50 Shekel, the Jewish rapper who dubbed himself the “The World’s Most Kosher MC,” is now calling himself “The Jewish Jesus Freak.”

The rapper, Aviad Cohen, announced last week on his Web site that he had joined Jews for Jesus. In an e-mail to the Forward, he attributed the transformation to listening to evangelical Christian radio and to seeing Mel Gibson’s film “The Passion of the Christ.”

“Next thing you know it, I’m at a Jews for Jesus Ingathering,” wrote Cohen, who has been profiled in Jewish and non-Jewish publications, including the Forward and New York Magazine. “It was totally set up by [God].”

Cohen said that he adopted his new beliefs eight months ago, but is only now going public.

For decades, synagogues and Jewish organizations have fought aggressively to discredit the claim that it is possible to remain Jewish and embrace Jesus, going so far as to blackball messianic Jews from the Jewish community. Cohen, whose stage name is a play off of the hit rapper 50 Cent, is believed to be the first high-profile Orthodox Jewish performer to declare himself a Jew for Jesus.

Scott Hillman, director of the Baltimore branch of Jews for Judaism, a counter-missionary group, told the Forward that his organization has been advising Jewish youth groups and synagogues to discontinue booking Cohen for performances. Hillman also said that the organization has received several complaints from people claiming that Cohen has been using his mailing list to proselytize to his young Jewish fans.

“We have a responsibility to let people know when a missionary is taking advantage of kids,” Hillman said.

When asked about the allegations, Cohen responded that God’s “work speaks for itself.”
The rapper gained notoriety with a parody of the 50 Cent song “In Da Club.” Cohen’s version was called “In Da Shul,” and it featured such lyrics as, “You can find me in the shul, praying after school.”

Cohen’s religious transformation has triggered a debate on the Internet. In an article published on the Web site Bangitout.com, music critic Arye Dworken blamed the turn of events on unflattering reviews of Cohen’s work. Some critics dismissed Cohen, using words like “fraud,” “hack” and “gimmick.” In particular, Dworken, who is a regular contribtor to Heeb magazine, singled out Jewschool, the popular Jewish blog, for harshly criticizing Cohen’s music and allegedly leaving the rapper “with exhaustion and depression.”

Heeb, which played a key role in promoting Cohen, issued a statement to the Forward, saying “This is indeed a sad day in the world of Jewish parody rap."

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