author portrait

Sam Hoffman

During a twenty year career in the New York film industry, Sam Hoffman has Produced, Directed or Assistant Directed numerous films, shorts, second units and commercials including:  The Royal Tenenbaums, School of Rock, The Producers Musical, Donnie Brasco, Dead Man Walking and Groundhog Day.Currently, Hoffman is Executive Producing “The Oranges” starring Hugh Laurie and Catherine Keener. 

In January of 2009, Hoffman partnered with Jetpack Media to launch OldJewsTellingJokes.com – a website devoted to video portraits of Old Jews Telling Jokes. Since then, the videos have been viewed over 7 million times and have been released on DVD by First Run Features. The site, covered in countless blogs, has been featured in New York Magazine, the Huffington Post and the Wall Street Journal. 
 
Hoffman graduated with Honors from the University of Pennsylvania. He lives in New York City with his wife Andrea Crane, a modern art specialist with the Gagosian Gallery, their son Jack and daughter Juliet.
  

Books

Hanukkah 2021

The “Festival of Lights,” one of Judaism’s special events though not a biblical holiday, takes place in 2021 from sundown 11/28 – sundown 12/6. The eight-day celebration commemorates a Jewish victory in the second century B.C. over Greek-Syrian oppressors who sought to force the Jewish community to assimilate. It is NOT the “Jewish Christmas,” though there are some similarities. Both holidays celebrate light during a season of darkness, with symbolic candle lighting either from the branches of trees or from a menorah. Both Hanukkah and Christmas are shaped around messages of hope and miracles, a time of wonder meant to bring families together. 

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