Shmuley Boteach

Boteach was born in Los Angeles, California, the youngest of five children. His mother Eleanor (1942–2023) was an American Ashkenazi Jew who met his father in Beersheba, Israel, where she was visiting as a tourist. Shortly after their marriage, the couple relocated with their children to New York and then to Los Angeles. Boteach's parents divorced when he was eight years old; on his bar mitzvah, he told his parents he wanted them to reunite. and at a series of yeshivas in Los Angeles, New York, and Jerusalem (for three years at Torat Emet Yeshiva). Boteach was ultimately chosen as one of ten Chabad students sent to Sydney, Australia, to start a yeshiva. He then returned to New York, and took semicha (rabbinical ordination) in 1988. The family resided in Englewood, New Jersey. ==Rabbinical career==

In 1988, Boteach was sent at age 22 by Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, as a Chabad-Lubavitch shaliach (emissary), to Oxford, England, where he served as rabbi to Oxford University's students for 11 years. During that time, he founded the Oxford University L'Chaim Society (in Hebrew, ''L'Chaim'' means "To Life"). The society grew to be the second-biggest student organization ever in Oxford, with a membership that included over 5,000 non-Jews. Some Orthodox patrons became concerned about the percentage of non-Jewish members, and after Schneerson died in 1994, Chabad UK leadership asked Boteach to remove non-Jewish students from the society; others wanted Boteach to exclude gay students. Excerpts from his best-seller Kosher Sex were serialized in Playboy in 1998. While he had received the support of England's Chief Rabbi, whose office issued a statement saying Boteach was an "imaginative talent... prepared to take risks in order to communicate an authentic Jewish message to a new generation," Boteach wanted to "spare Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks problems with his rabbinate and the London Beit Din" according to media reports. In September, the Charity Commission temporarily froze the Society's bank accounts as a "temporary and protective measure", citing concerns about "the application and control" of the charity's funds—however, the Charity Commission released the funds three months later, in December. The Society had made payments on a north London home in which Boteach lived. The Charity Commission later found no evidence of wrongdoing, but determined that the mortgage payments were "difficult, if not impossible, to justify" under British law. Boteach reportedly repaid the £150,000 to the trustees, and the issue was resolved with Boteach being cleared. The Jewish Chronicle described him as "the United Kingdom's most high-profile rabbi". Boteach has attracted both praise and criticism from fellow rabbis during his career. For example, after the release of his book Kosher Jesus, Rabbi Israel Zoberman wrote that Boteach "offers a well-written scholarly volume that is far from dry and is accessible to all, one that both honors and is critical of [Christians and Jews]," and Israeli-American Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews praised it as "courageous and thought-provoking". But in contrast, Jacob Immanuel Schochet, a Canadian Orthodox Chabad-Lubavitch rabbi, was fiercely critical, deeming the book to be heretical and asserting that it "poses a tremendous risk to the Jewish community," and saying that "it is forbidden for anyone to buy or read this book," and it "does more to enhance the evangelical missionary message" than any other book. A Chicago Chabad rabbi—who admitted that he had only read the title of the book—wrote an op-ed in which he asserted on that basis alone that the book was apikorus (heresy) and must be treated as such. In reaction, Australian Orthodox Chabad Rabbi Moshe Gutnick, while agreeing with some of what Boteach said and disagreeing with other points, wrote: "The suggestion that [Boteach] is a heretic is simply ludicrous". Rabbi Michael Samuel of Temple Beth Sholom in Chula Vista, California, opined: "Lubavitchers do not want to know anything about Jesus." Boteach, for his part, said: "We are the People of the Book. We aren't the people who ban books." and self-promotion. In an article in The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg referred to him as the "Baal Shem Tov of self-promotion". While promoting his book at the Cheltenham Literature Festival, explaining why he was there he said: "God gave 10 commandments at Sinai, and the 11th commandment, which they expunged but which has come down orally, is 'Thou shalt do anything for publicity and recognition.'" He later described the comment as merely a sarcastic remark. ==Media career==

