A week ago, when a private letter from Rabbi Ezra Schochet, addressed to the Beis Din of Johannesburg and Chabad Rep Rabbi Yossi Goldman, was leaked to CHI, calling it “prohibited and unacceptable” for any Chabad Rabbi to allow Rabbi Shmuley Boteach to speak in their synagogues, I didn’t give it much thought. I studied under Rabbi Schochet and understood why he doesn’t want Boteach giving public speeches in Chabad institutions — Rabbi Schochet feels that Boteach’s printed materials and publicized actions are beyond the limits of orthodox theology and go against some of Chabad’s fundamental beliefs and the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s instructions.

I don’t feel that it’s necessary for Rabbi Schochet to be specific when stating his opinion since his concerns are blatantly obvious to anyone who has read Boteach’s book and is familiar with basic orthodox theology and Chabad’s core values. Judaic scholar Rabbi Chaim Rapoport, in a letter clarifying some of the problems with one of Boteach’s books, wrote “Any knowledgeable person who will read the book will see that many of the assumptions and theories are contradicting the Halacha, and the Jewish traditions.” Dr. Lawrence H. Schiffman, Vice-Provost of Undergraduate Education at Yeshiva University and Professor of Jewish Studies, wrote a critique of Boteach’s book “Kosher Jesus” addressing some of these concerns. Even Yossi Goldman,“one of the world’s most successful communal rabbis”, in an email defending the rationale behind his invitation to Boteach, wrote ”I am relieved by my decision to deliberately ensure that he is, in fact, not speaking on that topic”.

Rabbi Schochet, dubbed by his colleagues and students as “the Rosh” ( “ראש” , literally “Head”) for his brilliant analytic style, depth of understanding and vast Talmudic scholarship, is a strong minded scholar and educator who is known within Chabad for speaking his mind even when others are silent. And like many serious scholars he can come across as harsh to those that don’t know him. When Messianism ran amok in Chabad in the early 90s, shortly before the Rebbe’s passing, the Rosh was among the few leaders unafraid to speak out against the craziness. The story goes – and I stress that it is unconfirmed – that the Rosh and Steven Spielberg had a falling out after the Rosh chastised Spielberg for building a bathroom with see-through walls. The Rosh undoubtedly thought it was immodest and foolish and told Spielberg so, even at the risk of losing a major donor. I don’t think Boteach’s bullying scares him much.

I knew Boteach was going to respond but I naively thought he would use the opportunity to honestly address some of the controversy surrounding his persona. Boteach, in his op-ed, accuses the Rosh of sending his letter to two “gossip-mongering and illiterate websites – who trade in daily attacks on leading figures in Chabad and beyond”. As far as I know the letter was only published on one website not two. The editor of the website told me that he was amused that Boteach was critical of his website. “Before we had a falling out and Boteach threatened to sue me, he would send me articles some of which I printed. Ironically, despite Boteach’s claims, I never received anything directly from the Rosh, not now and not ever,” he said.

Personally, I have no issue with Boteach lecturing and consider myself to have a friendly relationship with him. But I’m hardly a good example because I probably wouldn’t be bothered even if Spinoza was given a platform.

Boteach certainly has every right to defend himself but, sadly, his op-ed does none of the above. Instead he falsely maligns the Rosh as a radical comparing him to an Islamic extremist and implies that he is running a “Taliban madrassa.” Over the years, the Yeshiva in Los Angeles attracted all different types of students with many different religious standards. Boteach owes an apology to the thousands of Yeshiva alumni including those former Yeshiva students who have gone on to successful professional careers. Graduates from the Yeshiva include prominent Shluchim, rabbis, doctors’ attorneys and educators, and the list goes on.

Now, that’s how you write a Jewish Press news brief! Old time close friend of our regular contributor Rabbi Shmuley Boteach and Newark Mayor, Democrat Cory Booker, easily defeated his Republican opponent in Wednesday’s special election, and will serve the remainder of the term of late Senator Frank Lautenberg, who died in office in June at the age of 89. So, in a way, the seat remained Jewish.

With 99 percent of the precincts reporting, Booker had 55 percent of the vote to 44 percent for Steve Lonegan, a Republican former mayor of Bogota, N.J., and state director of the conservative group Americans for Prosperity, according to The Associated Press.

Of course, the freshman Senator will have to hit the ground running, since Lautenberg’s term will expire next year, and the champ will have to earn his title one more time.

Earlier this week, as part of their ongoing journey through the Holy Land, Turkish-American cardiothoracic surgeon Dr Mehmet Oz and Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, aka “America’s Rabbi,” visited the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron and the ancient city of David in Jerusalem.

