The bar mitzvah episode of "Frasier" is peak Jewish TV

“Star Mitzvah” begins with the ancient Jewish tradition of a mother curating photos for her son's bar mitzvah montage — and only gets better from there.

via IMDB

Don’t get me wrong, I love a good, extremely Jewish show — I’m talking “The Nanny,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “Transparent,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” But I think what I love even more is when an extremely unJewish show has its token Jewish moment. The bat mitzvah episode of “Pen15,” when the “Gilmore Girls” cast put on a rendition of “Fiddler on the Roof,” that time Elmo celebrated Shabbat — all gold.

Because one of my all-time favorite shows is “Frasier,” I think one of my all-time favorite examples of this phenomenon is the season 10 episode called “Star Mitzvah,” in which Frasier’s son Freddy officially becomes a man in the Jewish tradition.

Freddy’s mom, Lilith, is Jewish (and named after a primordial she-demon from the bible who steals babies, but joke’s on the writers, because Bebe Neuwirth’s Lilith is an incredible character, and her biblical namesake is the feminist icon we deserve). Her Jewish identity, and thus Freddy’s, pops up a few times throughout the series, including in another gem of a Jewish episode, “Merry Christmas, Mrs. Moskowitz.” 

“Star Mitzvah” begins with the ancient Jewish tradition of Lilith curating photos for Freddy’s bar mitzvah montage, and the equally important ancient Jewish tradition of the bar mitzvah kid realizing that the more people you invite to your coming of age ceremony, the more presents you get. 

We soon discover that Freddy has invited all of his dad’s colleagues at the radio station, which leads to an actually pretty touching conversation between Frasier and his producer, Roz, who asks, “Is it weird to have a son brought up in a different religion than yours?”

Because Frasier is Frasier, he responds thoughtfully, “Not at all, Roz. It’s a faith that espouses love, compassion, duty, education and art. All values which I cherish. Though I have played a relatively small role in his spiritual development, he has honored me by asking that I say a few words, and in the spirit of the occasion, I am going to learn it in Hebrew.”

Frasier’s colleague Noel, who is mostly known for making extremely creepy comments towards Roz, overhears Frasier’s desire to learn Hebrew and makes an offer he can’t refuse: He will translate his speech into Hebrew, if Frasier agrees to go the Star Trek convention on his behalf and get an autograph from Scott Bakula — he can’t go himself because (fellow Jew) William Shatner has placed a restraining order against him. 

Long story short: Frasier doesn’t make it to the convention, and instead of apologizing to Noel, suggests he should just get over his sci-fi obsession and grow up already. Noel agrees to still translate the speech, but is clearly plotting revenge.

Cut to the bar mitzvah: Lilith is in an excellent pearl-and-fancy-hat combination, an iconic ‘90s mother of the mitzvah look. Freddy does some truly excellent chanting from the Torah (according to the ever-prestigious ethnicelebs.com, the actor who plays him, Trevor Einhorn, is Ashkenazi Jewish, so maybe his Torah chops were coming from his own bar mitzvah). The rabbi (played by Corey Fischer, who, fun fact, co-founded The Jewish Theatre San Francisco) gives a hearty “Yasher Koach!” And it is now time for Frasier to give his translated speech.

“PuqloDwI' le'qu',” he begins. “Hoch jaj choquvmoH!”

I am not a fluent Hebrew speaker, but like the other congregants in attendance at Freddy’s bar mitzvah, I can recognize that this is not in fact Hebrew. Frasier goes on, fully committed to the bit, while the crowd starts giggling and shrugging their shoulders. He finishes with a hearty “Shabbat shalom,” and the rabbi asks, “What was that gobbledy gook?” Frasier explains it was a blessing for his son, to which the rabbi retorts, “That means nothing, it’s gibberish.”

It is then a (presumably nerdy) friend of Freddy’s stands up and announces, “That’s not gibberish, it’s Klingon!” 

And thus, Noel’s revenge has been revealed: He did not translate Frasier’s speech into Hebrew, but into the original language created for Star Trek (and yes, the speech Frasier gives really is authentic Klingon). 

Though he is embarrassed, Freddy’s friend helps him realize that while it got lost in translation, his dad’s speech really was sweet, telling him, “Roughly translated, it says ‘My dearest son, each day you redeem me. May your journey be filled with the same joy, wisdom and purpose you have given mine’. It’s a lot more beautiful in the original Klingon.’”

At the end of the episode, Frasier and Lilith, who got so emotional during her own speech she had to run off the bimah, discuss which of them embarrassed Freddy more that day. They both get teary-eyed thinking about their son growing up and becoming a man. And the rabbi gets his final dig in when he says, “Mazel tov, you must be very proud. Of your son, not yourselves.”

This is a truly excellent bar mitzvah episode for so many reasons: it focuses on the ceremony itself, not just the party; authentic details abound (prayer shawls! Kippahs! Grandfathers taking pictures at inopportune times!); and while of course a bar mitzvah is about the child-turned-adult going through the process, it’s also about so much more than that — namely, the parents coming to terms with the fact that their little baby is growing up. 

“Star Mitzvah” is a beautiful representation of an interfaith family honoring one another’s traditions, a divorced family coming together for important milestones, and Jewish nerds. What more could a Couch Potato Pancake want?