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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" 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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