Chabad Fanatics Are Destroying the Movement
Rabbi Schochet wrote the Johannesburg Beis Din: It is totally prohibited and unacceptable to hear someone like Boteach.
Pangs of Conscience on the Plains of Serengeti
We watched and watched, anticipating the kill.
Getting Away with Murder: Obama and the GOP’s Vacillation on Syria
If the gassing of children is not an urgent matter than nothing is.
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach: Obama’s Doublespeak On Russian Missile Defense and Israel
Last week I was quoted as saying that President Obama is a strong friend of the Jewish people and that anyone who calls him anti-Semitic is guilty of character assassination. I stand by that quote. But being a great friend of the Jewish people does not automatically make one a great friend of Israel.
Why Hillel is Failing in the Fight for Israel on Campus
It’s rather a sign of how badly Israel is losing on campus.
How in Losing a Congressional Race I Found More of Myself
A few hours ago I lost my bid to unseat Congressman Bill Pascrell in New Jersey’s Ninth District. But thank G-d, I’m in a good place and miraculously in a good frame of mind. I’m writing this late at night to capture my thoughts and feelings after investing approximately seven months of my life in this endeavor.
The Hidden Threat of Kim Jong Un
Too many times, the world has learned the hard way by 'turning the other cheek' while dictators terrorized both their own people and other nations.
Hagel’s Homophobia and Biblical Indifference to Israel
Why would the Senator insist on the Biblical teachings regarding homosexuality but not those of protecting Israel?
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach: Savaging the Bible Over Homosexuality
The Bible consists of 613 commandments, one of which is for a man to marry and have children, and the other is for a man to avoid gay sex with another man. That leaves 611 commandments for gay men to observe. That should keep them pretty busy. Homosexuality should be treated like lighting fire on the Sabbath or eating non-kosher foods, both Biblical prohibitions
Tribute to my Wife on Our 25th Anniversary
Men ultimately fall in love with those women who bring out their best qualities.
Yitzchak Shamir – Israel’s Least Appreciated Prime Minister
I came to know Mr. Shamir quite well when I hosted him at the University of Oxford in the mid-90’s. He seemed all but forgotten even then and told me that his dramatic drop in popularity in Israel had been due to the euphoria over the premiership of Yitzchak Rabin and his dramatic overtures for peace. He told me this with a touch of resignation. It seemed he did feel underappreciated. More importantly, he seemed to divine the coming catastrophe.
AIPAC’s Silence on Chuck Hagel
What are brave United States lawmakers to make of AIPAC’s surrender?
Learning to Value the Lives of Children
Yet the one thing I have always known, amid the hills and valleys of life: whether or not you succeed in your public endeavors, you cannot fail at your private commitments.
A Response to Senator Lautenberg’s Attack on the Republican Position on Israel
Senator Lautenberg, how exactly has our President demonstrated his friendship to Israel? He declared Israel's settlements to be illegitimate, put near-unilateral pressure on Israel to make peace without any expectations from the Palestinian side, declared that Israel should return to the arbitrary 1967 borders, and treated Prime Minister Netanyahu shamefully at a March 2010 meeting where he refused even a photo op with the elected leader of the Middle East's only democracy.
The Eloquent Chief Rabbi Who Would Not Fight Israel’s Enemies
The central quality of leadership is not eloquence but moral courage, a preparedness to be hated in the pursuit what’s right.
Petraeus: Did a Great Man Have to Fall?
Petraeus seems to have resigned over marital infidelity. And if so, did he have to leave his position? Why, because he displayed personal weakness? But this was a public, as opposed to a private, position. And years of counseling unfaithful husbands and wives has taught me that private failings do not necessarily indicate public faithlessness.
Why Bibi is Not Intimidated by Obama
What is better, a popular Israel riddled with dead Jews or an unpopular Israel filled with living ones?
Jewish Values are the Salvation of the Republican Party
So long as we obsess over abortion, gay marriage, and contraception to the exclusion of any other values, we cannot fix our problems.
The Rise of Israel’s Words Warriors
Overlooking incendiary rhetoric is exactly what led to the global delegitimization of Israel.
Where was God When Hurricane Sandy Struck?
What was G-d thinking when he sent Hurricane Sandy and what could have been its purpose? In truth, I don’t much care, because our role as humans is not to understand G-d’s plan in the face of horror and tragedy, but to challenge God and demand that human life always be protected and preserved. Did I say demand? Yes, humanity has rights before God. We are His children. He commanded us to preserve and promote life always. “Choose life,” Moses orders the Israelite nation in God’s name, on the last day of His life. And the Creator must abide by the same dictates He expects His creatures to.
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach: A Warrior-Scholar Falls in Israel – The Death of Benzion Netanyahu
In the time that I spent with Professor Benzion Netanyahu, I discerned a Jewish nationalist of phenomenal determination. Zionism was in his DNA and I have rarely met a more passionate Jewish patriot or a prouder Jew. He had a sweeping view of history and could clearly argue the precarious state of the Jewish people throughout time.
Why Jews Are So Bad at PR
There are many potential Ron Dermers at the world’s universities today, if only we can nurture their gifts in their formative years.
Peter Beinart’s Attack on Me and Cory Booker
Noone, least of all me, wants to see any Arab child suffer, God forbid.
One Strike and You’re Out?
In the Hebrew Bible everyone is flawed and everyone makes mistakes.
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach: The Lockerbie Bombing Hall of Shame
It was when Congressman Steve Rothman defended the rights of Former Libyan dictator Muammar Kaddafi’s personal envoy to live peacefully and tax-free next to me that I first thought of running against him. What was Rothman's purpose in defending the right of an envoy of a terror-sponsoring government to live in our midst?
A Hitler Wannabe Visits New York
Every September Ahmadinejad accomplishes the unique feat of calling for a new holocaust while simultaneously denying the original ever took place. And do you know what the Jews do about it? Nothing.
America’s $2 Billion a Year to Egypt Hinges on Its Peace with Israel
Democracy without a legitimate constitution and a Bill of rights, especially protecting the rights of minorities, can become a very scary thing. What you get is a tyranny of the majority. So the United States, as the world’s foremost democracy and sole superpower, must insist that elected regimes be restrained by a constitution that safeguards against a gravitation toward tyranny.
Saying America was Punished with Sandy Hook is Blasphemous
There is nothing beneficial that comes from suffering that could have not been achieved far more effectively through a positive means.
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach: Make Men More Mature Rather than Send Girls Under the Knife
Is this what three thousand and three hundred years of Jewish tradition has come to, that a nation that has always dared to walk alone, with different ideals and values from the wider culture, should so fully capitulate to the most corrupt, misogynistic values, that we would advocate that our young women have plastic surgery in order to get married?
LA’s First Jewish Mayor
Eric Garcetti’s caring for those who are struggling would become his defining political legacy as a Los Angeles council member and as President of the Council.