In 2006 and 2007, Boteach hosted the one-hour prime-time television series Shalom in the Home. The series, which ran for two seasons on the TLC network, was a reality show in which Boteach counseled dysfunctional families and gave advice to struggling couples about their relationships and parenting. Shalom in the Home attracted almost 700,000 viewers per episode, and was one of the cable network's highest-rated shows. In 2007 he wrote a book with the same name, based on the TV series. After the series ended, Boteach remained in contact with the families, counseling them, and having them over to his home. In 2014, Boteach was featured in an episode of the Sundance Channel's Dream School reality television series. It was a non-fiction original series, which introduced troubled teen high school dropouts to mentors, in order to inspire the teenagers to turn their lives around. On television, he has also made guest appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Dr. Phil Show, Larry King Live, Dateline NBC, The Today Show, The Howard Stern Show, The View, ''The O'Reilly Factor, The Dr. Oz Show, and Piers Morgan Uncensored''. On radio, Boteach hosted a weekly nationally syndicated radio program on WABC called The Shmuley Show. It aired on Sunday evenings from 7-9 p.m. Boteach has written syndicated columns for both The Huffington Post and The Jerusalem Post. In March 2000, Boteach entered into an agreement with MatchNet (the creator of online dating site Jdate) to become its spokesman for three years, for an annual salary and stock options. After its initial public offering, the company sought to renegotiate his contract at a lower salary. According to his lawsuit, when he refused to renegotiate his agreement he was terminated right before his stock options vested. He claimed that MatchNet hired him to add legitimacy to its public offering, but never intended to fulfill its promises. In March 2024 Boteach engaged in a public feud with the conservative commentator Candace Owens over her alleged antisemitic remarks (including erroneously claiming that Theodor Herzl was a Frankist) and her support for Palestinians in the Gaza war. In response to Owens's remarks, Boteach dressed up as a "Candace Owens Jew", invoking antisemitic stereotypes like blood libel and a hooknose for the Jewish holiday of Purim. In November 2025 Boteach sued Alan Dershowitz over comments Dershowitz had made regarding an alleged planned trip to Qatar by Boteach. ==Relationship with Michael Jackson==

In the late 1990s, Boteach became a friend, close confidant, and spiritual advisor of the singer Michael Jackson. Jackson and his children joined the Boteach family at their home on many Friday nights for Sabbath dinner, and Jackson gave the family a dog as a present. Boteach was a vocal supporter of Jackson and was initially "dismissive of suggestions that Jackson's relationships with children have been anything other than wholesome. "Why would anyone believe those charges? They said anyone who spends that amount of time with kids has to be sick. Well, that's not an indictment of Michael Jackson, that's an indictment of our society!" He said further: "I was friendly with Michael for a year before anyone knew about it. I did my own investigation. He never had sex with the child he made the settlement with, and there are no others." Jackson said: "Our goal is simple: to recreate the parent-child bond, renew its promise, and light the way forward for all the beautiful children who are destined one day to walk this earth." Heal the Kids was linked to the L'Chaim Society. After Jackson died of acute propofol intoxication in 2009, Boteach published The Michael Jackson Tapes. The book was drawn from 30 hours of interviews Boteach had with Jackson that were taped with Jackson's approval, and that Jackson intended to be used in a book. In the tapes, Jackson spoke of his childhood scars and demanding father, the price of fame, his friendships with Madonna and Brooke Shields, married life, his relationship with children, his shyness, his fear of growing old, spirituality, and racism. Vibe wrote: "It's perhaps Michael's most lucid look at the man in the mirror," and The San Diego Tribune wrote: "The Michael Jackson Tapes breaks little in the way of new ground but the book ... provides firsthand detail about the performer's excesses and obsessions." Boteach published a second related book in 2010, entitled: Honoring the Child Spirit: Inspiration and Learning from Our Children, in conversation with Michael Jackson. == The World Values Network and Zionist activism ==

