INTRODUCTION:

For the past few years Hallmark has gotten into the Hanukkah spirit and introduced a new Jewish themed movie to the mix. This year the movie is called “Oy to the World,” and premieres December 14^th at 8pm ET.  

This program is intended to turn a watch party into a fun learning event with Hallmark bingo and discussion questions for after the show. Some Hallmark+ Hanukkah movies are decent, others are not. No way of knowing how this one is until we watch it… 

MATERIALS:

• Hanukkah Gelt, M&M’s, poker chips or some other bingo pieces
• Hanukkah movie watching snacks
• Hallmark_Hanukkah_Bingo sheets printed out
• Cable or streaming to watch Hallmark+ channel.
• Optional: Drinks and snacks

PROGRAM OUTLINE (2 hours): 

• Introduce the bingo idea and pass out cards (5 minutes) 
• Watch Movie (1hr 45 minutes without commercials) 
• Discussion (15 minutes)

Introduce (5 minutes)

• Distribute Hallmark bingo sheets and “chips” to play. Everyone should have a different bingo sheet printed from the above sheets.  
• When they see/hear the word on their sheet that can either take a drink or place a chip on that square on the board. 
• Hanukkah snacks (Hanukkah cookies, oily foods, gelt, etc) should be plentiful. 

Watch Movie (2 hours) 

• Watching the show. Make this as kitschy as possible – we never know if this year’s Hallmark movie is going to be horrible or not until we see it. 

Discussion (15 minutes)

• Discuss the movie – You can start with these questions:
  • What did you think of this movie? 
  • How did it portray Judaism?  
  • Do you think this storyline was accurate?
  • Do you think that this scenario would happen IRL? 
  • What are some classic Hanukkah songs that you know that could have been a part of this movie? 
  • Is this movie good for the Jews? 
  • How did this portray interfaith relationships? 
  • What kind of ecumenical friendships between synagogues and churches have you experienced? 
  • What do you think of the idea that Hallmark produces a new Hanukkah movie each year? 
  • How does Hanukkah compare to Christmas? Is it helpful to put a Jewish spin on a movie to equate the two holidays? Or give the Jewish community something so that Jews feel a part of the season?