His act has been likened to a Saturday Night Live skit. Picture a Hasidic Jew, garbed in traditional black attire, jumping around on a concert stage as if he's some strange amalgam of Mick Jagger, Little Richard and your latest rap- and reggae-influenced rock star.

In this case, he is your latest rock star. Meet Matisyahu, an Orthodox Jew whose recent single, King Without a Crown, has cracked the upper echelons of Billboard magazine's Hot 100 pop chart.

But Matisyahu, who performs on Saturday night at the Pompano Beach Amphitheatre in support of his new album, Youth, is hardly an isolated phenomenon. Take a look at pop culture these days and "hipster Judaism," as the phenomenon has been dubbed, is just about everywhere.

It's on television. Consider the new show coming to The Learning Channel: Shalom in the Home, starring Shmuley Boteach, an Orthodox rabbi who counsels troubled families. Think Dr. Phil with a Yiddish accent.

It's in the bookstore. Consider two popular volumes from last year: Abigail Pogrebin's Stars of David, a look at Jewish actors, writers, politicians and other celebrities, from Sarah Jessica Parker to Larry King, and Bar Mitzvah Disco, a celebration of the Jewish rite of passage in all its campy excessiveness.

It's at the clothing store. Consider the cleverly designed T-shirts that declare, "Moses is my homeboy," or ask, "Who's your rabbi?" Even the trendy clothier Urban Outfitters has gotten into the act with its "Everyone Loves a Jewish Girl" tees.

The phenomenon is so big that it even has its own publication: Heeb magazine, otherwise known as The New Jew Review. Its latest issue is dubbed "the sex issue" and features everything from a look at Judaism and oral sex to a cover profile of Jewish comedic siren Sarah Silverman.

"I think it's very cool to be Jewish now," says Mindy Hanken, who heads the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County's Jewish Teen Initiative and who sees firsthand how this wave of hipster Judaism has inspired a new generation. Naturally, she's chartered a bus to take a group of local teens to the Matisyahu performance.

In many ways, this marriage of Judaism and pop culture dates back at least a decade. In some cases, it came from within the Jewish community. When Adam Sandler introduced his now classic Hanukkah Song, a paean to all things and all people Jewish, on Saturday Night Live in 1994 -- sample lyric: "David Lee Roth lights the menorah/So do James Caan, Kirk Douglas and the late Dinah Shore-ah" -- he created a template.

But you can't overlook the role of non-Jews in bringing Judaism to the mainstream. Madonna led the way with her embrace of Kaballah, a form of Jewish mysticism. But she's since been joined by everyone from Demi Moore to Paris Hilton. Britney Spears even has Hebrew letters tattooed on the back of her neck.

Ultimately, however, the boom in hipster Judaism speaks to the mind-set of Jews in a post-assimilation era. For much of the 20th century, Jews strived to fit into a non-Jewish world, keeping their faith and ethnicity a private matter. Jews in Hollywood, for example, routinely changed their names. Kirk Douglas was Issur Danielovich Demsky.

Now that Jews have found a level of acceptance in an increasingly multicultural American society, it's OK for them to express their Jewishness.

"I'd say making fun of things is what my generation does. We need a hobby, so it's mockery," says Rob Tannenbaum, music editor of Blender magazine and a leader of the hipster Judaism movement in his role as a member of the comedic musical duo, What I Like About Jew.

The mockery speaks to the very secular aspect of this trend. Judaism may be a religion, but it's also a culture. And while American Jews have increasingly felt a certain distance when it comes to matters of faith, they still want a connection of some sort.

It's also the reason some Jewish philanthropic organizations have eagerly funded this hipster version of outreach. "Young people will go to a concert before they'll go to a synagogue," says Felicia Herman, executive director of the Natan Fund. It has given out nearly $2 million to about 30 non-mainstream Jewish organizations, including JDub Records and Heeb magazine.

This isn't to say religion has no role in all of this. Even traditional-minded Jewish leaders will look past the more controversial aspects of the movement -- Heeb magazine, for example, takes its name from a pejorative term for Jews, albeit in an effort to reclaim it as a positive -- and will see the overall effort as a bridge to building the faith.

And the significance of Matisyahu can't be underestimated. He may be a bona-fide pop star who sings in a patois that's reminiscent of Bob Marley, but he's also a man of faith who embraced Orthodoxy after growing up in a mostly secular suburban Jewish household.

Matisyahu won't perform on the Sabbath in keeping with the dictates of Jewish law. His concert won't start until 9 p.m. Saturday. He requires that kosher food be made available at his shows and he speaks of his religious fervour in nearly every verse of his lyrics. To quote King Without a Crown: "I sing to my God songs of love and healing."

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, who first found pop culture fame as the author of Kosher Sex, argues Judaism has become hip for an altogether different reason than the sardonic secularism would suggest. It's the faith itself, which places an earthly emphasis on the here and now and "mastering your life," that's winning fans.

Boteach sees parallels with the spiritual seekers of a previous generation -- the baby boomers -- turn to Eastern religion. Judaism is, "the Buddhism of our times," he says.

There's also a case to be made that Judaism has always taken inspiration from contemporary society. Florida Atlantic University Judaic scholar Dr. Frederick Greenspahn points to the fact that one Jewish prayer is based on a melody from a centuries-old German beer drinking song.

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