LL Cool J is a Good Friend to the Jews

I just read an article in the Jewish Journal about a recent appearance that rap legend LL Cool J made at a benefit for The Ulmer Institute. The article, titled "LL Cool J discusses his Jewish friends, Israel and more," includes an interview LL Cool J gave at the event.

LL Cool J with Rabbi Jason Miller

The event Wednesday night supported TUI, which focuses on treating, researching and training around trauma relief for using methodologies developed by Israeli psychiatrists. Its founder, Faith Central Bible Church Bishop Kenneth Ulmer, is a friend of LL Cool J, who served as an honorary host of the event.

I'm not at all surprised that LL has been getting more involved with the Jewish community, Black-Jewish relations, and that he expressed interest in visiting Israel soon. I had the chance to shmooze with him a few years ago and he told me then that he was hoping to get to Israel soon.

LL Cool J even offered a "L'chayim" greeting to me on video:

Here is the complete interview with the Jewish Journal:

Straight Outta Compton and Black Lives Matter

When I was supposed to be learning Torah trope in my bedroom at 12 years old in preparation for my bar mitzvah, I would often sneakily substitute the audio cassette of my cantor singing the musical notes with a cassette of Run DMC, Ice-T, the Beastie Boys or Sugar Hill Gang. A few years later I would discover one of my favorite rap groups, N.W.A. Of course, my parents weren’t thrilled that the music CDs I was playing in my car contained the infamous “Parental Advisory – Explicit Content” stickers, but most of my driving at that age was back and forth to the synagogue for Jewish youth group events so they let it slide.

Rabbi Jason Miller with O'Shea Jackson, Jr. who plays his father Ice Cube in the movie

I continued to enjoy the Gangsta Rap genre into college, adding Snoop Dogg, Tupac Shakur, Geto Boys and Warren G to my typical mix of Ice Cube, Eazy E and Dr. Dre. However, when I headed off to New York City for rabbinical school at the Jewish Theological Seminary I left my rap CDs at home. It just didn’t feel right to be listening to the explicit lyrics that many consider misogynistic and pro-violence while studying Torah and Talmud in a seminary. My love for Gangsta Rap seemed to dissipate in the ensuing years as I became a rabbi and started a family.

Last month I realized that my love for Gangsta Rap had just been put on hold. I was invited to a private advance screening of the N.W.A. biopic “Straight Outta Compton” at a local theater outside of Detroit. I invited a few different friends to attend the screening with me, but they were either busy or not interested. So, I called my father and he accepted the invitation. I cautioned him that the movie would contain the same explicit music I listened to in high school that he had frowned against. He understood, but was willing to give the film a chance.

Rabbi Vs. Ice Cube in Detroit Casino

Over the past day I've been answering my cellphone like this: "No, I have never heard of a rabbi here in Detroit named Taras!" News reports all over the internet are saying that a Rabbi P. Taras is suing rapper Ice Cube for $2 million after he was attacked by the Hip Hop star at the MGM Grand casino in Downtown Detroit, about twenty minutes from my home in Michigan.

Now, for the record, I don't believe there is such a rabbi named Taras here in Detroit. Of course, there could have been a rabbi visiting over the Memorial Day weekend, but I'm skeptical that a rabbi would be at a Detroit casino this past weekend since Shabbat went right into the 2-day holiday of Shavuot. This would have made it highly unlikely that a rabbi was in Downtown Detroit at a casino.

Ice Cube is accused of beating up a rabbi at the MGM Grand Casino in Detroit

The celebrity gossip website, TMZ.com, reports that this Rabbi P. Taras guy says he was attacked by Ice Cube because he was wearing a yarmulke (kippah) on Sunday, May 24. Well, again, I highly doubt any Jewish person wearing a yarmulke would have been at the MGM Grand on the Shavuot holiday, when going to a casino would be forbidden. I'll continue asking around myself, but my best guess is that this person was not a rabbi and as far as I know there was no Shavuot retreat being held at the MGM Grand Detroit.

While I personally do not gamble, I do enjoy walking around casinos and on one such visit to Las Vegas (I was in town for CES) in January 2013 I actually did happen upon a fight involving a famous rap star. I was not involved in this altercation at the Bellagio of course, but from a safe position about 20 yards away I watched as a drunk man was giving the rapper Tyga a hard time. This quickly escalated into a fight between when Tyga's bodyguard stepped in and gave the guy a pretty good beating until casino security stepped in. It's a good thing the police weren't called in because Tyga had just been released from a Las Vegas jail a few hours earlier for a minor traffic violation.

