Mendel is always mess­ing up. He uses too many onions in his latkes, mis­takes sparklers for can­dles in his meno­rah, and acci­den­tal­ly leaves a tray of jel­ly donuts on the rabbi’s chair. But when the dri­ver of the Mitz­vah Mobile is sick, the rab­bi con­fi­dent­ly gives Mendel the job. Dri­ving through town blar­ing Hanukkah music, pass­ing out choco­late gelt, play­ing drei­del, and spread­ing the word about the rabbi’s Hanukkah par­ty, Mendel is doing a great job … until he crash­es the Mitz­vah Mobile into a bridge. But when the tele­vi­sion news team arrives on the scene, Mendel com­pos­es him­self — stand­ing tall like the shamash — and teach­es every­one the sto­ry of Hanukkah. Mirac­u­lous­ly, despite the crash, the meno­rah on top of the Mitz­vah Mobile is still burn­ing bright. Back at the syn­a­gogue Hanukkah par­ty, the rab­bi gives Mendel the hon­or of light­ing the giant meno­rah in front of city hall.

The illus­tra­tions, though soft­ly col­ored and appeal­ing, depict a Jew­ish neigh­bor­hood that lacks dimen­sion and diver­si­ty. That being said, the sto­ry expos­es read­ers who do not live in urban areas with robust Jew­ish com­mu­ni­ties to the con­cept of a Mitz­vah Mobile and a large meno­rah light­ing at city hall. It also includes a bite-sized his­to­ry of Hanukkah, instruc­tions for play­ing drei­del, the lyrics to ​“Oh, Hanukkah,” and a latke recipe.