Jewish rapper announces decision to follow Christ

Jewish parody rap star 50 Shekel, who was once billed as “The World’s Most Kosher MC,” shocked the Jewish world on July 6 with two announcements on his Web site: He’s accepted Jesus as his Messiah and wishes to be called by his birth name, Aviad Cohen.
   
Cohen, 30, gained popularity with his hit “In da Shul,” a spoof on gangster rapper 50 Cent’s single “In da Club.” Cohen did gigs around New York in 2003. 
   
At the time, he said he wanted to rap about Judaism.
   
Raised an observant Jew in Israel and Brooklyn, N.Y., Cohen told Beliefnet in 2003 that he was in the process of becoming closer to the Torah and orthodoxy. 
   
“Judaism is what made me — all the values and ethics that the Torah teaches,” he said. “That’s something that’s been evident in my life.”
   
But he said in early June that he has now chosen to lead a Messianic Jewish lifestyle, which he has been practicing for about 10 months. 
   
Messianic Jews, like Christians, believe that Jesus — or as they refer to him, Y’Shua — was the expected Messiah. 
   
Though they claim to be following the true Judaism, mainstream Jews are nearly unanimous in rejecting the idea that Messianic Jews are Jewish, and many believe them to be Christians intentionally targeting Jews for conversion.
   
Cohen said his change of heart was divinely inspired. “This random morning, I woke up to pastors speaking on the radio, and they were speaking about Old Testament stuff,” Cohen said. “I didn’t set my alarm, I didn’t set it to that station.”
   
This experience, Cohen said, was a sign from God that he should have enough “matzoh balls” to explore Christianity.
   
After that, Cohen watched Mel Gibson’s movie, “The Passion of the Christ,” and immediately became fascinated with Jesus. It was then, he said, that he “came to faith.”
   
“After seeing ‘The Passion,’ my mouth was wide open for about 20 minutes straight,” Cohen says on his Web site. 
   
“I was shocked. … Jesus was the Messiah,” Cohen wrote. “Messiah is moshiach The Anointed One that we’ve all been waiting for. This movie is not anti-Semitic. I have just fallen in love with God.”
   
Cohen believes accepting “Jesus into his heart” makes him a “true Jew.”
   
“A lot of people are stuck in (Microsoft) Windows 98,” he said. “The New Testament is Windows XP. 
   
“It’s 2005. I have no interest in Windows 98. I upgraded. This is where we’re supposed to be right now. I am a true Jew on course,” he said.
   
But David Klinghoffer, the author of “Why the Jews Rejected Jesus: The Turning Point in Western History,” which tells the story of the Jewish response to Christianity, including Messianic Judaism, said embracing Jesus is not Jewish.
   
“Jews don’t believe in Jesus because he inspired a religion that seeks to cut us loose from the covenant God made with us at Mount Sinai,” he said. “The New Testament rejects the Torah as ‘obsolete,’ a ‘curse,’ a ‘captor.’”
   
“That covenant is the grammar of our relationship with God,” Klinghoffer said. “Without it, we lack the language to relate to Him as Jews. So a Jew who believes in Jesus has given up his relationship with God.”
   
Cohen maintains he is still Jewish and said that people who disagree are not following what God wants from them.
   
He said Jews tend to be more biased against Jews becoming Christians than against Jews who explore other religions.
   
“If I became a Buddhist, Jews wouldn’t care. They would probably think I’m spiritual and edgy,” he said. 
   
“If I became a palm-reading-astrologer-Kabbalist, they would cheer and think I’m hip,” Cohen said. “But now that I have come into the arms of God, they are freaking like crazy, ‘cause they know I’m sold out to God and His Anointed Son and no longer sold on ‘Judaism.’
   
“It ain’t easy being the true Jew on the block,” he said. “I’m a sinner like anyone else, just like Adam from Genesis. Y’Shua was the last sacrifice. I asked Him for forgiveness and my sins were atoned for.” (Beliefnet)