Hanukkah Hal is a real thing. I should know, it's me, well it's based on me. It's my. . .I can't think of the word, please somebody put it in the comments. He has a facebook page. And so, on the eve of the first night of Hanukkah, I thought I would share it.
It was 1996. The Christmas decorations were up everywhere. I went looking for an electric menorah. I was going to ask the owners of my local pub to display it. So, in I walk with the electric menorah. I want to represent, y'know? The owners are not around. I tell the bartender that I wanted to ask them to put the menorah in the window. He opens the box, and plugs it in.
The next day, my girlfriend walks by the pub, and she notices that the menorah is not in the window so she walks in and asks the day bartender what happened to it. When he said he took it down, she said, "How do you think the owner is going to feel when he finds out that you took Hal's menorah out of the window?" Now, I had not yet had the opportunity to ask him to display it. However, it did put the fear of the regular into him and he returned it to the window.
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The menorah got a tremendous reception. People thought it was terrific that they displayed it. They asked if it was accurate. Some commented that it might be facing the wrong way, to which I would reply that they were looking at it from the wrong side. People took turns adding the next light.
It being situated in a pub where people were drinking, it broke. The owners asked me to buy a replacement, and they reimbursed me for it. Even the non-Jewish clients had given them positive feedback.
Eventually, the bar closed. The landlord had sold the building and nearly the entire block was demolished for condos. In a soft real estate market, NYU bought most of the units for dorm rooms, but that's another story.
Now, I had to find another pub. Luckily, there was one just up the block, and I became a regular there. Come the holidays, and I walk in with another electric menorah, and yes, they agree to display it. One of the bartenders there is an artist. He does a lot of work in papier mache'. He decorates the bar with lots of stuff during the year.
His Christmas decorations include the Grinch, the Abominable Snowman, Rudolph, the dentist elf, and a festivus pole. Eventually, he creates "Hanukkah Hal."
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I create the facebook page that year. And tweet in favor of the War on Christmas. Last year, they did not display the menorah, they said they couldn't find it and snapped at me when I asked where it was. This year, I find out that the owner personally took down Hanukkah Hal, saying that it was an Irish Bar. Well, if he is so offended by Jewish things in his bar, I shall not offend him with my presence.