Teaneck, NJ – Republican congressional candidate Shmuley Boteach is threatening to sue a major Jewish newspaper for running a “libelous” and “utterly untrue” article that accused him of improperly using his internationally celebrated charity as a personal ATM.
Join our WhatsApp groupSubscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
Boteach, a well-known author and Orthodox spiritual leader, told the Free Beacon that a recent article in the Forward newspaper, which raised questions about disbursements made by his charity, amounted to “defamation.”
Lawyers representing the rabbi have sent the newspaper a letter decrying what they claim is its defamatory and false coverage, the Free Beacon has learned, marking the first signs of a possible lawsuit.
The Forward’s biased reporting on Boteach comports with a longstanding practice of antagonizing and mischaracterizing all those who do not toe the liberal line, media operatives and Jewish insiders allege.
The Forward is known to libel good people and take small things and make big things out of it – for a change they went after someone who has the power to fight back
I hope he sues them once and for all… The daily forward is not new to fabricating stories
I’m no fan of Boteach. But anyone who can sue the pants off the Forward, an anti-orthodox, anti-Torah schmatte gets my nod of support.
I guess Rabbi Boteach never heard of “Times vs. Sullivan”. He’s a public figure, so the bar for a libel suit against a newspaper is very, very, high. He can’t just claim they were careless, but has to demonstrate “actual malice”. That’s just about impossible.
(Not intending here to take sides one way or another as to his candidacy or other points).
#1 #2 #3 – if all the seemingly anti-orrhodox articles they print aren’t true, why hasn’t anyone sued them previously?
Perhaps at a minimum tghis will case that libelous rag to lose its tax exempt status. (It is not clear to me why they even enjoy such a status, that is the real scandal they should be reporting about)
i too am no fan of the forward. however sometimes celebrities,and boteach certainly courts a clebrity image,embrace controversy for the publicity it will bringonly to have the controversy come back to bite them.
What do they think his name is….. Al not too Sharpton??
When you sue for libel, the defendant can use truth as a defense. It’s dangerous. He better be sure the charity is squeaky clean and that nothing can be misconstrued in his disbursements.
There are legal standards for such suits.
You know what. He is no worse than any other Rabbi who uses his position for personal gain (if the charge is true). Rabbis that take money from rich people and buy themselves fancy houses, etc. It’s all a money grab. So he has the right to sue if he feels he has been libeled but as the previous poster shared, the threshold is higher for public figures.
The pot calling the kettle black. What a g’lachter.
I am no fan of The Forward – a radically liberal biased anti orthodox newspaper, nor am I a fan of self proclaimed “Rabbi” Boteach – a self serving publicity crazed now suddenly politician, who continues to damage the Orthodox image for his selfish favor. So I guess the best would be if both sides spend a lot of money on this, then maybe we’ll get a break from both, that’s two birds in one shot!
he should be sued for impersonating a rabbi.
Lives in Englewood, New Jersey? One of those homes costs a peckala. Maintining one of those homes, incluiding real estate taxes cost a peckala. Where is the funding from?…Oh Kosher this and Kosher that…Sell us down the road Schmuilka
This whole thing makes me laugh. I mean, did anyone really think that Shmuley was our savior for tomorrow? I mean are we so keen that we enjoy straws instead of liquor or are we so dull that we like meat instead of poetry these days. Shmuley, you make me laugh and if you get elected, I am sure you wont do too much damage, but rest assured I have made my mind up on you eons ago when that kosher j-screwball book came out. Have fun rabbi and if they don’t like you, give it a kiss and pray that you will come back as a baseball umpire or something in the next life.
He is getting loonier every day. He has gotten carried away with his celebrity. On Dr. Phil he actually said he would not be bothered if his daughters became models. He is too interested in pandering to the non-Jewish world.
He says he was Michael Jackson’s Rabbi and Rabbi to the Stars. Do we want him representing us? Surely I don’t!
The Forwards has out lived its usefulness. Today the internet bloggers expose all that is rotten in our communities (not that our communities have more rot than any others, and probably less than most) so washing our dirty laundry is done in public now anyway.
If the exposure our scandals now regularly receive hasn’t caused some people to change their ways it is doubtful a little more exposure thru the has been print media will do any good either.
Does this rabbi support the Republican budget proposal to cut food stamps and Medicaid benefits for the poor? He sounds like a 1% er to me. From the New York Post: “What the Post article omitted is that in 2009, the last year publicly-available IRS form 990’s were available for his charity This World: Jewish Values Network, he received $651K in donations, of which $70K went to actual charitable recipients. That’s a ratio of 11%. Eighty percent is considered good.
According to the same Form 990, Boteach paid himself $229K that year. Another $53K went to another employee, and an additional $58K to a “consultant.” Thus just over half of his “charities” revenues went for salaries and wages. Those are “Jewish values?” NY Post reader comment April 30, 2012.