| Compiled by Luke Ford
Jews For Nothing
By Dennis Prager
Secular Jewish activists have been doing both America and American
Jewry great harm in their unrelenting war against any manifestation
of religion outside the church or synagogue and the home.
The harm to Jews has been the raising of a generation of "Jews
for Nothing." I deliberately choose this phrase because many
American Jews resent—correctly I believe—"Jews for
Jesus." Yet Jewish fears of "Jews for Jesus" have
been utterly disproportionate to the threat. The few "Jews
for Jesus" are a negligible threat to Jewish welfare and survival,
while Jews for Nothing pose an almost fatal threat to American Jewry.
The harm to American society at large is that we have been also
raising non-Jews with no commitments to anything higher than themselves.
And when these products of our secular world do have commitments,
they are increasingly to trees and to sea otters rather than to
humans, and certainly not to anything so quaint as God, character
development, or the holy.
This article above was first published in FIRST THINGS A monthly
Journal of Religion and Public Life.
From: "RichANGELL@aol.com"
Subj: Action alert, 94.10.11 Dennis Prager Show
Dear Activist, here is an action alert. (These action alerts should
only be going out to other activists within our movement.)
On Monday, 10 October, the Dennis Prager Show featured founder
and director of NOCIRC, [no circumsicion] Marilyn Milos. Dennis
made no secret of the fact that he is Jewish and is upholding a
tradition.
Three of our friends stepped up to the mike to voice their opinions:
Steve Michaud, Roland Clark (producer of the PUDD) and Cynthia Rullo
(a nurse who attended the first two symposia on circumcision). A
typical misguided woman also voiced her denial that her three sons
had been harmed by circumcision (but was soundly refuted by Marilyn).
In my opinion, our side did very well, although mistakes were made.
One thing that helped us and gave us credibility (or discredited
Mr. Dennis, anyway) was the arrogant, rude manner in which he treated
Marilyn. My grandma commented, "He's so rude! He won't let
her finish what she's trying to say!"
My grandpa asked, "Who is this know-it-all doctor?" Then
later, "This guy is a nut!" (Grandpa is intact, has never
had any problems, and once commented to me a few years ago, "I'm
sure glad nobody circumcised me!")
I have no idea whether Mr. Prager is really a doctor, but he sure
made an ass of himself in my eyes. One thing he repeatedly stated
throughout the show is that those of us men who are trouble by a
missing foreskin need psychological treatment, not a new foreskin.
You hear that? We're crazy!
Write the Dennis Prager Show, 7800 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles,
CA 90036. He needs to hear from a lot of men that he's the one who
is crazy, not those who lament what was amputated against our will.
Tell him how circumcision has affected your life.
By Chris Bray:
Talk show host Dennis Prager, for example, believes that radio
is one of the central gathering points for a collective conversation
about critical social issues. "There is," Prager has said,
"a culture war. What has been lacking, generally, has been
a description of exactly what it is. I've spent the last twelve
years speaking to people in Los Angeles on talk radio there, now
in New York as well, and I've learned a great deal. And, in fact,
I thank God for the opportunity to have been a talk show host; you
speak to everybody."
From GLAD:
Dennis Prager: Wrong About the Right
The "Dennis Prager Show" is yet another entry in the
line-up of TV talk shows. Prager presents himself as an "intellectual,"
"thinking person's" host. His talk show seldom features
any guests, but centers on Prager preaching to a small group of
listeners in a library room setting. He many times sits on his desk
top, adopting a "talking- down-to-his-audience" style.
He is akin to Rush Limbaugh, though not nearly as conservative (or
lunatic). Still, even with all the attempt at looking and sounding
"intellectual," he comes off as a skewed, bigoted good
ol' boy.
On his February 21 show, carried by the Fox network, Prager took
a look at the so-called "Christian Right." Claiming that
the "Christian Right" suffered from an unfair image, Prager
went on to defend certain right-wing objectives. "Everyone
is allowed to participate in American politics, except the 'Christian
Right,' Prager claimed. "Gays, blacks, Hispanics...you name
the group, that's great, but not the 'Christian' Right. Why all
this fear about the 'Christian Right?'"
Worst of all, Prager went on to defend the "Christian Right's"
anti-gay initiative efforts. Parroting right-wing propaganda, Prager
claimed that the "Christian Right" is NOT against civil
rights for lesbians and gays, but "special" rights. Since
when is the right to work, rent a house or simply live without fear
something "special?"
Prager informed his audience that the "Christian Right"
has been unfairly demonized. To portray the "Christian Right"
as vicious or totalitarian is, in Prager's words, "wrong,"
"disgusting," and "anti- American."
Clearly, Prager -- who portrays himself as a "liberal thinker"
- has never done his homework on the "Christian Right,"
and he completely ignores the destructive effects of their relentless
homophobia.
