Shmuley Boteach

Lore & Background

Boteach was born in Los Angeles, California, the youngest of five children, and spent part of his early years in Miami, Florida. His father was an Iranian Jew from Isfahan, and his mother was an American Ashkenazi Jew. His parents divorced when he was eight. At age 13, he joined the Chabad movement after attending a Chabad-Lubavitch camp, and at 14 decided to become a rabbi. He studied at yeshivas in Los Angeles, New York, and Jerusalem, and was sent to Sydney, Australia, to start a yeshiva. He married Debbie in Sydney in 1988 and took rabbinical ordination that year. In 1988, at age 22, Boteach was sent by Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson as a Chabad-Lubavitch emissary to Oxford, England, where he served as rabbi to Oxford University's students for 11 years. He founded the Oxford University L'Chaim Society, which grew to be the second-biggest student organization at Oxford, with over 5,000 non-Jewish members. After the Rebbe's death in 1994, Chabad UK leadership asked Boteach to remove non-Jewish and gay students; he refused and changed the society into an independent organization. Later in 1994, after he refused to cancel a speaking event with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, he was involuntarily terminated by Chabad, though he continued to raise his children in the Chabad tradition. Excerpts from *Kosher Sex* were serialized in Playboy in 1998. In 1999, the British Charity Commission temporarily froze the L'Chaim Society's bank accounts over concerns about payments on a north London home where Boteach lived; the funds were released three months later, and the Commission later found no evidence of wrongdoing, though it deemed the mortgage payments difficult to justify under British law. Boteach repaid £150,000 to the trustees. In 2000, he won the 'Preacher of the Year' Award from The Times in London. His book *Kosher Jesus* (2012) drew both praise and fierce criticism from fellow rabbis, with some calling it heretical and others praising its courage.

Reader's Guide

Shmuley Boteach's significance lies in his ability to blend traditional rabbinical roles with modern media and popular culture, reaching audiences far beyond the Jewish community. His best-selling book *Kosher Sex* and his TLC reality series *Shalom in the Home* brought discussions of Jewish spirituality and family life into mainstream American living rooms. His founding of the Oxford University L'Chaim Society, which attracted thousands of non-Jewish members and high-profile speakers, demonstrated an innovative approach to interfaith and cultural engagement. However, his career has been marked by controversy: his split with Chabad over inclusivity and political stances, the Charity Commission investigation, and the polarized reception of *Kosher Jesus* highlight the tensions between his populist outreach and traditional Orthodox expectations. His repeated recognition by Newsweek and The Jerusalem Post as among the most influential rabbis underscores his lasting impact, even as his methods and messages continue to provoke debate. Boteach's legacy is that of a rabbi who used self-promotion and risk-taking to communicate Jewish ideas to a broad, often secular, audience.

Did You Know?

• Boteach was a member of the Miami Boys Choir and performed a solo in the 1979 hit song 'Boruch Hashem'.
• Excerpts from his book *Kosher Sex* were serialized in Playboy magazine in 1998.