53 Facts About Shmuley Boteach

Jacob Shmuel Boteach is an American Orthodox Jewish rabbi, author, and television host.

Shmuley Boteach grew up there and in Miami, Florida, and was raised in a Modern Orthodox Jewish home.

Shmuley Boteach's father Yoav Botach had been born the second child in a family of 13 in Iran in 1937 and later lived in Israel, before coming to the United States.

Shmuley Boteach's mother Eleanor was an American tourist when she met his father in Israel.

Shmuley Boteach's parents divorced when he was eight years old; for his bar mitzvah present, he told his parents that he wanted them to reunite.

Shmuley Boteach attended a Chabad camp, and fell in love with Judaism.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe became his patron, and at age 13 Shmuley Boteach joined the Chabad movement.

Shmuley Boteach studied at Rabbi Alexander S Gross Hebrew Academy and at a series of yeshivas in Los Angeles, New York, and Jerusalem, Israel.

Shmuley Boteach was ultimately chosen to be one of ten Chabad students sent to Sydney, Australia, to start a yeshiva.

Shmuley Boteach met her when he was 21 years old, and they married in Sydney in 1988.

Shmuley Boteach then returned to New York, and took semicha in 1988.

In 1988, Shmuley Boteach was sent at age 22 by Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, known as "the Rebbe", as a Chabad-Lubavitch shaliach to Oxford, England, where he served as rabbi to Oxford University's students for 11 years.

Some Orthodox patrons became concerned about the percentage of non-Jewish members, and after Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson died in 1994, Chabad UK leadership asked Shmuley Boteach to remove non-Jewish students from the society; others wanted Shmuley Boteach to exclude gay students.

Shmuley Boteach refused on both counts, saying the Rebbe had loved non-Jews and regularly reached out to them; Shmuley Boteach then changed the L'Chaim Society from a student society into an independent organization.

Later in 1994, after Shmuley Boteach refused to cancel a speaking event featuring Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, he and Chabad split over the issue.

In 2000, Shmuley Boteach won the "Preacher of the Year" Award, out of all faiths in Britain, from The Times in London.

Shmuley Boteach was listed in the top 10 on Newsweeks "Top 50 Rabbis in America" in 2007, ninth in 2008, seventh in 2009, and sixth in 2010.

In 2013, Shmuley Boteach was the commencement speaker for Southern Utah University, which granted him an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree.

Shmuley 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 Shmuley 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".

In reaction, Australian Orthodox Chabad Rabbi Moshe Gutnick, while agreeing with some of what Shmuley Boteach said and disagreeing with other points, wrote: "The suggestion that [Shmuley Boteach] is a heretic is simply ludicrous".

In 2006 and 2007, Shmuley 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 Shmuley Boteach counseled dysfunctional families and gave advice to struggling couples about their relationships and parenting.

In 2014, Shmuley Boteach was featured in an episode of the Sundance Channel's Dream School reality television series.

Shmuley Boteach has written syndicated columns for both The Huffington Post and The Jerusalem Post.

Shmuley Boteach is an op-ed contributor to The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and other newspapers.

In March 2000, Shmuley Boteach entered into an agreement with MatchNet to become its spokesman for three years, for an annual salary and stock options.

Shmuley Boteach claimed that MatchNet hired him to add legitimacy to its public offering, but never intended to fulfill its promises.

Shmuley Boteach served as president for the Heal the Kids offshoot of the Heal the World Foundation charity founded by Jackson to encourage parents to spend more time with their children, and to help children threatened by war and disease by providing them with medicine and food.

Shmuley Boteach was fired by Fox News for being an unscrupulous reporter.

Jackson reportedly kept an "enemy list" after their relationship ended on which Shmuley Boteach appeared, along with Uri Geller, Gloria Allred, Tommy Mottola, Tom Sneddon, and Janet Arvizo.

The book was drawn from 30 hours of interviews Shmuley Boteach had with Jackson that were taped with Jackson's approval, and that Jackson intended to be for a book.

Shmuley Boteach wrote in the prologue: "This book is being published because it was Michael Jackson's desperate wish that it be so".

Shmuley Boteach published a second related book in 2010, entitled: Honoring the Child Spirit: Inspiration and Learning from Our Children, in conversation with Michael Jackson.

Shmuley Boteach is the founder and executive director of The World Values Network, a Jewish pro-Israel non-profit organization that he established in 2007.

Shmuley Boteach apologized, saying that the disagreement was over policy, and he did not intend to make a personal attack.

Shmuley Boteach writes of three "pillars of lust" that he believes ensure an exciting marriage: unavailability, mystery, and sinfulness.

Shmuley Boteach says that the essence of lust and desire is "chosen," and that a woman - in particular - wants to feel chosen.

One of the rabbi's daughters, Chana Shmuley Boteach, followed up on her father's theme years later.

Shmuley 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.

Shmuley Boteach believes that the biggest threat to marriage doesn't come from gay marriage, but heterosexual divorce, which he says afflicts half of marriages.

Shmuley Boteach opposes government involvement at all in recognizing marriage, but supports state-sanctioned "civil unions" for all.

Shmuley Boteach is of the view that while the Chabad movement's objective is to serve all Jews, its philosophy extends to helping others become stronger in their respective religions.

Shmuley Boteach was critical of Obama-era American policy towards the country.

Shmuley Boteach argued that the Obama administration bullied Israel, and that US Middle Eastern policy was "scandalous" and "disgusting".

Shmuley Boteach is supportive of Israeli settlements, including the Hebron settlement, the residents of which he characterizes as marked by a particular "warmth, friendliness and hospitality" and views as being "liberated from hatred".

Shmuley Boteach has argued in favor of infant male circumcision, defending the practice on religious grounds and health grounds, while contrasting it sharply with female circumcision.

Shmuley Boteach has advocated in 2011 for the medical benefits of male circumcision reducing the transmission and incidence of HIV-AIDS, other STDs such as genital herpes and syphilis, urinary-tract infections, penile cancer, and other adverse health conditions, pointing to a report in the British Medical Journal.

Shmuley Boteach has written op-eds in The Wall Street Journal and the Huffington Post denouncing legislation to limit male circumcision.

Shmuley Boteach, a self-described social moderate, ran for the US House of Representatives in northern New Jersey in the 2012 elections.

Shmuley Boteach became the first rabbi ever to run for the US Congress as a Republican, and had he won he would have been the first rabbi in Congress.

Shmuley Boteach 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.

Shmuley Boteach gave a $250 donation to his opponent, because he wanted them to have a Friday night Shabbat dinner date together at his home to get to know each other as people before they were opponents, and he was hoping his donation would get Pascrell's attention after several unsuccessful attempts to arrange the dinner.