Rabbi Shmuley Boteach Brings Tools for a Happy Life to Vision TV

When a man’s job involves hanging around with hot lingerie models and his wife feels threatened and jealous, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach has some advice for both of them.

The couple was the subject of the first show of the Divine Intervention series that features the rabbi offering one-on-one counselling. It airs weekdays on Vision TV at 3pm ET/Noon PT.

“She has to learn how to express her feelings without attacking him,” Boteach advised. “And he has to develop sensitivity. Most women would feel hurt and discomfort about competing with lingerie models.”

The series of 18 talk shows deals with sexuality, infidelity, divorce, abuse, platonic marriage and religion, parenting, self-worth, eating disorders, and gender-related issues.

The role of the high-profile Rabbi and author is “to provide the tools to make things better.”

If you want to go to India, he says, “you have tools to find a cheap flight, the right hotel, everything you need. But if your marriage is going down the toilet, you don’t have the tools to fix it. The focus of these shows is to give people tools to help them self-analyze and self-correct.”

So why do so many people have so many problems, Rabbi?

“The western world is good at macrocosmic issues like putting up big buildings but fails at microcosmic issues,” he says. “Everybody wants to be to be successful but the definition of success does not involve raising children to be good people or staying passionately married.”

Promoting lust between spouses to keep marriages alive is something of a mission for Boteach.

“How do you get a husband and wife to lust after each other after 12 years of marriage, to make it new and novel?” he asks.

The short answer: “Lust depends on A. unavailability, B. mystery, C. sinfulness. There are rules to desire.”

The long answer is his most recent book, Kosher Sex. Now he’s working on a new book about “understanding the female erotic mind, what leads to female arousal.”

And age isn’t an issue, he emphasizes.

“Aging is an artificial construct,” he says. “You’re as old as you feel. I know teenagers trying to dull their pain with drugs. What pain are they trying to solve? They already feel cynical about life And I know people in their 60s and 70s who are not old. Look at Bernie Sanders at 74, connecting with young people.”

Still, he acknowledges, “there is a lot of ageism in society. A woman feels embarrassed about celebrating a birthday. But if you’re aging, it means you’re alive and life is a blessing.”

Boteach will be celebrating his 50th birthday later this year. “The only issue for me as I turn 50,” he says, “is how to commemorate it.” He’s thinking of a trip with his family or a beautiful dinner for family and friends. “I don’t mean a shallow party where people get drunk,” he adds. “Birthdays are significant, changing cycles of life.”

He has another piece of advice for all of us, at any age, whatever our problems may be.

Celebrate the Sabbath, he insists, because we all have the need for a day of rest.

“We’re all going mad from things that beep and bump and vibrate,” he says. “The Sabbath is not just a gift but a necessity. It should be reintroduced to every people of every sect.”

 

Divine Intervention, an original new talk series hosted by relationship guru Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, airs weekdays on Vision TV at 3pm ET/Noon PT. Rabbi Shmuley has been called “the most famous Rabbi in America” by Washington Post and Newsweek.