Dr Oz commented: “I love the fact that I’m here in Hebron, where it all began. It’s a very special place.”

“I’m told that Hebron means ‘connected’ in Hebrew,” the renowned surgeon who was introduced to American audiences on the Opra Winfrey show in 2004 added. “Being here connects us to the roots of our shared beliefs, the very spot were Abraham, the father of monotheism, is buried.”

The Dr. Oz Show, a daily television program focusing on medical issues and personal health was launched by Winfrey in 2009.

Boteach and Oz prayed for peace together from the book of Psalms, and lit candles at the holy site.

Following the prayer, Rabbi Boteach commented: “The Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron is one of the only places on earth where one can see both Jews and Muslims praying together at the same site. We pray for the day when we will all pray together as brothers, just as Dr. Oz and I have done today.”

On exiting the cave the Rabbi and the surgeon joined an impromptu Hora dance circle with the local residents and took photographs with some the Israeli soldiers stationed there.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach and This World: The Jewish Values Network are hosting Dr. Mehmet Oz and his family on their first visit to Israel. The trip was initiated by Rabbi Shmuley, who crowned Oz and his wife “Champions of Jewish Values,” together with Elie Wiesel and Sheldon and Miriam Adelson.

Shmueley and Oz met on the Opra show.

Newark, New Jersey Mayor Cory Booker is leading the Democratic primary polls and if he wins, he is a shoo-in for a general election victory to replace Frank Lautenberg in the Senate.

Already touted as possible presidential candidate in the future, Booker’s interest in Jewish studies began approximately 20 years ago when he met a Chabad rabbi. A “chavrutah” Torah study partner is – who else? – Rabbi Shmuley Boteach.

The Wall Street Journal noted Monday that his wide contacts with Jewish sources have helped him fill his campaign chest, even though Lautenberg’s family is far from thrilled with his candidacy and have endorsed one of his opponents, Rep. Frank Pallone.

Booker, a black Christian, usually appears at a Passover Seder, and he is so interested in Israel that he once took his parents to visit the Jewish state.

His knowledge of Judaism “could put many of us to shame,” New Jersey philanthropist and Jewish Federation leader Lori Klinghoffer told the Journal.

Booker has been in politics since a young age, after having grown up in a predominantly white upper-class borough of Bergen County. His parents were among the first black executives at IBM.

After earning a law degree at Yale, he moved to Newark to become a tenants’ rights attorney when he was  only 27. He quickly moved into politics and was elected to the city council in 1998. Booker narrowly lost his seat in 2002 but regained in four years later and then became mayor.

NORPAC, a top pro-Israel political action committee, endorsed Newark Mayor Cory Booker for New Jersey’s U.S. Senate seat just hours after he signaled he would run.

“With the recent passing of our friend, Frank Lautenberg, the United States Senate lost one of Israel’s and the Jewish community’s greatest friends and supporters,” NORPAC said in an email Thursday announcing a June 16 fundraiser for Booker, just hours after reports emerged that he was circulating petitions to qualify for the seat vacated by the death this week of Lautenberg.

“We must ensure that this seat is filled by someone with the same passion and commitment to those critical issues,” said the email from the New Jersey-based PAC, one of the top-earning pro-Israel PACs. “We believe we have found just that candidate – Newark Mayor Cory Booker.”

It was not clear from the announcement whether Booker would appear at the event.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, set an October date for a special election to fill the seat of Lautenberg, a Democrat.

Booker, a popular Democratic mayor who has presided over a revival of the blighted city, has deep pro-Israel roots dating to his days at Oxford University, when he led a group for Jewish students and others called L’Chaim House. He has maintained a close friendship with the founder of L’Chaim, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, who last year failed in a Republican bid for a seat in the U.S. Congress. Booker and Boteach frequently appear together at speaking events.

In a race we closely watched, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach lost the NJ 9th District race to his opponent Bill Pascrell 76.1% (97,646) to 22.8% (29,214).

For New Jersey voters who place a high priority on the safety of Israel and want the U.S. government to continue its strong support for the Jewish State, there is only one choice in the 9th District race – Rabbi Shmuley Boteach.

It isn’t just that Boteach is a rabbi, steeped in Jewish law and lore and is strongly pro-marriage, pro-America and pro-democracy, and it certainly isn’t that he is a world-famous author and larger-than-life personality, although he is all of that. It’s simply that despite there being a low bar set for congressmen to apply to their lapels the hecsher of “pro-Israel,” not all of them really deserve it, and Boteach’s opponent falls firmly into that category.

