Orthodox Rabbi Condemns Boteach’s ‘Kosher Jesus’
A prominent Orthodox rabbi in Toronto has condemned the latest book by celebrity Rabbi Shmuley Boteach and pronounced it is “forbidden” for anyone to buy or read it.
In an open letter published on the Jewish news website The Algemeiner, Rabbi Immanuel Schochet denounced Boteach’s newest book, “Kosher Jesus,” as “heretical.”
The book “poses a tremendous risk to the Jewish community,” wrote Schochet, an emeritus professor of philosophy and religion at Toronto’s Humber College and spiritual leader of the city’s Congregation Beth Joseph.
“I have never read a book, let alone one authored by a purported frum (religious) Jew, that does more to enhance the evangelical missionary message and agenda than the aforementioned book,” Schochet said. “It is forbidden for anyone to buy or read this book, or give its author a platform in any way, shape or form to discuss this topic.”
The volume “must be rejected for being heretical,” he said.
The latest offering from Boteach, who had come under fire from fellow rabbis years ago for offering spiritual advice to the late singer Michael Jackson and for authoring the 1999 book “Kosher Sex,” explores the Jewish roots of Jesus and whether the exploration should lead modern Jews to “rediscover” and celebrate the extent to which the Hebrew Bible shaped his thinking.
In a lengthy response that has been widely disseminated online, Boteach shot back, saying he “must retain the right to defend myself against the appalling and libelous charge of heresy.”
Boteach said his book paints Jesus as “a Torah-observant Jew whose mission it was to restore Jewish observance fully among his Jewish brethren and fight Roman persecution.”
“It’s time these universal Jewish ideas that have so influenced the world be traced back to their original source,” Boteach wrote in defense of his book. “It’s time that the Jewishness of Jesus be rediscovered by Christians.”
As for Schochet’s charge that the book will embolden Christians to convert Jews, Boteach said it “is the ultimate argument against Christian missionaries” [because it offers] significant information to argue convincingly against any Christian attempt to evangelize Jews.”
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
