Like other religions and cultures throughout the world, Judaism has developed a variety of rituals to mark important life cycle moments. One of the most well-known of these rites is the bar or bat mitzvah. Time will tell if Aubrey Drake Graham has something more to say about Jewish life than this offering, but we should credit him with realizing a vision of bar mitzvah that is about bringing your diverse worlds of friends together to celebrate, and feeling the wonderful uplift that happens when they raise your chair toward the sky.Caroline (Andy's daughter) at her Bat Mitzvah, May 9, 2009. The subtext here is to be true to what you really are, even the parts of your self that seem to be contradictory. But on another level I would argue that Drake's message to bar mitzvah boys is one that has relevance to any teen who feels that he is caught between two competing identities.

On one level, this video is another superficial and sophomoric party scene, a bar mitzvah bash that emphasizes the bar instead of the mitzvah. But having a biracial Jewish hip-hop megastar kiss the Torah in front of millions of fans and affirm the relevance of Jewish ritual is a significant statement. I doubt that this video will have staying power, and the song is likely to shine for a few weeks and then fade away. The video ends with two shots that mirror his white friendships and black friendships, his arm first around his friend from Toronto OB (who wears a tallis outside in the video) and then around the dreadlocked Lil' Wayne. While I don't want to read too much into a few seconds of footage, it does seem like there is an act of creative destruction in this scene, a new ritual of sorts that affirms his Jewish identity and hip-hop identity in one swoop. As he raises the cake above his head and then smashes it down, I wondered what this action meant: Was it a simple act of mayhem? Was he celebrating a newfound freedom? Was his smashing an expression of the independence he could now enjoy as he re-defined his community? Watching the video a few times over, I sensed that there was a moment of personal authenticity in this Sinai-infused baked good chaos. His friends surround him and entertain him playfully. Drake, engaged in the candle-lighting ceremony that has become a b'nai mitzvah standard in Reform and many Conservative communities, stands before his Torah-shaped cake. One other scene of this video stands out for me as unusual. Next comes the dance party, and here his white and black friends freely inter-mix, lifting Drake on a chair for a hora. He gleefully crashes the scrolls down, destroying the cake. Drake is now surrounded by mainly black friends and he steps up to a table with a cake shaped like a Torah that says 'Happy Re-Bar Mitzvah.' The cake is surrounded by candles and Drake grabs the scrolls of the Torah cake as if he is lifting it in the synagogue ritual of hagbah (lifting the Torah after it is read). With an air of dignity, a gabbai (ritual guide) points out the place to read and Drake takes his tzitzit (prayer-shawl fringes), respectfully kisses the Torah and chants.

As Drake raps about a former girlfriend, we are led into a beautifully shot segment where Drake chants from the Torah. Then we see the current Drake with a group of white friends outside of Temple Israel in Miami.

The video begins with a young Drake dancing in classic VHS footage from his cousin's bar mitzvah.

Jewish song bar mitzvah