America's Rabbi / Shmuley Boteach

I call upon President Obama to honor his campaign pledge of 2008 to recognize the Armenian slaughter of 1918 by the Ottoman Turks for what it was - a genocide. I also ask my political opponent Bill Pascrell, to join me in a press conference and call upon the U.S. to put a $25 million bounty on the head of Bashar Assad for his arrest for crimes against humanity, and for the removal of the U.S. Ambassador to Russia so long as President Putin continues to protect Assad.

It was when Congressman Steve Rothman defended the rights of Former Libyan dictator Muammar Kaddafi’s personal envoy to live peacefully and tax-free next to me that I first thought of running against him. What was Rothman's purpose in defending the right of an envoy of a terror-sponsoring government to live in our midst?

Mehmet, perhaps the world’s most famous Muslim who is not a head of state, is a righteous and proud Ambassador of his faith and feels an innate kinship and brotherhood with the Jewish people.

Twenty years, countless conversations, and hundreds of Friday night Shabbat dinners later, Cory today is a much-loved honorary member of the American Jewish community, regularly lecturing at Synagogues and Jewish conferences across the country. More significant, Cory has challenged the Jewish community to live up to its Biblical calling to serve as ‘a light unto the nations.’ In many of the speeches we deliver together he asks the Jewish participants if they study the weekly Parsha, if they honor the commandments, and cherish the Sabbath. What allows an African-American Christian Mayor to challenge Jewish leaders to deepen their Jewish commitment? Because those same leaders are amazed at Cory’s knowledge of Judaism and appreciation of the Jewish contribution to civilization. (Watch video)

Democracy without a legitimate constitution and a Bill of rights, especially protecting the rights of minorities, can become a very scary thing. What you get is a tyranny of the majority. So the United States, as the world’s foremost democracy and sole superpower, must insist that elected regimes be restrained by a constitution that safeguards against a gravitation toward tyranny.

Overlooking incendiary rhetoric is exactly what led to the global delegitimization of Israel.

If only my city were to treat me with the same courtesy they accorded Kaddafi.

Aren’t we the nation that rebuilt Iraq and have done tons of nation-building in Afghanistan? Can’t we put the lights and heat back on New Jersey? Is it asking too much to bring a bunch of fuel tankers here and end the 100 vehicle long lines that are growing larger by the day? Just getting from point A to point B has been like navigating an labyrinth since the gas lines have cut off so many of the streets. President Obama declared this area to be a Federal Disaster Area. But where is FEMA? Where are the troops? Where are the gas tankers?

Few people I have met have been more committed to social unity and bringing people together than Cory Booker. Which other African-American Christian Rhodes scholar would have agreed to become President of an orthodox Jewish student organization that was run by a Hassidic Rabbi?

Senator Lautenberg, how exactly has our President demonstrated his friendship to Israel? He declared Israel's settlements to be illegitimate, put near-unilateral pressure on Israel to make peace without any expectations from the Palestinian side, declared that Israel should return to the arbitrary 1967 borders, and treated Prime Minister Netanyahu shamefully at a March 2010 meeting where he refused even a photo op with the elected leader of the Middle East's only democracy.

There are thousands of unqualified soferim in both America and Israel who sell items that, far from being first-rate, are not even kosher.

Eric Garcetti’s caring for those who are struggling would become his defining political legacy as a Los Angeles council member and as President of the Council.

I have heard many Rabbis tell me that they don’t wish to dirty their hands by getting involved in political matters.

Are we to believe that these Jews who were devout and pious were being punished?

Petraeus seems to have resigned over marital infidelity. And if so, did he have to leave his position? Why, because he displayed personal weakness? But this was a public, as opposed to a private, position. And years of counseling unfaithful husbands and wives has taught me that private failings do not necessarily indicate public faithlessness.

Several headlines recently caught my attention when I heard that a man who claims to have worked as Michael Jackson's bodyguard made the incredulous charge that Michael was a Nazi sympathizer. This kind of viciousness should usually not be indulged because it just gives it more credibility for the retelling. But the slander against Michael's name in this instance is so great that it deserves to be rebutted.

There is nothing beneficial that comes from suffering that could have not been achieved far more effectively through a positive means.

I call on the President of the United States to employ his considerable mastery of words to take up the mantle of Martin Luther King and be a drum major for justice, a beacon for freedom. Sound the clarion call for liberty, Mr. President. Get off the damn fence and stand up for Arab life and liberty. Stop the slaughter in Syria.

The growing revelations that the Obama State Department watered down public statements on the attack in order to cleanse them of any mention of al Qaeda and terrorism is a travesty.

Noone, least of all me, wants to see any Arab child suffer, God forbid.

The reaction to his statement has been illuminating as to the double standards that are often employed on matters relating to Israel.

Being forced to pay taxes does not make us more virtuous people. If it did, our founding fathers would have thanked George III for his coercion.

If the targeting of innocent civilians by terrorist organizations is not wrong, then morality has no meaning.

When in 1948 President Harry Truman recognized the new Jewish State of Israel, Einstein declared it 'the fulfillment of our dream.'

Last week I was quoted as saying that President Obama is a strong friend of the Jewish people and that anyone who calls him anti-Semitic is guilty of character assassination. I stand by that quote. But being a great friend of the Jewish people does not automatically make one a great friend of Israel.

The delay allowed Assad to go on TV with Charlie Rose and come across as calm, measured, and reasonable.

We can afford a few cruise missiles fired at Bashar Assad’s air force and presidential palaces.

I can forgive Congressman Pascrell for his continued contempt toward me by refusing to address me directly or even mention me by name, even in his letter written in response to mine. But his attack against Israel cannot be similarly overlooked.

GoDaddy's Super Bowl spot was a disappointment for American culture and even more disappointing that it starred an Israeli icon.

While the meal featured heads of state, Nobel laureates and people of world renown, it had a homely feeling where no one in particular was made to feel more important than the next person.