Boteach’s opponent, Bill Pascrell, Jr., was first elected to congress in 1996 and since then represented New Jersey’s 8th District, until it was redrawn which is why he is now facing Boteach in the 9th.  It is true that during his congressional tenure Pascrell has voted each time to support aid to Israel which, in the eyes of many who professionally hold out that low bar, makes Pascrell pro-Israel.

In fact, following a recent debate between the congressional candidates after Boteach insisted his opponent’s record is not sufficiently pro-Israel, Pascrell thundered at Boteach, “you don’t preach to me about my relationship with Israel!”

Pascrell practically foamed at the mouth as he spat out, “I did the right thing [in supporting Israel]. I want Israel to have the power to protect itself. You show me one time I went against that principle or one time I didn’t vote for dollars to make Israel safer!”

But Boteach doesn’t question Pascrell’s vote for U.S. aid to Israel.  “Instead,” he told The Jewish Press, “the problem is that Pascrell criticizes Israel when she uses that aid to defend herself.”

Pascrell signed the infamous Gaza 54 letter blasting Israel for what it called “collective punishment” of Gazans by blockading food and medicine — not true — and reserved a meeting space for the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) in the Capital building.

And just recently Boteach pointed out another way in which Pascrell, despite his public vows, is tone deaf to the interests of Jews.

This September it was announced that a portion of a park located within the 9th District, in Clifton, was going to be renamed for a local resident who had recently died, Chester Grabowski.  Grabowski had been the publisher of a local Polish-American weekly, the Post Eagle.

Pascrell had written an enthusiastic letter of endorsement to rename that park.  But Grabowski’s Post Eagle regularly referred to Jews as “vermin,” “animals” and “Christ killers.”

Pascrell’s letter in support of honoring Grabowski stated,

I knew Chester for many years and he was a great friend. He was a kind and respected man who would help anyone in need and he was a friend to all.  Chester was an individual who cared about the City of Clifton and was a strong advocate of the Polish-American community, not only in the City of Clifton, but all across the great State of New Jersey…For this, I whole heartedly support the honor of memorializing the Richard Scales Park to a resident, a businessman, and a leader in the City of Clifton, Mr. Chester Grabowski. His legacy will not only be that of a successful newspaper he operated for many years, but the family man who worked so hard for his community

And this isn’t the only hater of Jews and Israel on behalf of whom Pascrell has used his public office.

Pascrell signed an affidavit opposing the deportation of radical anti-Israel Imam Mohamad Qatanani, the Imam of one of the largest mosques in New Jersey, calling him “peace-loving” and “magnanimous.”  That’s hard to square with information provided by Steve Emerson, one of the world’s leading terrorism experts.

Emerson wrote that Qatanani’s deportation case centered on the Imam’s lying on his immigration documents about having been arrested by Israel for membership in the terrorist organization Hamas.  But even while in the United States, Qatanani openly displayed his hatred and contempt for Israel.  He allegedly referred to the creation of Israel as “the greatest disaster which occurred on the face of the Earth,” and has called for supporting the children of homocide bombers.

It is difficult to reconcile that with the words in Pascrell’s affidavit and his 2008 description of Qatanani whom he said, “put so much time into bringing peace for all of us. Thank you imam, for all you’ve done for America since you’ve come here.”

Thank you, voters of New Jersey’s 9th, if you vote for Rabbi Shmuley Boteach to be your next congressional representative.

Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and his wife for a second time have given $500,000 to a Super PAC supporting Rabbi Shmuley Boteach’s bid for Congress.

The Adelsons gave the money to the Patriot Prosperity PAC, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people with knowledge of the gift, after having given the same amount earlier this year. They also gave $10,000 directly to the Boteach campaign.

Boteach is running as the Republican candidate in New Jersey’s 9th Congressional District against eight-term incumbent Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.).

Boteach, who once was affiliated with the Chabad movement, bills himself as “America’s Rabbi.” He hosts a show on TLC called “Shalom in the Home” and is the author of several books, including “Kosher Sex,” “Kosher Adultery,” “The Kosher Sutra” and, most recently, “Kosher Jesus.”

Adelson has said multiple times that a candidate’s support for Israel is critical to whether he gives and how much. He has given $10 million to a Super PAC supporting Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, and earlier in the campaign put $20 million toward Newt Gingrich’s GOP primary bid.

Super PACs can raise unlimited sums from corporations, unions and other groups, as well as individuals, and indirectly support a political candidate. They cannot by law coordinate with the candidate’s official campaign.