Wikipedia's first sentence called it “jewish counterpart of santa claus”. Today it says “character on saturday night live played by jon lovitz”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Recurring character on Saturday Night Live”. It now reads “Recurring character on Saturday Night Live Fictional character”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2005 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2005
Hanukkah Harry is the Jewish counterpart of Santa Claus . Hanukkah Harry is portrayed as a thin, bespectacled man in a vest, with a short grey beard. During the eight days of Hannukah , he rides in his flying wagon (pulled by donkeys) from place to place to give presents to children. During the rest of the year, he lives at his factory on Mount Sinai , together with his toy-making workers. Traditionally, the names of his donkeys are Moshe, Herschel, and Shlomo. He is reportedly eight times as busy as Santa, and with less help. He has featured in a Saturday Night Live skit (voiced by Jon Lovitz ), and in the movie Hanukkah Harry Saves Christmas . A semi-popular song about him is the Hanukkah Harry Song . It's Hanukkah Harry 8 nights a year! Means that Hanukkah Harry is here! Delivering Toys to Jewish girls and Jewish boys We dance the horah around the menorah 'Cuz Hanukkah Harry is Here!" v t e1
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 16285360.
The opening as it stood in 2010 11 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Hanukkah Harry is a fictional character on Saturday Night Live played by Jon Lovitz .Hanukkah Harry is portrayed on the show as a variation upon the modern-day image of Santa Claus , with a beard characteristic of a male adherent of Haredi Judaism , and with his clothes in blue with white edges (the colors of the flag of Israel ).
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 364492909.
The opening as it stood in 2015
Jon Lovitz (2008) Hanukkah Harry is a fictional character on Saturday Night Live played by Jon Lovitz . Hanukkah Harry It is also the title of a children's picture book.This article pertains strictly to the SNL character. Hanukkah Harry is portrayed on the show as a variation upon the modern-day image of Santa Claus , with a beard characteristic of a male adherent of Haredi Judaism , and with his clothes in blue with white edges (the colors of an Ashkenazi Jewish tallit , or prayer shawl, shared by the flag of Israel ).
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 651204036.
The opening as it stood in 2020 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Hanukkah Harry is a fictional character on Saturday Night Live played by Jon Lovitz . Hanukkah Harry is portrayed on the show as a variation upon the modern-day image of Santa Claus , with a beard characteristic of a male adherent of Haredi Judaism , and with his hat in blue with white edges (the colors of an Ashkenazi Jewish tallit , or prayer shawl, shared by the flag of Israel ).
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 953976583.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Recurring character on Saturday Night Live Hanukkah Harry is a fictional character on Saturday Night Live played by Jon Lovitz . Hanukkah Harry is portrayed on the show as a variation upon the modern-day image of Santa Claus , with a beard characteristic of a male adherent of Haredi Judaism , and with his hat in blue with white edges (the colors of an Ashkenazi Jewish tallit , or prayer shawl, shared by the flag of Israel ).
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1155321150.
The opening as it stood in 2025
Recurring character on Saturday Night Live Fictional character Hanukkah Harry is a fictional character on Saturday Night Live played by Jon Lovitz . Hanukkah Harry is portrayed on the show as a variation upon the modern-day image of Santa Claus , with a beard characteristic of a male adherent of Haredi Judaism , and with his hat in blue with white edges (the colors of an Ashkenazi Jewish tallit , or prayer shawl, shared by the flag of Israel ).
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1297189759. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “jewish counterpart of santa claus”. Today it says “character on saturday night live played by jon lovitz”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Recurring character on Saturday Night Live”. It now reads “Recurring character on Saturday Night Live Fictional character”. Read the current article and compare.
2005
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2005, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
jewish counterpart of santa claus
Now
character on saturday night live played by jon lovitz
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
