Hanukkah 2025: How New York City is celebrating this year

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready. The festive, eight-day Jewish holiday of Hanukkah begins this year on Sunday, Dec. 14. Fortunately, in this great and very Jewish city of ours, there’s no shortage of ways to celebrate, from pre-Hanukkah shopping bazaars to family-friendly concerts to parties where adults can dance the night away. Keep reading for our list of Hanukkah events across New York City this year there’s truly something for everyone. And remember: Each night of the holiday, there are also public lightings of two of the world’s largest menorahs at Grand Army Plaza in Manhattan and Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn. Are you hosting a Hanukkah event that’s open to the public? Send us an email with the details at jhajdenberg@jta. org if you’d like to be added to the list. Pre-holiday fun Dec. 5-12: Check out 35 unique menorahs up for sale at Christie’s Head to Christie’s Rockefeller Center (20 Rockefeller Plaza) for a public viewing of 35 unique and historic Hanukkah menorahs that are up for sale, with prices starting at $5,000. Get details here. Dec. 6: An annual concert with an a cappella take on the Torah Town and Village Synagogue, a Conservative congregation at 334 East 14th St., is putting on its 37th annual Cantor Louis Moss Memorial Concert at 7: 30 p. m. This year’s concert, “A Hanukkah Concert: Songs in the Key of Peace & Harmony,” features Cantor Shayna Postman, the synagogue choir and more. The concert is free for under 13s, $18 for students and $40 for adults. Get tickets and details here. Dec. 6-7: Tablet Magazine’s Hanukkah Bazaar Head to Canyon Essex (135 Delancey St.) for Tablet Magazine’s annual Hanukkah Bazaar, where more than 40 vendors will sell food, jewelry, art, dreidels and more. The bazaar will be open Saturday, Dec. 6 from 7 p. m. to 10 p. m. and Sunday, Dec. 7 from 10 a. m. to 6 p. m. $18 to enter; grab tickets here. Dec. 7: Havurah’s Hanukkah Market Congregation Rodeph Shalom (7 West 83rd St.) hosts a Hanukkah market curated by Jewish art collective Havurah, featuring food and artisans’ wares from 2 p. m. to 7 p. m. Entry is free, but registration is required. Sign up here. Dec. 13: A Hanukkah-themed choral concert Hear from two choral ensembles Zamir Chorale, the premier Hebrew choir in North America, and Zamir Noded, the Jewish choir for young professionals at Merkin Hall at the Kaufman Music Center (129 West 67th St.) at 8: 00 p. m. The concert will “celebrate Hanukkah, Jewish independence, resilience and hope.” Tickets from $40; get them here. Dec. 13: An underground Hanukkah discotheque Havurah transforms the legendary Astor Place Hairstylists (2 Astor Pl.) into an “underground 80s Hanukkah club” with funk, soul, house and disco music from 9 p. m. to 1 a. m. Guests must be 18 or older; open bar for 21+. Student tickets are $20, early bird tickets start at $32. Get them here. First Night Sunday, Dec. 14 92NY’s “Chanukah Extravaganzukah” Bring the whole family to 92NY’s Kaufmann Concert Hall (1395 Lexington Ave.) at 10: 30 a. m. for a “Chanukah Extravaganzukah,” featuring an interactive performance by Israeli dance troupe Parparim, followed by a party with sufganiyot (Hanukkah jelly doughnuts), potato latkes, crafts and games. $10 entry for adults, $5 for children, children under 2 are free. Get tickets here. Jazzukah in Greenwich Village Enjoy a musical afternoon with the Jazzukah Project an ensemble of Jewish jazz musicians who will perform “the ultimate holiday playlist” at Groove (125 MacDougal St.). Showtimes at 11 a. m. and 1 p. m. Tickets from $25. 95; purchase them here Hanukkah family day at the Jewish Museum Drop in to the fourth floor of the Jewish Museum (1109 Fifth Ave.) for a full afternoon of art making, music and activities for the family from 11 a. m to 3: 30 p. m. Free with museum admission, which is $24 for adults and free for kids. Get tickets here. The 9th Annual Chanukastravaganza Watch a great lineup of New York’s Jewish comedians including Lana Schwartz, Ilana Michelle Carmi and Ophira Eisenberg at this Hanukkah-themed benefit for Jews for Racial and Economic Justice at 7: 30 p. m. at Brooklyn Art Haus (24 Marcy Ave.). Expect songs, surprises, and gelt. Get tickets, $23. 18, here. Hanukkah speakeasy with Kehillat Harlem Head uptown to Kehillat Harlem (2248 Adam Clayton Powell Junior Blvd.) for a speakeasy night at 8 p. m. featuring jazz, cocktails and latke flights. Get tickets, from $36, here. Second night Monday, Dec. 15 A Hanukkah party with Russ & Daughters Celebrate the second night of Hanukkah at Russ & Daughters Café (127 Orchard St.) with latke bar, “nosh favorites,” sufganiyot, beverages both alcoholic and not, plus a menorah lighting. The festivities begin at 6: 30 p. m. Tickets are $125; must be 21+ to attend. 