Shmuley Boteach - Page 3

The greatest moral failure of our time is a refusal to hate evil. Hatred of evil implies both the right to make judgments as well as a belief in moral absolutes, both of which are anathema to liberalism and modern sensibilities. 

Boy, do they hate America. I’m on a flight in Tanzania, having left Rwanda, when I meet a very fine Pakistani family going on safari. We exchange pleasantries. They have children studying in the UK, as do many upper-class Pakistani

Having sat with Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel and President Paul Kagame of Rwanda in the same week, there is an immediate symmetry one sees between both men. They have the weight of the world upon them.  These are not

I’m sitting on the plane to Israel with Dr. Mehmet Oz, his wife Lisa, his kids, my wife Debbie, and three of our nine children. It’s Mehmet’s first ever visit to the Jewish State and we’ve been talking for almost

Has Stephen Hawking really left the company of Albert Einstein, an avowed Zionist who worked to create the State of Israel, and replaced him with the august company of Elvis Costello and other Israel boycotters? I hosted Hawking for a lecture

Yet again, the United States, and, indeed the world, finds itself having to confront a dictatorial regime led by a maniacal leader who continuously threatens both our country and those of our allies. Although Iran typically leads international headlines in

In the interests of full disclosure, let me first offer that Sheldon Adelson and members of his family donated to my campaign for Congress when I was ran last year (yes, I know I lost. But ‘Shmuley for President 2016’

I’m sure Jeffrey Goldberg got it right. Whatever the reason the President leaked his unhappiness with Bibi to Goldberg just a few days before the Israeli election–whether in an effort to influence the vote against Bibi, serve payback to Bibi

A few years ago, I was out having dinner with my orthodox, gay, Jewish brother when a religious man walked over to me and asked if I was Rabbi Shmuley Boteach. From his aggressive posture, I knew in my gut

The New York Times has now devoted two major articles, including a page one feature, to a mostly boring story about Bnei Jeshurun synagogue on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, whose Rabbis (J. Rolando Matalon, Marcelo R. Bronstein, and

That Susan Rice either willfully misled the American people on the Benghazi attacks, or lazily absorbed intelligence briefings without the least bit of personal involvement, is obvious. That she was covering for the Obama Administration in denying a terror attack

Did General Petraeus have to resign? He opened himself as head of the CIA to blackmail, which is a major security breach. So the argument goes. But surely once he admitted the affair, he presumably couldn’t be blackmailed any more. 

I’m sitting here with my kids on Monday night and, aside from the glow of the laptop, the Sabbath has come early this week. Outside Hurricane Sandy is pounding our New Jersey town of Englewood. Earlier in the day we

Now, I know to expect this from the BBC who, at the London Olympics, did not list Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. I also know to expect it from, say, the Palestinian Authority. When I accompanied the Rev. Al Sharpton to

I consider Senator Frank Lautenberg a personal friend and a distinguished Jewish leader. My criticism, therefore, of his furious attack on Republican attitudes toward Obama on Israel is offered very respectfully. Senator Lautenberg says that Republicans ought to be ashamed of themselves

Walking into the Ntarama Church outside Kigali and witnessing the scenes of mass slaughter that are all around you, I instantly began to gag and ran outside lest I be sick in consecrated ground. I walked in several more times

I always promised myself that if I ever ran for public office I would highlight anti-genocide legislation as one of the principal planks of my platform. As such, I’m traveling to Rwanda this week where I will visit the main

The first thing I did after winning the Republican nomination for New Jersey’s Ninth Congressional District was invite my Democratic opponent, Congressman Bill Pascrell, to Shabbat dinner at our home, so we could meet as people rather than opponents. I

The most unpleasant people I have encountered in politics are those who put party before principle, partisanship before politeness, tribal political doctrine before common human decency. Since beginning my run for Congress I have been approached by Republicans convinced that

SOMEONE should tell Julie Hurley that kids are not a political katyusha to be fired against Israel in the ongoing effort to delegitimize the Jewish state. In her Op-Ed article in New Jersey’s ‘The Record’ (“The subtle costs of constant

On July 10, 1778, at the height of the Revolutionary War, there was a picnic in Paterson, NJ right by the Paterson Falls. George Washington, the Marquis de Lafayette and Alexander Hamilton were present. We are told of a “modest

I believe that the first African-American president has a special responsibility to promote human freedom and the infinite worth of the human person. I believe the same obligation will be incumbent upon the first Jewish President, whomever he or she

Tuesday night I was blessed to win the Republican primary in New Jersey’s Ninth Congressional District and will face Congressman Bill Pascrell in the general election in the fall. As fortune would have it, I was in Israel on the

Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber, is finally roasting in hell after dying peacefully in his bed in Libya, surrounded by family and friends, rather than in the cell to which he was condemned for murdering 270 innocent people on Pan