A Rabbi has sold part of a controversial sex book to Playboy magazine.

Rabbi Shmuel Boteach confirmed he had made money on the deal but denied a national newspaper report that he had netted $200,000 (£121,000).

He wrote Kosher Sex, which argues Jews should not be squeamish about sex and should attempt to cement their marriages by experimentation.

The book contains detailed technical advice on oral sex.

The deal with Playboy was struck by the Rabbi's American publishers, Doubleday.

The Rabbi had to resign from a London synagogue because of a row over the book and he is expecting a strong backlash from Orthodox Jews over the deal with Playboy.

But today, he denied he had made anything like the figures quoted in a national newspaper for the extract,. He said the figure "was not even in the ball park" but would not disclose the exact amount. He defended the book and denied it was a sex manual.

He said he was opposed to pornographic magazines but wanted to use Playboy to get across his "serious" message that married couples should strive to become more sexually intimate in order to stay together.

He said: "It is not a sex manual. It is a book about assuming passion and intimacy, including sex. It teaches people how to use sex to achieve intimacy. "It highly criticises pornography and pre-marital sex. It is a deeply religious book.

"The overwhelming majority of people support the book, it is the religious extremists that don't like it."

"I am expecting a backlash. We live in an age of religious fundamentalists who will see the word Playboy and just go on the attack."

Kosher Sex has been heavily criticised by the influential head of London's Rabbinical Court and the United Synagogue's Council of Rabbis for trivialising and sensationalising sex.

The 5,000 word article is due to appear in the magazine's 45th anniversary edition in January and Playboy have agreed not to publish any pornographic photographs near it.

The Rabbi, an American by birth, also wrote The Jewish Guide to Adultery and next spring will publish Dating Secrets of the Ten Commandments - a humorous guide for young couples on dating.

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