This year, Disney is going all out for Hanukkah, with more Hanukkah merch than ever before, including the first Hanukkah Mickey theme park ears. So, it’s only fitting that Mickey Mouse himself get in on the action. A new Hanukkah-themed “Me & Mickey” just premiered on Disney Channel, Disney Junior and Disney Junior YouTube.
“Me & Mickey” is a series of vlog-style video shorts featuring Mickey Mouse. The shorts are aimed at preschoolers and feature topics familiar to their lives such as morning and nighttime routines. In the new short entitled “Dreidel Play,” Mickey celebrates a “very special holiday,” Hanukkah. For a video that is only a few minutes long, it is extensive, with Mickey explaining different traditions such as lighting the candles, the types of food we eat and how to play dreidel. At the end of the video, viewers get to play along in a game of dreidel with Mickey.
It works as a way to teach children who aren’t Jewish about the Festival of Lights and for Jewish children to feel represented (and to get in some dreidel practice before Hanukkah officially starts on the evening of the 7th). Even though most people don’t consider Hanukkah the most important Jewish holiday, and it’s certainly not the only one, it’s always nice to be acknowledged.
“Me & Mickey” premiered in 2022 and other holidays featured so far include Diwali, Día de Los Muertos, Halloween and New Year’s celebrations from different cultures. Last year, the only Hanukkah video was part of a scavenger hunt including Christmas and Kwanzaa, so we’re happy to see Hanukkah get its own vlog this year, with more explanations about the traditions involved.
The short would have been even better with an appearance from Donald (between a Funko pop of Donald holding a dreidel and a Donald Rosh Hashanah pin that were released this year, I keep waiting for Disney to officially reveal that Donald is Jewish), but as it is, it’s a cute video and one of many ways for Disney fans to get into the Hanukkah spirit this year.
