The second half of the new episode of “Mickey Mouse Funhouse” that premiered this week on Disney+ is called “Hanukkah at Hilda’s.” In this sweet 10-minute segment of the 20th episode of the show’s third season, Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy and Goofy are getting ready to celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve. The Funhouse is decorated, but before their cozy indoor celebration, the five of them go out to the streets to give Christmas cookies to neighbors and friends in Adventureland, their new Christmas tradition.
As they give out the cookies, they say, “Have a merry Christmas and a happy New Year” and chat about Christmas joy and cheer. For the first few minutes of the episode, it feels like you’re about to watch a pretty standard Christmas episode. Indeed, after telling him we were about to watch a Hanukkah episode, my 6-year-old was pretty confused. But then the snow starts falling more heavily, and as Mickey and his friends knock on Hilda Hippo’s house in Adventureland’s Winter Mountain, they realize they’ll need to stay there until the snowstorm ends.
Hilda opens the door wearing a festive blue and yellow outfit with a Jewish star belt and menorah necklace. The gang offers her their cookies, and she thanks them for the gift. She then goes to bring them a treat — a plate full of sufganiyot, the jelly doughnuts traditionally eaten on Hanukkah. Daisy frets about not being able to celebrate Christmas and Mickey consoles her by telling her that they can just celebrate Christmas at Hilda’s house.
“Christmas, here? Well, my, that does sound different,” Hilda says with her signature southern twang. “I’ve never celebrated Christmas before.”
The crowd gasps, horrified. “Really?! You don’t celebrate Christmas?!” they ask.
Hilda then explains that she and her family are Jewish, and that during this time of year, they celebrate Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights.
They then ask if Hanukkah has festive meals, songs and presents, like Christmas, and Hilda responds in the affirmative.
“Someone stole your Hanukkah tree,” Goofy worries, and Hilda explains that Jews don’t have trees (though to be fair, some do have Hanukkah trees and bushes).
“It really does sound similar to Christmas, but different,” Minnie comments.
Hilda then explains that Hanukkah lasts for eight nights, and that this is the eighth night; her family was meant to be there to celebrate, but they left early because of the blizzard. They all then decide to celebrate their holidays together — Hilda will celebrate her last night of Hanukkah, and will also host her friends’ Christmas celebration.
Hilda explains Hanukkah traditions by mixing in some Jewish words. She says that her menorah was a gift from her bubbe and zayde — what she calls her grandmother and grandfather, though she doesn’t specify that these are Yiddish monikers. She explains that Hanukkah celebrates the miracle of oil and that we say blessings before lighting the candles. She doesn’t say said blessings (she does light them from left to right, as one should), but she does share some Hebrew words by wishing everyone a “chag sameach,” translating the Hebrew words as “happy holiday,” and adding that one can also say “Hanukkah sameach.”
And then of course, there’s food. Hilda introduces latkes and sufganiyot to Donald, who joyously exclaims “donuts!” and when Minnie asks why they’re Hanukkah treats, she answers that it is because we eat fried foods on Hanukkah.
They then decorate a tree in Hilda’s yard like a Christmas tree, and sing a song about holiday cheer that is a celebration of both Christmas and Hanukkah. “Happy holidays/Hannukah sameach/Let the light shine through,” they sing. “We got eight happy nights of Hanukkah and a very merry Christmas Day,” the song ends.
There are a lot of magical things about this episode. Finally getting an overtly Jewish character in this beloved kids’ franchise, one that is even voiced by a Jewish actress, April Winchell, certainly feels like a win. The episode gets the basic facts of Hanukkah right, and also adds a little extra sprinkle of Yiddishkeit with Hebrew and Yiddish words. It is lovely to see Hilda so openly share her holiday traditions with Mickey and the crew, and open her home to their holiday traditions when they’re stranded in the snow, a mitzvah of sorts. It’s also lovely to see them celebrate the deliciousness and beauty of Hanukkah.
Yet I think for the Jewish child already feeling Christmas envy, this episode might be a bit jarring, especially the moment when Mickey and his friends were horrified that Hilda didn’t celebrate Christmas. There’s an assumption by these beloved characters that everyone around them does celebrate Christmas that feels familiar in not always a positive way for Jewish kids and their grown-ups. Yes, some Jewish kids do celebrate Christmas, but there’s nothing awful about just celebrating Hanukkah. When Minnie says that Hanukkah is just like Christmas but different, well, a lot of us know that the holidays are incredibly different, with one being a major Christian holiday, and the other a minor Jewish holiday given center stage because of its proximity to Christmas, at least in the U.S. Juxtaposing these two holidays in the way that this episode does — and spending way more time on Christmas than it does on Hanukkah — might just be another reminder that Hanukkah isn’t quite as big of a holiday for kids already struggling with this fact.
My son was a huge “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse” fan back in the day, and especially loved the Christmas episodes of the show, even though we don’t celebrate Christmas. He loved the snowy magic and the songs. Now, a few years later, he didn’t seem quite as enthused by this episode, and didn’t love the fact that they gave Hilda Christmas cookies — he doesn’t really love getting Christmas-themed things, himself. He is, to be fair, going through a phase where he struggles with the vast popularity of Christmas in contrast with Hanukkah, and our holiday conversations have been full of questions and complaints about it.
But I did notice that there was something hypnotizing to him about watching these characters he grew up with celebrating Hanukkah, and I do hope that for kids who are, like he was, huge Mickey Mouse fans, it will be exciting to see their favorite characters nosh on latkes and sufganiyot, attend a menorah lighting, spin the dreidel and even sing the Hebrew words “Hanukkah sameach” together.
It will hopefully show them that Hanukkah belongs in the magical world of Mickey Mouse, and that even when celebrated alongside Christmas, their Jewish holiday of lights is a pretty big deal.
“Hanukkah at Hilda’s” is now streaming on Disney+