A Christian woman:
While I was in the Way in L.A. [a fringe Christian group],
I began corresponding with a radio talk show host named Dennis Prager
in April of 1986. To quote from my own book, the following happened:
"...Sunday nights I faithfully tuned to "Religion On
the Line" with Dennis Prager. I had always been a letter writer
and had already gotten a handful of my opinionated letters published
in the letter section of the local paper. I decided to write to
[Mr.] Prager one night after calling into the Sunday program. I
was trying to convince the panel of guests he had in the studio
of various clergy from various churches in the area, that Jesus
Christ is not God. They completely dismissed my suggestion, claiming
I was therefore, not a Christian. The only caller to back me up
concerning the 'truth' as I knew it at the time, was from someone
who described themself as a Mormon. Realizing my beliefs coincided
with a Mormon's disturbed me. This was a group considered a cult
by most main stream Christian organizations, including the Way (interestingly
enough), but I brushed it off at the time. Instead, I set about
to write a six page letter, detailing why Jesus Christ could not
be God..."
I touched upon many points in my letter, but one obviously
caught the eye of Mr. Prager. I wrote:
"Let me explain some inaccuracies I noted during your recent
radio broadcast. It is important to correctly divide (Way people
use this term, 'correctly divide' when referring to their interpretation
of the 'true' translation of the Bible) the Word of God, the Bible.
Your guests quoted from Matthew 27:46, or Mark 15:34 when Christ
said on the cross: "Eli Eli. lama sabach thani? that is to
say My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"...
The translation in the King James version and obviously other Bibles
has been from the Greek. However this is an erroneous translation.
Christ spoke in Aramaic or more accurately Syro-Chaldee. When the
words are translated from Christ's language it is: 'Eli' -- God
-- but there is no Aramaic word like the word 'lama.' There is a
word Lmna. Lmna is always a cry of victory, a declaration of 'for
this purpose' or 'for this reason.' The root of Sabachthani is Shbk.
Shbk means to 'reserve,' or 'to leave, to spare or to keep.' So
the actual translation is 'My God, My God, for this purpose was
I reserved, for this purpose was I spared.' If we go by the Greek
translation, then Christ believed God would forsake him. This contrasts
with God's Word."
Thank God, Mr. Prager was not only a faithful Jew, but fluent in
Aramaic. He wrote me a brief reply:
"I'm afraid King James is right. I know Hebrew/Aramaic and
Lama means 'Why.' So I suspect Jesus, as a man, was asking God some
question. (See Psalms 22:1)."
I was stunned, and started asking questions about this embarrassing
revelation. It was embarrassing to me because in my arrogance, I
believed my letter was "teaching" this radio talk show
host.
The November 1996 issue of Buzz Magazine listed Dennis Prager
as one of "The Ten Most Powerful People in L.A."
Dennis Prager: Moral Compass
"If Los Angeles Times critic Howard Rosenberg is to be believed,
Dennis Prager is the only radio personality in America who delves
honestly into crucial issues of morality and evil-and makes money
doing it. What's inarguable is that the centrist talk-show host,
whose program can be heard weekdays from noon to 3 P.M. on KABC
radio, has become something of a moral compass in a city rife with
racial and economic divides. He takes controversial, seemingly disparate
stands-powerfully decrying the burning of black churches, for example,
while at the same time arguing that black racism is one of L.A.'s
worst social problems. As a result, such high-profile L.A. liberals
as actor Richard Dreyfuss and political writer Susan Estrich are
among his most avid listeners. A sometime biblical and rabbinical
scholar, the jovial, boom-box-voiced Prager gleefully admits that
"my driving goal in life is my desire to influence others to
the good." "If power is influencing thought, Prager is
near the top," says Steve Soboroff. The quarter-million people
who listen to his show clearly agree."
In 1994 Toastmasters International listed Dennis Prager among
the five outstanding speakers along with Peter Legge, Rush Limbaugh,
Jack Kemp, and Stephen Covey.
Look out, talk show enthusiasts! Dennis Prager, philosopher extraordinarre,
is on the air. In other words, don't expect the trivial, the trite,
the paltry or the picayune. Go elsewhere if you must for gossip
and idle chatter; Prager's objective is to stretch your brain cells
through sophisticated and erudite discourse. Consider the typical
caveat that he issues at the beginning of his radio show: "If
you like to think, I think you'll like the next few hours, wherein
I challenge you - and you challenge me - to think a second time
about some great issue." As host of both a daily New York radio
talk show and Southern California's highest rated afternoon radio
talk show, Prager attracts discerning audiences who prefer intelligent
discussion to frivolity. "Entertainment is secondary on my
show, though the show must be entertaining. My first criterion is
to hold people's interest, and I think I do" Interest in his
logic-oriented approach has been so high, in fact, that Prager concurrently
publishes a quarterly journal, Ultimate Issues, which is circulated
worldwide to more than 20,000 readers. Then, this September, Prager
began hosting a nationally televised syndicated talk show. Combine
this visibility with his numerous national and international speaking
engagements, and it is clear to see why Dennis Prager is an oratorical
force to be reckoned with. Unlike many commentators, it's difficult
to pigeon-hole Prager into any political ideology. His focus is
on matters of ethics, morality and values - or, as he once so succinctly
put it, "I'm obsessed with the issue of good and evil."
The Los Angeles Times has called him "a charismatic moralist"
who is "armed with a muscular intellect, a stentorian voice
that booms from his 6 foot, 4 inch frame, the well-honed oratory
of someone who gives several speeches a week, and the eloquence
of a seasoned essayist."
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