Update: On the TMZ.com website it looks like this P. Taras left a comment as "Rev Taras," so maybe he's actually a reverend (although that wouldn't explain the yarmulke). He posted the following comment: "This incident occurred in the HOTEL part, and their [sic] is video which is already in my possession. I am not releasing any videos due to the fact that Mr. Jackson has a right to defend this suit, and he has not yet been served with the complaint. When same happens, at the apporpriate [sic] time I will release such material. -P. Taras"

Drake's Bar Mitzvah on Saturday Night Live (SNL)

Yesterday morning in synagogues throughout the world the Jewish people read the portion of the Torah called Yitro. Named for the Medianite priest who became father-in-law to Moses, Yitro (or Jethro) was also a trusted adviser to the Israelite leader. While it doesn't mention this in the Torah, it is possible that Yitro had black skin which likely meant that Moses was married to a Black woman thereby making them the first bi-racial marriage in the Torah. Today, the most famous rapper with bi-racial Jewish-Black heritage is Drake, who has a White Jewish mother and a Black father.

Last night Drake hosted the year's first Saturday Night Live show and Jewish and Black stereotypes were getting tossed a mile a minute during his opening monologue. The famous rapper opened the show by explaining that he's from Canada, was in the TV show Degrassi Junior High, and that his mother is Jewish and his father is Black.

Boy With Stutter Raps Adon Olam

I was looking forward to meeting many of the inspirational educators and thought leaders at the #140edu conference in New York City this week, but the one speaker I was really excited to meet was Lil Jaxe.

A few months ago, I watched a video of this 13-year-old boy at a previous #140conf and was amazed, impressed, and inspired. Lil Jaxe has a severe stutter, but he discovered that when he raps it goes away. So, it's a good thing for him that he's a talented rapper. And he's only 13 so I'm predicting that he's got a very successful career ahead of him.

Lil Jaxe presented before me at the #140edu conference today and I had a chance to shmooze with him a bit in the Green Room at the 92nd St. Y after his presentation. Here's the video of our discussion which includes him rapping the Jewish prayer Adon Olam as he did back in April at his bar mitzvah.

Drake's Bar Mitzvah (Again)

In Judaism when a Jewish man turns 83 he ceremoniously celebrates his bar mitzvah for the second time. The reason for this is that Judaism believes that the length of a man's life is 70 years so at 83-years-old he symbolically turns 13 once again. Aubrey Drake Graham, AKA "Drake", is only 26 and far from the traditional age of getting a re-do on the bar mitzvah ceremony, but that didn't stop the Jewish rapper from having what he has termed a "re-bar mitzvah".

Apparently, last fall on October 24, 2011 (a Monday) Drake decided to have a re-bar mitzvah as a re-commitment to the Jewish religion. We learn this from Drake's new music video for his song "HYFR" (look it up!). The video opens with footage of a cute little Drake as a child at a friend or relative's bar mitzvah saying "mazel tov" to the camera. There is also video footage of the young Drake dancing at the bar mitzvah.

The next part of the music video shows the outside of Temple Israel, a Reform congregation in Miami. The camera then takes us inside Temple Israel where we see Drake's bar mitzvah ceremony, including his reading from the Torah after kissing the the inside of the scroll with the tzitzit (fringes) of his tallit (prayer shawl).

Then things get a little crazy and become more typical of a rap video. Of course Drake gets lifted in a chair for the traditional Horah dance, but there is also the debauchery one would expect of a party attended by the likes of Lil Wayne (in a panda suit!), Trey Songz, Birdman and DJ Khaled.

Drake with a bottle of Manischewitz wine next to a guy wearing a JCC basketball jersey.

According to an interview with Drake (whose mother is Jewish), his original bar mitzvah took place in a nice Italian restaurant where he wore a yarmulke and read from his "portion". However, he says he never went to Hebrew School ("I cheated!"). Perhaps that's why he was eager to have a "re-bar mitzvah" in October. Matisyahu once said about Drake: "He's Jewish, but he's not representing Judaism. He happens to be Jewish just like Bob Dylan happened to be Jewish, but what I'm doing is really tapping into my roots and culture, and trying to blend that with the mainstream... Drake's being Jewish is just a by-product."

The "HYFR" video is too explicit for this blog, but it is available on YouTube by searching for "Drake" and "Bar Mitzvah".