The 25-year-old rapper today is one of the biggest names in hip-hop. “When kids are young it’s hard for them to understand the make-up of religion and race.” “I went to a Jewish school, where nobody understood what it was like to be black and Jewish,” he told Heeb magazine in 2010. Nevertheless, Kuehne said, he hoped “Jewish youth will see the Drake video at least in part as a reminder to ‘re-commit’ themselves to their Jewish religion.”ĭrake, whose real name is Aubrey Graham, was raised by his Jewish mother in Toronto and attended a Jewish day school.
The video had garnered well over 1 million views by Wednesday, only five days after its release.Īt first, Temple Israel’s president, Ben Kuehne, said that the video - lyrics aside - is “an embracing of religious passage.” He said, “It’s not a sacrilegious message it’s not an antireligious message.”īut once Kuehne had a chance to review the video and the lyrics more closely, he said, “The complete video is certainly not consistent with Temple Israel’s longstanding history and reputation as a progressive voice in the Jewish Reform movement.” He added, “Temple Israel does not adopt, condone, or sponsor any aspect of the Drake video, and was not involved in its production.” “But she was no angel, and we never waited / I took her for sushi, she wanted to f*** / So we took it to go, told them don’t even plate it,” Drake raps. Rather, it features profanity-filled and sexually explicit lyrics. But the accompanying song, “HYFR” (Hell Yeah F***ing Right), has nothing to do with a bar mitzvah. The video, parts of which were filmed in the Miami shul’s sanctuary, purports to depict Drake’s “re-bar mitzvah,” showing the Jewish rapper reading from what appears to be a Torah.
WASHINGTON (JTA) - Thanks to hip-hop superstar Drake’s latest music video, there are now far more eyes focusing on Temple Israel’s bimah than there are even during the High Holidays.Īnd even though the song’s lyrics are decidedly more profane than sacred, the Reform synagogue’s president said he hoped the video would help Jewish youth connect to Judaism.