Kuehne also said the synagogue's Torah scroll was not used and that the scenes where Drake appears to be rapping in the sanctuary were inserted post-production. Kuehne said that those involved in the filming were "very respectful and used the temple outside and inside as we would have expected anybody to do." He said that the producers of the video paid a standard rental fee for the use of the synagogue’s facilities. Drake is shown being lifted in a chair and later pounding a cake with its Torah scroll decorations. The camera pans a food table with bagels and what appears to be gefilte fish and smoked fish. In many ways, it looks like a typical over-the-top bar mitzvah party - only in this case, the bar mitzvah "boy" is a famous musician who is joined by hip-hop producer DJ Khaled and fellow rapper Lil Wayne wearing a panda mask. The staged footage of the purported ceremony is followed by party and dancing scenes filmed elsewhere. A caption at the beginning of the video says the rapper “chose to get re-bar mitzvah'd as a re-commitment to the Jewish faith." The video for “HYFR” opens with a clip of Drake as a boy at a bar mitzvah celebration saying “mazel tov” and then cuts to him as an adult wearing a yarmulke and prayer shawl as he is shown apparently reading the Torah at Temple Israel’s bimah. He has been very public in embracing his Jewish roots, wearing a Chai pendant on the ">cover of Vibe magazine. The 25-year-old rapper today us 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.ĭon't miss our top stories. 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. But, is Korra even ready to try to trust again or has the pain of the past left her feeling that she's better off alone? Note: Some character's ages have been changed to better suit the story.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. Little does she expect that someone would come in her life so soon after and try to pick up the pieces. A modern Korrasami AU in which Korra's recent breakup has left her shattered and bitter.