Jews rejoyce. Orrin Hatch, the Republican Mormon senator from Utah, has written a Hanukkah song: "Eight Days of Hanukkah."
As Hatch told the New York Times, "Anything I can do for the Jewish people, I will do. Mormons believe the Jewish people are the chosen people, just like the Old Testament."
Hatch wrote the song for Tablet Magazine, and Jeffrey Goldberg, of Tablet describes the song's inception in a blog post:
Ten years ago, I visited Orrin Hatch, the senior senator from Utah and a prominent member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, on Capitol Hill. I was writing for The New York Times Magazine and Hatch was thinking of running for president. We talked about politics for a few minutes, and then he said, "Have you heard my love songs?"
Ten years passed, and then Hatch emailed Goldberg:
"Dear Jeff, I know it's nine years too late, but I hope you will like some of the following ideas." What followed were five verses of a sincerely felt Hanukkah song.
The song begins:
"Hanukkah, oh Hanukkah,
The festival of light/
In Jerusalem,
The oil burned bright."
WATCH the music video below, performed by Rasheeda Azar, written by Hatch and Madeline Stone.
Eight Days of Hanukkah from Tablet Magazine on Vimeo.