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Meet the bartender behind New York’s new Hanukkah-themed cocktail bar
(New York Jewish Week) — During the so-called “winter holiday season,” Christmas cheer takes center stage, while Hanukkah gets relegated to hobbled-together end caps at grocery stores (if that).
This is something that’s long irked Naomi Levy, a 36-year-old Jewish bartender who lives in Boston. There, as in New York, Christmas-themed pop-up bars appear all over the city — leaving Levy feeling like a “tourist,” she said, in her hometown.
But instead of bah-humbugging the situation, Levy took action: In 2018, she opened the Maccabee Bar, a Hanukkah-themed pop-up in Boston. Now in its fifth year, the cocktail bar, open only in December, serves drinks like the Latke Sour (apple brandy, potato, lemon, egg white, bitters) and an Everything Bagel Martini (“everything” spiced gin, tomato water, dill, vermouth), as well Jewish- and Hanukkah-adjacent small bites, such as latkes, sufganiyot and Bamba.
And now, for the first time, the Maccabee Bar is expanding to New York, where it will be hosted by Ollie, a bar in the West Village, from Dec. 13 through 31.
Levy had hoped to bring the Maccabee Bar to New York in 2020 but that was delayed. “I honestly cannot believe that nobody has done this before me in New York,” Levy told the New York Jewish Week.
To become the Maccabee Bar, Ollie will be covered in blue and white Hanukkah lights and decor. “It’s going to be crazy,” Levy said. “I’ve mentally prepared. I definitely encourage reservations.”
Ahead of the Manhattan Maccabee Bar opening, the New York Jewish Week caught up with Levy to talk about what inspired her, how she expanded and what, exactly, creating a Hanukkah-themed cocktail entails.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Levy was named “Best Bartender” by Boston Magazine in 2019. (Ezra Pollard)
New York Jewish Week: What was the inspiration behind starting a Hanukkah-themed bar?
Naomi Levy: I really love the holiday season and for many, many years I ran a bar called Eastern Standard in Boston. We were open all the time, so I worked every Christmas. I always really loved the holiday spirit and started seeing a lot more of these Christmas-themed bars popping up. But as much as I love all of the festivities this time of year, I also feel very much like a tourist because I don’t celebrate Christmas. I wondered what would happen if I created a pop-up bar that was completely dedicated to Hanukkah. Luckily, I had just opened at a new bar and the ownership was amenable to trying stuff out. We gave it a go and it was absolutely incredible. The turnout was amazing. People were so excited — I’ve never been called a “mensch” for making a cocktail before. I realized, “Oh my gosh, it’s not just me that had that feeling this time this year.” There’s a group of people that are underrepresented and would love to really feel like they get to get into this festive time of year just as much as everyone else. It’s been really exciting to watch it grow and just to be able to bring my culture and bring something fun to the community.
After four years in Boston, what was the process of opening a pop-up in New York and how did you make the leap?
I had reached out to a couple friends in New York. What was really exciting to me about Ollie is that I have a former staff member from Boston who moved to New York, and he works at Ollie now. He has worked at a couple of the Maccabee Bars in Boston. It’s good to have someone who works there who’s been through it and understands what they’re getting into and things like that. He connected me with the owner and they were really excited about it. It’s just that much more helpful that I have someone there that knows what’s about to happen.
What are you most excited about in bringing the energy of Maccabee Bar to New York?
I just really hope to provide a place where people get to celebrate and not in the same way that they already have access to.
We’re starting with one location in New York, but in Boston we have two locations because the demand has just been that high. We now have Maccabee regulars [in Boston]. Last year, I had a customer who said, “My mom told me to come to this!” I just thought, how cool is it that we’re a bar that your mom’s telling you to go to?
Tell me a little bit about the cocktails and how you make them Hanukkah-themed.
