56 Facts About Shmuley Boteach

Shmuley Boteach hosted two seasons of the reality television series Shalom in the Home on TLC.

Shmuley Boteach spent part of his early years in Miami, Florida.

Shmuley Boteach's father Yoav Botach was an Iranian Jew who left Isfahan with his family of 13 to settle in Israel.

Shmuley Boteach's mother Eleanor was an American Ashkenazi Jew who met his father in Beersheba, Israel, where she was visiting as a tourist.

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

Shmuley Boteach attended a Chabad-Lubavitch 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.

Shmuley Boteach was ultimately chosen as 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, as a Chabad-Lubavitch shaliach, to Oxford, England, where he served as rabbi to Oxford University's students for 11 years.

The society's members included Cory Booker, Maurizio Giuliano, Michael Benson, and Eric Garcetti Some Orthodox patrons became concerned about the percentage of non-Jewish members, and after 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.

In March 2024 Shmuley Boteach engaged in a public feud with the conservative commentator Candace Owens over her alleged antisemitic remarks and her support for Palestinians in the Gaza war.

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.

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 used in 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 and Zionist non-profit organization that he established in 2007.

Shmuley 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".

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 does not 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 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.

Shmuley Boteach described the Hebron settlement as "warmth, friendliness and hospitality" and "liberated from hatred".

Shmuley Boteach was supportive of President Donald Trump's Israel policies, and called him "the most pro-Israel president in history".

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 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.

In November 2016, Shmuley 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.

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.