Forward: Hitchens Tromps Boteach

Even though the paper does not come right out and say it, apparently Shmuley lost his debate with Hitchens -- Judaism lost to Atheism. Oh well. Another day, another dollar.

Hitchens and Boteach’s Great Debate
By Zachary Goelman

Acclaimed polemicist and atheist Christopher Hitchens traded wit on science and scripture last week at a debate titled “Does God Exist?” with his opponent, Orthodox rabbi and television host Shmuley Boteach.

Ticket holders filled the auditorium at Manhattan’s 92nd Street Y to capacity; many hoped that Hitchens would demonstrate his irreverent, razor-edged reasoning. The fans weren’t disappointed.

“We’re all atheists,” Hitchens argued in his dry British timbre. “We no longer believe we need to tear the beating heart out of a virgin to make the sun rise. We no longer believe in the sun god Ra or in Zeus, and we now must go one step further.”

A critical essayist known for his caustic prose and attempted literary assassinations of popular figures (including the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa and Mahatma Gandhi), Hitchens recently aimed his arrows at the divine with his book “God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.”

At the podium, Hitchens — who discovered his Jewish ancestry only as an adult — called religion a “pernicious belief” that does “nothing good for our poorly evolved species.” He bemoaned the human psyche, which “prefers junk explanation over no explanation,” and called the belief in God “the first explanation, and the worst explanation” for the state of existence.

The human race has “nothing to look forward to,” Hitchens said, given the fact that extinction could come about in the near future, and if not soon, then within the next 5 billion years, when the Andromeda galaxy collides with our own.

Boteach took the podium next. “After hearing that,” he began, “I’m colossally depressed. If the Andromeda galaxy doesn’t finish me off, Christopher Hitchens will.” Boteach is the author of several books on Orthodox life in the modern world, including “Kosher Sex.” He hosts the show “Shalom in the Home” on The Learning Channel.

Boteach attacked his opponent’s recent book, calling it Hitchens’s “worst work yet, full of falsity.” A proponent of Intelligent Design, Boteach labeled Hitchens a scientific reductionist who belittled humanity as a race of poorly evolved apes.

“We might be 98% identical to primates,” Boteach asserted, “but in that 2% lays intellect and morality.” The rabbi asked how Hitchens could call the Bible “inhumane” when it commanded humankind to “love thy neighbor as thyself.”

In his rebuttal, Hitchens asked, “What happened to the Midianites?” and argued that the Bible clearly approved of genocide. “It’s a good thing those books are fiction,” he said.

Newsweek names top 50 American rabbis

Here are the top ten. The list is sure to stir up some discussion. Newsweek thinks this is a "fun" idea:

"The top spot goes to Marvin Hier, founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. But No. 4 is Yehuda Berg, spiritual adviser at the Kabbalah Centre in Los Angeles, an outfit whose authentic Jewishness many Jews dispute. At least two lesbian rabbis made the list, as did the CEO of the Lubavitch Chabad movement. Lynton's own congregational rabbi made the list; Ginsberg's and Sanderson's did not. "I assume I'm going to get into trouble," says Sanderson, who did most of the research himself. "It's our point of view," adds Lynton, 'You're going to have some people who didn't make the list who should have, but that's part of the fun.'"

The List: Choosing the Chosen

1. Marvin Hier (Orthodox)

Hier is one phone call away from almost every world leader, journalist and Hollywood studio head. He is the dean and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the Museum of Tolerance and Moriah Films.

2. Yehuda Krinsky (Lubavitch)

Krinsky has truly built a shul on every corner and brought the Chabad movement mainstream prominence. He is the leader of Chabad and its CEO.

3. Uri D. Herscher (Reform)

Herscher has built arguably America’s most culturally relevant Jewish institution and his passion has already touched hundreds of thousands of Jews and non-Jews of all ages. He is the founding president and CEO of the Skirball Cultural Center.