My cocktail style in general tends to be pretty culinary. I tend to get inspiration from food and food flavors, which is perfect for a Hanukkah menu since there are so many delicious foods that we eat. The Latke Sour is obviously inspired by latkes. Then we have the Hebrew Hammer, which is inspired by sufganiyot. We make a leavened sugar, which is basically a yeasted simple syrup, to give you that kind of yeasty sensation of a doughnut, but it’s actually a really nice dry, sour cocktail.
To me, it’s also really important to showcase flavors from different aspects of the Jewish diaspora as well. I am Ashkenazi, but it’s really important to me to also showcase Sephardic flavors. So we have a drink that is called Ocho Candelika, which is actually the name of a song in Ladino that is all about the celebration of oil. So we do an olive oil-infused gin with a little honey, almond, apricot and lemon for some of those more classic Spanish and Sephardic flavors.There’s a drink this year that’s inspired by Ethiopian Sanbat Wat [a spicy chicken stew typically made on Shabbat] with berbere spice in it.
Then there will be all sorts of fun things, ranging from a hot drink that has a syrup in it that is kind of tzimmes-inspired and a flip that’s rugelach-inspired. So it will be both very, very Hanukkah-associated things but also just some wider Jewish flavors.
The Maccabee Bar will be at Ollie, 64 Downing Street, beginning Tuesday Dec. 13 through Saturday, Dec. 31. Find details and reservations on Maccabee Bar’s website.
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Greece Plans Extension of Territorial Waters Despite Turkish Warning
Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis attends a joint press conference at the Foreign Ministry in Athens, Greece, Oct/ 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Stelios Misinas
Greece plans to extend its territorial waters further, including potentially in the Aegean Sea, Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis said on Friday, despite Turkey’s long-standing threat of war should Athens take such a step.
The NATO allies, but historic rivals, have eased tensions in recent years but remain at odds over where their continental shelves begin and end in the Aegean – an area believed to hold significant energy potential and with implications for overflights and airspace.
Greece has already extended its territorial waters in the Ionian Sea to 12 nautical miles from six, following agreements with Italy, and it has signed a maritime delimitation deal with Egypt in the eastern Mediterranean.
But it has avoided similar moves in the Aegean, where Ankara objected sharply.
In 1995, the Turkish parliament declared a “casus belli,” or cause for war, if Greece unilaterally extended its waters beyond six nautical miles in the Aegean, a position Athens says violates international maritime law.
Answering questions in parliament on Friday, Gerapetritis said further expansion was expected.
“Today, our sovereignty in the Aegean Sea extends to six nautical miles,” Gerapetritis said. “As there was an agreement with Egypt, as there was an agreement with Italy, there will also be a (further) extension of the territorial waters.”
He didn’t specify which maritime areas could be extended.
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry was not immediately available for comment.
In July, Greece took another step by unveiling the boundaries of two planned marine parks in the Ionian and Aegean seas. The Aegean park, covering 9,500 square kilometers (3,668 square miles), would initially expand around the southern Cyclades islands, further south of Turkey, according to the maps submitted by Athens. The announcement has drawn objections from Ankara.
Greece says the only issue it is prepared to discuss with Turkey is the demarcation of their maritime zones, including the continental shelf and an exclusive economic zone.
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Lebanon Detains Syrian Who Helped Funnel Funds to Pro-Assad Fighters, Sources Say
A person gestures next to a burning picture of President Bashar al-Assad, after rebels seized the capital and ousted the president, in Qamishli, Syria, Dec. 8, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Orhan Qereman
Lebanon has arrested a Syrian national who was helping senior associates of ousted president Bashar al-Assad finance fighters as part of a plot to destabilize Syria’s new ruling order, four sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday.
Ahmad Dunya was detained earlier this week, according to two Lebanese security sources and two of his former associates. The Lebanese security sources did not say what charges were linked to his arrest or if he would be extradited to Syria.
Reuters could not immediately reach Dunya or his legal counsel for comment.
His arrest came nearly a month after top Syrian security officials asked Lebanon to track down and hand over more than 200 officers who fled there after Assad was overthrown by rebel forces in December 2024 following 14 years of civil war.
