Jon Gosselin, Rabbi Shmuley to Engage in 'Intimate Dialogue' About Fame

Oct. 30, 2009 — -- It's no Halloween trick: Jon Gosselin and Rabbi Shmuley Boteach will, in fact, engage in an "intimate dialogue" at New York City's Westside Synagogue Sunday evening, and everyone's invited.

The gathering, titled "Fame: Blessing or Curse?" will, according to the promotional flier sent out by Boteach, focus on the "ethical challenges and moral responsibility of celebrity." Interested parties can purchase "extremely limited" tickets in advance at www.ThisWorld.us.

Click back to ABCNews.com Monday to find out more about Gosselin's counseling sessions with Rabbi Boteach.

The event comes one day before Kate Gosselin returns to TLC with "Her Story," a one-on-one interview about her tumultuous divorce from Jon, and two days after Gosselin announced he's reached out to Boteach for regular counseling sessions. It also follows a slew of bad press for Gosselin, including his girlfriend, Hailey Glassman's recent allegations that he throws "mantrums" and takes his anger out on her, and his estranged wife's seemingly never ending list of grievances.

But Boteach, an Orthodox rabbi known to counsel a number of celebrities including the late Michael Jackson, believes Gosselin can be a better man.

"Jon and I have been studying together and speaking for a few weeks now," Boteach told ABCNews.com. "And it is my strong opinion that he has to rediscover his moral convictions. He was not always an outlandish playboy, he was not always someone who fed the hungry paparazzi with scoreless stories of his out of control behavior. He was once a devoted father, a devoted husband, a religious man. A Christian man. He needs to rediscover his true self."

Jon Gosselin Strives to 'Reconnect' with Religion

The two men hail from different faiths (though Gosselin claimed to be "rediscovering his Jewish roots" earlier this fall), but they share much in common. Both boast a large brood (the Rabbi has nine children, Gosselin, of course, has eight), both burst into the public eye through TLC (Boteach hosts "Shalom in the Home") and both believe in taking advantage of fame.

"The celebrities who flourish in fame do so when they find a voice in the culture," Boteach said. "I'm trying to help him discover his deepest passion so he can live for something other than himself. Why shouldn't he use his fame for a righteous cause?"

Sunday's session could shed some light on what that righteous cause might be. For now, all Gosselin's saying is that he wants to make good by God.

"I am well aware that my behavior over the past few months has not always reflected my personal and religious values," Gosselin said in a statement to E! News today. "I further accept that I have allowed myself to become somewhat severed from my own moral anchor and be carried away by the challenges of fame. It is for this reason that I have endeavored of late to reconnect with my deeper, more spiritual, more altruistic self with regular study sessions and counseling."