4. Yehuda Berg (Orthodox)

Berg has made wearing the red string a popular phenomena in America and around the world and turned on everyone from Madonna to club-hopping young Jews to the power of the Kabbalah. He is an author and spiritual adviser at the Kabbalah Centre.

5. Harold Kushner (Conservative)

Kushner has written nine inspirational books including the international best seller that helped millions grapple with "When Bad Things Happen to Good People." He is one of America’s truly gifted speakers and teachers.

6. David Ellenson (Reform)

Ellenson is a trailblazer committed to bringing this generation’s Reform Jewish rabbis and teachers closer to traditional Judaism. He is the president of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.

7. Robert Wexler (Conservative)

Wexler has re-envisioned Jewish education and created the largest Jewish continuing-education program in America while building a premier rabbinical school and liberal arts college. He is the president of the University of Judaism.

8. Irwin Kula (Conservative)

Kula is committed to “taking Jewish public” and reshaping America’s spiritual landscape. He is the copresident of CLAL, a public television host and the author of "Yearnings: Embracing the Sacred Messiness of Life."

9. Shmuley Boteach (Orthodox)

Boteach has been called “the most famous rabbi in America” and his 17 books, TLC television series and celebrity friends help make that case. His book "Kosher Sex " introduced this Hasidic rabbi as a cultural phenomena.

10. M. Bruce Lustig (Reform)

Each year on Yom Kippur, Lustig has an audience that even the president of the United States would envy. He is the rabbi of Washington Hebrew Congregation, the largest congregation in Washington, D.C.

Surprise! Rabbi Shmuley Fails to Save Britney

Last week Rabbi Shmuley stuck his two cents in to criticize Britney's parenting. Apparently his advice-at-a-distance approach did not take into account the seriousness of her condition.

Perhaps next time the good Rabbi will exercise more discretion before going public with his "advice" (i.e. his transparent and insensitive grab for PR attention by criticizing a troubled celebrity).

Britney ‘on the edge of a nervous breakdown’
Patrick Foster

Fans and friends of Britney Spears rallied round the pop star last night as fears grew for her mental health.

The 25-year-old’s behaviour has become increasingly erratic, including reports that she had checked into a rehabilitation clinic but left after only 24 hours. In a bizarre sequence of events, Spears was filmed shaving her head in a Los Angeles hair salon on Friday evening before going to a tattoo parlour, where she reportedly had a tattoo of a pair of lips put on to her wrist.

Psychologists said yesterday that the behaviour was worryingly erratic and required attention, while fans of the pop star took to the internet to express their support for her.

Video footage from a Los Angeles television station showed Spears taking the clippers to her hair in full view of the paparazzi gathered outside.

Esther Tognozzi, the salon’s co-owner, told US Weekly that after Spears had cut off her brunette hair extensions she “just looked in the mirror and said with tears in her eyes, ‘Oh, my God, I shaved it all off. My mom is going to be so upset with me’.” JT Tognozzi, her husband and salon co-owner, said: “[Spears] didn’t want her hair. We have it here at the salon and we will probably auction it off for charity.”

Shmuley to Britney: Life's a Joke before you have kids

Going back to yesterday's to do over pink panty pictures - they will scar you for life if you look at them - here is what the Englewooder Rebbe wrote according to page six:

“Allow me to share with you a teaching of the ancient Rabbis. Once you become a parent, Britney, life gets really serious.”

So kids, have your fun now. But later on when you are parents - settle down. Or else you will scar your offspring for life. Ancient Rabbis said so.

Will Britney Repent? Day 2

Radar Blog reported 1/31/07:

We count the hours until Britney relents of her decadent lifestyle and accepts Reb Shmuley's public reproof (see yesterday's entry here).

Even before the Boteacher Rov reached out to her, two weeks ago she was seen sporting a magen dovid. Isn't that a shevy sheitel she is wearing in the picture above? All of Borough Park wants to know.