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Wednesday, November 02, 2005

N.Y. Times Gives Jacko's Ex-Rabbi Another Shot

Roger Friedman, FoxNews

"I am sad to say I read yesterday's story in the New York Times about Shmuley Boteach and got a little ill. Samuel Freedman, a good reporter, writer and author of interesting books, evidently was sold a bill of goods on Boteach.

His report on Shmuley's WWRL radio show with Peter Noel made it sound like Michael Jackson's onetime rabbi was on the up and up. But readers of this column know otherwise.

Back on May 23, 2001, we revealed the truth about the 'Kosher Sex' rabbi who started a bogus charity with Jackson. To this day there has no been no accounting for the money Boteach and Jackson raised for their Time for Kids/Heal the World Foundation.

Indeed, the event they held on Feb. 14, 2001, at Carnegie Hall — a symposium on children — has never turned up in tax returns. London newspapers reported that Boteach was ousted from the L'Chaim Society of Oxford University for mismanagement of funds. (He allegedly used money from the charity to maintain a lavish home. Boteach insisted it was his right to do so.) He was also reportedly banned from having a pulpit in the U.K., although during our conversation last year he denied that. The New York Times also didn't bother to look into the infamous L'Chaim Society, Boteach's New York charity. The most recent tax return available, which covers all of 2000, states that the New York edition of L'Chaim Society took in $203,185 in donations but paid out $240,164 'for administration.' There are no funds listed for 'Program Services.'

In May 2001, this column discovered quite a lot about the so-called Oxford L'Chaim Society of New York, which has nothing whatsoever to do with Oxford University in Great Britain. I wrote: 'In 1999, the British government criticized (Boteach's) L'Chaim Society of Oxford, London and Cambridge — an organization that was supposed to support and promote Jewish thinking and life on the Oxford campus — when they discovered that Shmuley (his name is Shmuel but he loves the nickname) had been dipping into the funds ... An article dated June 1, 1998, in the London Daily Telegraph clearly states: 'Ah Shmuley. The shame, the disgrace. (He's been) publicly reproached by Elkin Levy, president of the United Synagogues; forced to resign from the synagogue in Willesden where he preaches, accused of conduct unbecoming, bringing the rabbinate into disrepute.' The resignation was apparently in response to the publication of Boteach's controversial book, 'Kosher Sex,' which has been a bestseller and was excerpted in Playboy."

7 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

Wednesday, November 02, 2005 11:44:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

UOJ- your posting so much these days. Did you get fired or did you get a secretary?

Wednesday, November 02, 2005 7:16:00 PM  
Blogger Paul Mendlowitz said...

I'm on vacation and getting tired of being polite to strangers.

Wednesday, November 02, 2005 8:23:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

don't be polite.

Shmuley was reproached for not contributing to his l'chaim society even as he was becoming a best selling author. His donor base was displeased.

He found a new opportunity in advertising on the radio in nyc during rush hour traffic. I have been inspired by the work of the L'Chaim Society. They have given work to cigarmakers.

He himself was not accused of fraud. As the Brits say, he is "brilliant." They say that about many things.

Michael Jackson. He sought renown by fawning after him and now seeks more by renouncing him. A model of teshuvah, the ideal parent and husband.

Tell us, uoj, your views on oral sex. We are seeking incorporation for the uoj society. We shall advocate contraception.

Thursday, November 03, 2005 9:34:00 AM  
Blogger Paul Mendlowitz said...

It's a complex subject, I will run it by Bill Clinton.

Thursday, November 03, 2005 11:33:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

great. see if he can donate his car.

Thursday, November 03, 2005 12:19:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

shmuley, like the audience he appeals to - a wide audience - is obsessed with sex.

another "nail in the coffin."

He's a better public speaker than uoj.

Thursday, November 03, 2005 11:22:00 PM  

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