That request followed a Reuters investigation that detailed rival plots being pursued by former Assad cohorts to finance potential Alawite militant groups in Lebanon and along the Syrian coast through financial intermediaries.
Dunya was one of those intermediaries and funneled money from Rami Makhlouf, Assad‘s billionaire cousin who now lives along with the ex-Syrian dictator in exile in Moscow, to prospective fighters in Lebanon and Syria, Reuters found.
A former associate of Dunya’s and a Syrian figure close to Makhlouf both confirmed that Dunya was a key financial conduit for his funds and was detained in Lebanon. The two sources said he managed extensive financial records, including payroll tables and financial receipts.
In recent months, Dunya had been skimming off the top of Makhlouf’s transfers, according to the two Syrian sources.
The Reuters investigation found that Makhlouf had spent at least $6 million on salaries and equipment for prospective fighters. Some of the financial records uncovered claimed that Makhlouf spent $976,705 in May, and that one group of 5,000 fighters received $150,000 in August.
A Lebanese security source said there were likely dozens of other financial handlers like Dunya still operating in Lebanon on behalf of Assad‘s former associates.
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Kremlin Says Putin Is Mediating in Iran Situation to Try to Deescalate
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks on the day he attends a documents signing ceremony with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in Moscow, Russia, Jan. 17, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/Pool
President Vladimir Putin is mediating in the Iran situation to try to quickly deescalate tensions, the Kremlin said on Friday, after the Russian leader spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Moscow, an ally of Tehran, has condemned US President Donald Trump’s threats of new military strikes after Iran cracked down on protests that broke out late last month.
Israel and the US last year both bombed Iranian nuclear sites, and Iran fought a 12-day war with Israel.
Russia has pursued closer ties with Iran since the start of its war in Ukraine, and Putin last year signed a 20-year strategic partnership pact with Pezeshkian. Moscow also has a long-established working relationship with Israel.
Putin in his call with Netanyahu expressed Russia’s willingness to “continue its mediation efforts and to promote constructive dialogue with the participation of all interested states,” the Kremlin said, adding he had set out his ideas for boosting stability in the Middle East.
No further details were given on Putin‘s mediation attempt.
Putin had then been briefed by Pezeshkian in a separate call on what the Kremlin called Tehran’s “sustained efforts” to normalize the situation inside Iran.
“It was noted that Russia and Iran unanimously and consistently support deescalating the tensions — both surrounding Iran and in the region as a whole — as soon as possible and resolving any emerging issues through exclusively political and diplomatic means,” the Kremlin said.
Putin and Pezeshkian had confirmed their commitment to their countries’ strategic partnership and to implementing joint economic projects, the Kremlin added.
WESTERN SANCTIONS
Separately, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which includes Russia, China, India, and Iran among others, said it opposed external interference in Iran and blamed Western sanctions for creating conditions for unrest.
“Unilateral sanctions have had a significant negative impact on the economic stability of the state, led to a deterioration in people’s living conditions and objectively limited the ability of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to implement measures to ensure the country‘s socio-economic development,” the SCO said in a statement.
Protests erupted on Dec. 28 over soaring inflation in Iran, whose economy has been crippled by sanctions, before spiraling into one of the biggest challenges yet to the clerical establishment ruling Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Any threat to the survival of the Iranian leadership would pose a serious concern for Moscow, 13 months after it lost another key Middle East ally with the toppling of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Earlier this month another Russian ally, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, was captured by the United States and brought to New York to face drug trafficking charges.
Asked what support Russia could provide to Iran, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “Russia is already providing assistance not only to Iran but also to the entire region, and to the cause of regional stability and peace. This is partly thanks to the president’s efforts to help deescalate tensions.”
Western powers accuse Iran of having a clandestine agenda to develop nuclear weapons, something Tehran denies. Russia says it supports Iran‘s right to peaceful nuclear energy.