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11-17-91

By Joel Engel

One Sunday night last February, at the height of the Gulf War, a caller to KABC-AM challenged host Dennis Prager's vociferous support of America's military involvement. Frustrated by his inability to counter Prager's argument that the war was "just and moral," the caller resorted to an ad hominem attack, expressing an opinion evidently shared by many listeners to the high-rated show. "You're so arrogant," he said. "You think whatever you say is so important."

"You're right," Prager replied matter-of-factly, seeming neither perturbed nor offended. "I do think that what I have to say is important and worthwhile. If I didn't think so, then why in the world would I want to waste my Saturday and Sunday nights here in the studio, or waste your time listening? That would be ludicrous."

In the wasteland of polemical repetition that marks general-interest talk radio, Dennis Prager is unique. His two shows on KABC (790)-9 p.m. to midnight on Saturdays, and 7 p.m. to midnight on Sundays-are devoted entirely to the issues of morality, ethics and values. Every topic discussed-from war, gang violence and politics, to dating, religion and parenting-is viewed through this prism.

"Eight hours a week, ladies and gentlemen, to talk about the great issues of life," Prager, 43, often says as a lead-in to a monologue that begins each show. 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, Prager delivers these impromptu commentaries on any subject that catches his fancy or provokes his ire-more often the latter.

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Raised in Brooklyn by Orthodox parents, Prager attended Hebrew day schools until high school graduation, then entered Brooklyn College, where as a sophomore he was awarded a junior-year-abroad scholarship after dazzling the interviewers with his skills in English, Hebrew, Russian and French. At the end of that sojourn at the University of Leeds in England, Prager took time to travel. While visiting a friend on a kibbutz in Israel, he was introduced to a wealthy man who sponsored brief trips by young non-Israeli Jews to the Soviet Union for the purpose of smuggling in Jewish religious articles, like prayer shawls, and smuggling out information about Soviet Jews. The year was 1969, two years after the U.S.S.R. had broken off relations with Israel, and conditions for Jews there were particularly oppressive.

For 30 days, Prager says, he lived the life of a spy, meeting clandestinely with Jewish dissidents in parks at midnight and climbing over walls to avoid the authorities. He has, until now, kept the details of his trip a secret in order to protect the ongoing information network. Only the recent ostensible breakup of the Soviet Union, obviating the need for further covert escapades, has freed him to speak publicly. Telling the story, his face reflects what was obviously a profoundly moving-and life-changing-experience.

05/23/92

Los Angeles Times

(Copyright, The Times Mirror Company; Los Angeles Times 1992 All Rights Reserved)

PROVOCATIVE COMMENTATOR: If his last speech in the San Fernando Valley was any indication, commentator Dennis Prager , host of KABC's "Religion on the Line" talk show, may have a few more provocative things to say in upcoming Valley talks.

Addressing the Valley Prayer Breakfast on May 7, Prager charged in the Los Angeles riot aftermath that the "liberal media" make moral demands of every group except blacks. "That is the single most racist idea that is now prevalent in America. It dwarfs right-wing racism, which certainly exists. But it is the most dangerous," he said.

"The fear that pervades the media from talking about good and evil when it applies to blacks is staggering, and it is so demeaning to blacks because the great majority of blacks have the exact same feeling about these people that I do," said Prager, who founded the Micah Center for Ethical Monotheism in Culver City.

Prager will speak at noon Wednesday at Pierce College's Campus Center in Woodland Hills on "The Emergence of Bigotry and Anti-Semitism in the American Mainstream: Are We Becoming More Tolerant of Intolerance?" The talk, which is free, is sponsored by the campus Hillel group, among others.

The Jewish layman, who has identified with a traditionalist group within the Conservative wing of Judaism, is not a one-issue lecturer, however.

Speaking May 15 at the American Jewish Committee's 86th annual meeting in Washington, he said that in a society "relatively free of anti-Semitism, Jews need reasons to stay Jewish." By contrast, "Jews have been raised increasingly to believe that Jewish values are not distinctive, that they are essentially identical to liberal, secular humanistic ones." Prager will also lecture at 7:30 p.m. June 3 at Temple Ahavat Shalom, Northridge, on "A Stunningly Simple Perspective to a Very Serious Problem: Your Happiness."