for $50,000.

And then, nothing happened. It turns out $50,000 isn’t a lot of money to make a film, because now there’s another crowdsourcing campaign, this time seeking over a million dollars ($2 million will come from elsewhere). Kesselman has made some changes to his plan for the new film (e.g. cutting a now somewhat dated bit about Mel Gibson), but the title and major premise will remain the same: The Hebrew Hammer vs. Hitler.

That’s right; Mordy is back, this time to time travel and save the Jewish people, and perhaps the world.

Will the film finally materialize this time? Well, there have been two major changes over the last several years. The first is that crowdfunding has become much more commonplace, including on a larger scale. The other, and the Hebrew Hammer team really seems to be banking on this— the political climate has shifted a whooooole lot.

To promote this fundraising campaign, original Hebrew Hammer stars Adam Goldberg and Judy Greer (wow! How’d they convince her to come back?) released a video (featuring not on, but two pictures of the Lubavitcher Rebbe) following up on Mordy and his love interest (now wife), Esther. In it, heartened by Obama’s election, Mordechai retires, and sleeps through the entire administration. Esther wakes him eight years later to show him how hatred and bigotry (and a certain new president) have taken hold in America. And what is the Hammer going to do about it?

“I’m thinking,” he says. “Now I’m hyperventilating. I’m thinking again. OK, now I got it.”

Time to suit up.

“We are bringing the Hebrew Hammer out of retirement because of a clarion call for us to do so — in part based on Trump’s rise and infectious anti-Semitism, racism and sexism,” Goldberg said in a statement. “We had various iterations of the script which we conceived years ago but retooled to make it a bit more contemporary and finally got our butts in gear because the timing seemed right — if not essential. You could say the campaign is a byproduct of the Resistance, but with more IBS references.”

According to Entertainment Weekly, the Hebrew Hammer will respond to contemporary threats in America by taking “care of the root of the issue: Hitler.”

Well, Hitler was not the root of racism, or anti-Semitism, or even fervent right-wing nationalism. But whatever makes a decade-old script seem timely. The real concern here is not if it ties in with the news: The original film may be a classic, sure, but boy has it not aged well. The South Park-esque equal-opportunity teasing feels at times like that boy in your Hebrew School who made self-deprecating anti-Semitic jokes who insisted it was OK because he was Jewish, but always felt just a little bit overeager in comments about picking up pennies or circumcision.

All that said, that Jewish “dirty talk” scene is still kind of amazing.

So, good luck to The Hebrew Hammer vs. Hitler! If you want to donate, go for it (though there’s a minimum of $100), and if you’re on the fence, check out the new video for yourself:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rftR6bBU5ug

Image via YouTube.

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It’s official: There will be a sequel to The Hebrew Hammer, and it’s going to be called Hammer vs. Hitler. Director Jonathan Kesselman announced they had raised enough money ($50,000) through the crowd-funding platform Jewcer.com to make a comedic sequel to the 2003 Jewish classic. Filming is expected to begin in May 2013, again starring Adam Goldberg as the Orthodox hero who saves Jewry from evil forces.

“It didn’t seem the sort of franchise where you wouldn’t want to see him take on one Jewish holiday after another,” Goldberg said in the press release. “You want to see him go after the big one. Who’s the Jewish Joker? Hitler.”

In Hammer vs Hitler, the audience will find a hipster Hebrew Hammer selling trees as a consultant for the Jewish Justice League. Bored and unhappy at his job, our protagonist ends up taking part in an epic mission to chase and kill Hitler on a journey filled with time travel and Jewish history.

“The ascendency of Mordechai Jefferson Carver, aka the Hebrew Hammer, was never intended to be told in one movie. Not even two. More like eighteen, but two is a good start,” Kesselman said. “Don’t worry, Hitler dies in the movie.”

For now though, the loyalty of his large, cult-like audience will be again tested by the amount of dollars they can donate to his ongoing fundraising campaign. Kesselman estimates that he can make the film for $1.5 million, and is hoping to raise $200,000 and keep it independent. In an equitable trade-off, the movie will “belong to the fans.”

Donors who contribute $1,500 will have the option of being an extra in the film, and a contribution of $5,000 is enough to be lifted bar mitzvah-style on a chair on the dance floor at the movie premiere. Kesselman has also asked fans to suggest who he should cast as Hitler.

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