Boteach is the founder and executive director of The World Values Network (also known as "This World: The Values Network"), a Jewish and Zionist non-profit organization that he established in 2007. The mission of the organization is to "disseminate universal Jewish values in politics, culture, and media". The organization is founded on the belief that Judaism, with its emphasis on perfecting the world and celebrating life, can help America address some of its greatest challenges, such as high divorce rates, teenager alienation, depression, and increasing ignorance and materialism. The organization collects donations and has funded newspaper advertisements about antisemitism and anti-Zionism. It has placed ads condemning celebrities that criticize Israel or support Palestinians including Lorde, Dua Lipa, Bella Hadid and Gigi Hadid, Secretary of State John Kerry's work towards the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, and U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar for her anti-Zionist remarks. In 2015, US National Security Advisor Susan Rice criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for agreeing to speak to Congress about Iran's nuclear program without coordinating with the Obama administration. The World Values Network placed an ad in The New York Times in response that read "Susan Rice has a blind spot: Genocide", and said that her action had "injected a degree of partisanship" that is "destructive of the fabric of the relationship" between the US and Israel. The ad faced widespread criticism by Jewish organizations. In an article for The Washington Post, rabbi Jill Jacobs also criticized Boteach for the ad and labeling himself "America's rabbi," as no such position exists. Jacobs wrote "Rabbi Boteach may claim to be America's rabbi. But America's real rabbis are the ones who reject cowardly attacks and take the risk of standing up for the rights of all people." After continued backlash, Boteach apologized, saying that the disagreement was over policy, and he did not intend to make a personal attack. Speaking to CNN, he said the purpose of the ad was to bring attention to his perception that the United States government has ignored genocides in the past, and continues to do so. In 2018, the New Zealand singer Lorde cancelled a Tel Aviv concert in support of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement. The World Values Network placed an ad in response, calling her a "bigot". The criticism was one of several denunciations from well-known Israelis and Zionist leaders of her cancellation, and the Zionist Federation of New Zealand and the Jewish Council of New Zealand were also critical of her, though the ad itself was met with a distancing by the council. On May 23, 2021, the organization ran a full-page New York Times ad calling on Dua Lipa, Gigi Hadid, and Bella Hadid to condemn Hamas, claiming the group "calls for a second Holocaust." Lipa and the Hadids' comments came after reporting by Human Rights Watch and B'Tselem. Boteach wrote that Lipa and Bella Hadid accused Israel of "ethnic cleansing, even as millions of Jews in Israel descend from Holocaust survivors, refugees savagely forced out of every Arab land and Jews living in pre-state Israel who were subjected to multiple Arab massacres and pogroms," and accused them of antisemitism for having "vilified the Jewish state". The New York Daily News reported on the organization's tax filing in 2009, two years after the organization's founding, and noted that it raised $651,000, and paid $638,000 in operating and administrative expenses combined (including a $229,000 salary for Boteach—up from $59,000 the prior year, and $70,000 in charitable disbursements). The organization paid Boteach a director salary of $330,371 in 2015. ==Views==

