The book focuses on the Christian savior's Jewishness, portraying him as a hero who stood up to Roman rule of Palestine and paid with his life. In keeping with Jewish theology, it does not accept his resurrection or his divinity. And it emphasizes Boteach's belief that the New Testament intentionally deflected blame for the crucifixion from the ruling Romans and redirected it - unfairly, Boteach believes - on the shoulders of the Jews.

Given all that, one might expect Christians to take exception. But Boteach's Jewish critics were way ahead of the curve.

"I expected ... to be criticized by some Christian clerics," but not by Jews, Boteach said one night recently, discussing the book before a friendly crowd at a Beverly Hills synagogue.

Boteach is not the first Jew to write about Jesus. His book is based on the work of the late Hyam Maccoby, a Jewish scholar in Britain. Numerous Christian writers have also explored Jesus' Jewish roots. Still, it is perilous turf for a Jewish writer, especially an Orthodox rabbi.

Boteach says the book is designed to win over both Jews and Christians to a message that he believes has been lost to the mists of history and misunderstanding: Rather than being a divisive figure, Jesus can be a bridge between the faiths.

"We in the Jewish community have a choice," Boteach said in an interview. "We can either, as has happened for 2,000 years, allow the Christian community to teach us about the Christian Christ, or we can take the initiative and the responsibility of teaching the Christian community about the Jewish Jesus.... He was a Jew, after all."

Christians, he said, can benefit from a new understanding of Jesus' humanity. "Embracing Jesus' Jewishness begins to elucidate his story, his life, his passionate beliefs," he writes in the book.

Jewish critics say they are worried that Christians will use Boteach's book to try to convert Jews. They also say he is deliberately exploiting controversy.

Boteach insists that is not the case, although he has hardly been shy about it. Then again, shyness is not really a term that applies to a man who claims to be "America's rabbi." (That title could change - his name has come up as a potential successor to the chief rabbi of England.)