'Sukkos' is revealed as Shaquille O'Neal's favorite Jewish holiday as the 'Big Aristotle' sings iconic folk song

Four-time NBA champion Shaquille O'Neal’s favorite Jewish holiday was revealed in a social media post. It is Sukkos (or Sukkot) and it was highlighted with him singing the Israeli folk song “Hava Nagila.”

In a post by Instagram user Michael Weisz, Shaq is seen talking to a kid, who was asked what the Los Angeles Lakers great’s favorite Jewish holiday is. The person taking the video then said, “Sukkos.”

Shaquille O’Neal apparently agreed to what was said and went on to blurt “Shalom” (peace), “Baruch Hashem” (thank God) and “Shana Tova” (Happy New Year) before singing parts of “Hava Nagila.”

Shaquille O’Neal has had many encounters with Jewish people and culture throughout his playing career and after.

In fact, one of his teammates while with the Phoenix Suns from 2008 to 2009 was American-Israeli Amar’e Stoudemire, with whom he had a good relationship.

In a video posted on September 22, 2021, by the Creative Community for Peace, ‘The Big Aristotle’ was seen sending the Jewish Community a message for the Sukkot holiday, which is an autumn festival of double thanksgiving that happens in September and October.

The Basketball Hall-of-Famer said in his message, which he peppered with a play on words with his name and the Sukkot tradition:

"My favorite Jewish holiday is coming up. You know why? Because we all go out and live in shacks."

More recently, Shaquille O’Neal gave credit to "one little small beautiful Jewish man” for helping him become smarter in his dealings as a businessman.

That man is Lester Knispel, whom he enlisted as his financial advisor. Shaq said of him in an interview with Graham Bensinger:

"Then I met a one little small beautiful Jewish man who says, 'I'm in the savings bonds. We're going to put your money in. We're going to start a sub-chapter-s corporation from your family. So all the stuff that you're doing, you can write it off.' I was like, 'You know what? Shalom Bracha Hashem, I'm going with your sir.'"

Shaquille O'Neal once chose Kyrie Irving's 'Uncle Drew' as favorite film

Shaquille O’Neal is one of the NBA players who has made a foray into Hollywood and made movies. He said one of his favorite films to be part of was ‘Uncle Drew’ (2018) by Kyrie Irving, since he starred in ‘Kazaam’ in 1996.

He made this known in an Instagram post, which he captioned with:

“uncle drew was my favorite movie since KAZAAAAM”

'Uncle Drew' follows the story of a group of old basketball players led by Drew (Irving) as they help their manager (Lil Rel Howery) win the Rucker Classic street ball tournament in Harlem.

O’Neal played the big man in the team, which also included fellow NBA stars Reggie Miller, Chris Webber, and Nate Robinson, as well as WNBA legend Lisa Leslie.

While the movie was not a certified box-office hit, earning $46.7 million worldwide, it was better than the $18.9 million earned by 'Kazaam' in 1996, despite a budget of $20 million.

Just the same, O’Neal also considers 'Kazaam' a favorite.