Marriage In his 2014 book Kosher Lust, Boteach said that lust, rather than love, is the glue to a healthy marriage. The book's subtitle is "Love is not the Answer". As to underpinnings of his views in Judaism, Boteach opines that all of the notable marriages in the Bible are lust relationships, rather than love relationships. He points out that Jacob waits seven years for Rachel but for Jacob it feels like just a few days, and that the first thing Rebecca does when she meets Isaac is put a veil over her face." He wrote that it is part of Jewish Talmudic law that a man must ensure that his wife reaches orgasm before he does. Homosexuality Boteach wrote in a 2010 Wall Street Journal op-ed column on homosexuality that he does not deny that there is a biblical prohibition on male same-sex relationships, and a commandment for men and women to marry and have children. Still, he understands those in context. He believes that the biggest threat to marriage does not come from gay marriage, but heterosexual divorce, which he says afflicts half of marriages. He also said that he found it: "very upsetting when religious leaders don't shut down their synagogues, churches, or mosques because they believe that prayer is more important than preserving life." Outreach to non-Jews In 2008, he debated Douglas Jacoby and Shabir Ally, on The True Legacy of Abraham, and the next year he debated Douglas Jacoby on "Judaism & Christianity: Which is the Religion of Peace?" In 2008, he debated Michael Brown, a leader of the Messianic Jews, on whether belief in Jesus is compatible with Judaism, and in his book Kosher Jesus he depicts Jesus as "a Jewish patriot murdered by Rome for his struggle on behalf of his people." These positions drew opposition from Yitzchak Schochet, a British rabbi who was a rival of Boteach's, who called Boteach's attempts to reach out to Messianic Jews "self-delusional". Boteach is also of the view that while the Chabad movement's objective is to serve all Jews, its philosophy also extends to helping others become stronger in their respective religions. At the same time, he writes Jesus despised the Romans for their cruelty, and fought them courageously. He states that the Jews had nothing whatsoever to do with the murder of Jesus, but rather that blame for his trial and killing lies with the Romans and Pontius Pilate. At the same time, Boteach argues that "Jews have much to learn from Jesus — and from Christianity as a whole — without accepting Jesus' divinity. There are many reasons for accepting Jesus as a man of great wisdom, beautiful ethical teachings, and profound Jewish patriotism." He concludes by writing, as to Judeo-Christian values, that "the hyphen between Jewish and Christian values is Jesus himself." Presbyterian Church In a June 2014 column for the Jerusalem Post, Boteach heavily criticized the US Presbyterian Church after it voted to divest from three American companies (Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard, and Motorola Solutions) doing business in Israel. The Church described the divestment as "a last resort, as a matter of faithful stewardship, when it becomes apparent that an investment can no longer be part of a constructive partnership for good. Presbyterians believe firmly that their investments must be in alignment with their values." Boteach wrote in response, "the rotting corpse of the Presbyterian Church got another nail in its coffin with the vote on Friday" and "the Church demonstrates that it has no moral compass." Israel–Palestine conflict Boteach is an outspoken Zionist. He was critical of the Obama administration's "bullying" attitude towards Israel, calling it "scandalous" and "disgusting". Boteach is also supportive of Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories, which have been condemned as illegal by the United Nations, International Court of Justice, and the rest of the international community. Boteach described the Hebron settlement as "warmth, friendliness and hospitality" and "liberated from hatred". The community has received sustained criticism for maintaining a shrine to Baruch Goldstein, the mass murderer who perpetrated the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre. It also serves as a pilgrimage site for extremists. Boteach was supportive of President Donald Trump's Israel policies, and called him "the most pro-Israel president in history". He says that "Judaism celebrates the sexual, intimate and erotic bond between husband and wife, and attempts to portray circumcision as a method of denying a man's sexual pleasure are ignorant." Discussing New Testament mention of male circumcision, Boteach noted that when Jesus is criticized for healing a crippled man on the Sabbath (John 5:1-47), Jesus quotes a legal precedent preserved later in the Talmud (Tractate Yoma) to prove that his action is justified, saying: "Now if a boy can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the Law of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry with me for healing a man's whole body on the Sabbath?" (7:23 NIV). Boteach has written op-eds in The Wall Street Journal and the Huffington Post denouncing legislation to limit male circumcision. Pornography Boteach has been critical of pornography. In 2016, he co-authored a viral Wall Street Journal opinion piece with actress and former Playboy model Pamela Anderson, in which they called online pornography a "public hazard of unprecedented seriousness". Boteach observed: "It can be intimidating to talk about pornography and eroticism alongside an international sex symbol, but I think Pamela has handled it extremely well." The two also wrote a book together, Lust for Love (2018), about how meaningful, passionate sex has been declining, and calling for a new sensual revolution that emphasizes partners connecting in the bedroom. In 2001, he publicly debated pornography with Jewish Playmate Lindsey Vuolo. Racism In November 2016, Boteach wrote a piece in The Hill defending Breitbart News executive chairman Steve Bannon after his appointment to the White House was condemned by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). In December 2022, in response to increasing instances of racism and antisemitism in the United States, Boteach, Reverends Al Sharpton and Conrad Tillard, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, Carnegie Hall Chairman Robert F. Smith, and Elisha Wiesel joined to host 15 Days of Light, celebrating Hanukkah and Kwanzaa in a unifying holiday ceremony at Carnegie Hall. Boteach said: "This is the way it should be. Blacks and Jews united to promote human dignity and fight the haters." ==2012 Congressional elections==

Boteach, a self-described social moderate, ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in northern New Jersey in the 2012 elections. He became the first rabbi ever to run for the U.S. Congress as a Republican, and had he won he would have been the first rabbi in Congress. Referring to the 50% divorce rate in the United States as "an American tragedy that no one talks about," he supported making marriage and family counseling tax-deductible to help strengthen marriages and lower the nation's divorce rate. He also supported a federal school voucher system, lower taxes, a flat tax and simplification of the tax code, smaller government, and preventing Iran from building a nuclear weapon. He received the endorsement of then-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.). Boteach won the Republican primary for New Jersey's 9th congressional district seat in a three-way race on June 5. He received 57.9% of the vote, defeating Hector Castillo with 28.3% of the vote, and Blase Billack with 13.8% of the vote. Pascrell raised more money than any other congressional candidate in the state in 2012, $2.6 million, 10x what Boteach raised. Boteach lost in the overwhelmingly Democratic district, where Democrats outnumbered Republicans by 3-to-1, by a margin of 73.6% to 25.4%. In his concession speech Boteach said: "He is now my Congressman. I pledge my complete support to him." == Selected bibliography ==

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