54 Celebrates Hanukkah: A Festival of Writers 54 Below, New York’s Broadway-themed supper club at 254 West 54th St., showcases Jewish musical theater writers as they each present an original Hanukkah song, performed by Broadway actors. Showtimes at 7 p. m. and 9 p. m. Tickets start at $35; get them here. Third night Tuesday, Dec. 16 A guided tour of Temple Emanu-El’s permanent Judaica collection At 11 a. m., head to Temple Emanu-El (1 East 65th St.) to take a curator-guided tour of the menorah collection at the Reform congregation’s in-house museum. Details here. Chanukkah on Ice at Wollman Rink “Chanukkah on Ice” is back at Central Park’s Wollman Rink this year from 6 p. m. to 9 p. m. Skate to live Jewish music accompanied by a life-sized dreidel mascot. Also included: hot drinks, food and a “meaningful” menorah lighting. Tickets start at $30. until Nov. 25. Fourth night Dec. 17 A Zusha Hanukkah concert Hasidic folk-slash-electronic band Zusha performs a Hanukkah concert at The Altneu, an Orthodox synagogue at 107 East 70th St., in partnership with the SAM School. Tickets to the 6 p. m. show are $54 for Altneu members and SAM families ($26 for kids); $118 for non-members ($54 for kids). Get tickets here. The Great Chanukah Doughnut Duel 2025 Find out who makes the best Hanukkah doughnuts, or sufganiyot, at this annual doughnut duel hosted by The Neighborhood and held at The Moxy Williamsburg (353 Bedford Ave.) at 7 p. m.. Guests will sample doughnuts made by a variety of top chefs and vote for their favorite. Get tickets here for $36. Old Jewish Men Hanukkah Spectacular Join lifestyle brand-slash-Instagram-comedy group Old Jewish Men for their Hanukkah Spectacular comedy show at the Gramercy Theater (127 East 23rd St.). The show begins at 8 p. m.; tickets start at $33. 95. Fourth night Wednesday, Dec. 17 A SNL Hanukkah jam at the JCC Celebrate Hanukkah with music and comedy at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan (334 Amsterdam Ave.) at this Saturday Night Live tribute show from 7 p. m. to 8: 15 p. m. Starring singer-songwriter Romi Hanoch, the event will pay tribute to SNL’s most beloved musical sketches, including, of course, Adam Sandler’s “The Chanukah Song.” Tickets are $20. Fifth night Thursday, Dec. 18 Hanukkah party with the East Side Quartet and National Council of Jewish Women Join the National Council of Jewish Women at the Council House (241 West 72nd St., second floor) for a Hanukkah party from 1 p. m. to 2 p. m. featuring vocalist Deborah Karpel who will perform Jewish music from across Yiddish, Sephardic and Israeli traditions, as well as American standards. There will also be latkes and candle lighting. Free; learn more here. Nefesh Mountain Hanukkah show at Brooklyn Bowl Jewish bluegrass band Nefesh Mountain is putting on a Hanukkah show at Brooklyn Bowl (61 Wythe Ave.) beginning at 8 p. m. Get your tickets here from $21. Arrive at 7 p. m. for a pre-show Hanukkah party and candle-lighting, co-hosted by the band and a variety of local Jewish community partners. Hanukkah Bash for young Jewish professionals with the Museum of Jewish Heritage The Young Friends of The Museum of Jewish Heritage host “Light Up the Night,” a Hanukkah party at the museum (36 Battery Pl.) featuring an open bar, hors d’oeuvres and stellar views. The party goes from 8 p. m. to 11 p. m.; get tickets, from $54, here. A Hanukkah musical performance with 14Y in Union Square Join the 14Y for their second annual Hanukkah musical performance at 6 p. m. in Union Square, featuring a special performance by Broadway’s Adam Kantor, who is the current director of immersive culinary experience “Diaspora”. Free; register here. Hanukkah Tanz! album release party Celebrate Hanukkah and the release of klezmer clarinetist Michael Winograd’s new album “TANZ! Live in NYC,” at Brooklyn’s Center for New Jewish Culture (17 Eastern Parkway). Doors open at 7: 30 p. m., and the concert begins at 8. There will be latkes, l’chaims and music. Get your tickets here, from $18. Sixth night Friday, Dec. 19 Spin, Sing, and Shine for Hanukkah! From Dec. 19 to 21, head to the Children’s Museum of Manhattan (212 West 83rd St.) for a range of child-friendly Hanukkah activities, like creating wooden dreidels, making candles and listening to musical performances. Get the full schedule here; activities are included with regular museum admission, which starts at $17. Seventh night Saturday, Dec. 20 “Hanukkah Lit” takes Williamsburg Dance the night away at Unveiled, the nightclub beneath the Brooklyn’s William Vale Hotel (94 North 13th St.) with hundreds of young Jews at the tenth annual “Hanukkah Lit” party, from 10: 00 p. m. to 4 a. m. Get your tickets here from $23. 97. Eighth night Sunday, Dec. 21 Hanukkah concert with YIVO.
https://www.jta.org/2025/11/20/ny/hanukkah-2025-how-new-york-city-is-celebrating-this-year