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Dennis Prager published the first issue of his personal journal of thought, "Ultimate Issues" in the Winter of 1985. At the time he was 36 years old. He hosted a nightly talkshow on the AM Los Angeles radio station KABC 790. He'd already published two books, "The Nine Questions People Ask About Judaism," and "Why the Jews? The Reason For Antisemitism." Prager devotes most of his inaugural issue to discussing "Jesse Jackson and the meaning of antisemitism." To P, "Jesse Jackson is a threat to far more than Jews because to the antisemite, the Jews are the embodiment of fundamental moral values of the Western world. It is those values, and ultimately all those who hold those values, that antisemites seek to destroy." Prager lists examples from the 20th Century of how "treatment of the Jews has served as one of humanity's moral barometers." The most dramatic example is the Nazis. Others include Idi Amin (rabidly antisemitic Ugandan dictator who hailed the Holocaust, later murdered half a million of his own people), Mouammar Qaddafi (told Newsweek's Arnaud de Borchgrave on three occasions that his greatest aim in life was to drop an atom bomb on Israel), United Nations (which showed how it had lost its way morally in the 1970s with its resolution equating Zionism with racism) Aram Islamic world ("Arab regimes that want Israel dead are not otherwise fine, moral, and democracy loving"), and the Soviet Union. In three paragraphs, P dismisses Abba Eban's PBS series "Heritage" as uninspiring. "A secular individual, no matter how eloquent and knowledgeable, cannot convey the meaning of a religion, let alone serve as a religous inspiration." P writes that he can't imagine any viewer coming away from the series with an understanding of why generations of Jews sacrificed to preserve Judaism. If all Jews were as convinced as Eban that the Torah was written by some smart guys in Babylon, and not by God, "will mark the end of Abba Eban's heritage." Vol 1 #2 P's frontpage article is "Afghanistan: how good people can ignore a holocaust." Dennis and his wife of the time (Janice) put on a large fundraiser for the Afghan rebels. Ten years later, Prager would have misgivings about his efforts, given the vicious Islamic regime the rebels instituted once in power. In the issue's longest essay, P attacks "The Immorality of Pacifist Thinking." "I believe that the increased pacifist thinking in the West today is one of many self-centered outgrowths of this denial of higher values. Preoccupation with self-preservation is just one of a number of manifestations of the obsession with self that has resulted from a generation's alienation from Western values." Then P names the greatest Jewish problem - Jews lack reasons to lead Jewish lives. Aish HaTorah rabbi Nachum Braverman writes in that Jewish Law is the standard of right and wrong, and there's no extra-halachic morality. On the back page, P decries the movement of rabbis becoming doctors and cantors, artists. A rabbi with a Ph.D. is no more likely to be a good rabbi than a regular rabbi. But seminaries, like the Conservative's JTS in New York, "have increasingly rendered it [Judaism] an acadmeic discipline." Same with cantors. They're more concerned with their art, than with inspiring congregants to pray and sing. Vol 1, #3 What happened when President Reagen visited Bitburg. The Jews played their role in the world by pointing out the evil of Nazism and the need to confront evil. But Jews did not give non-Jews a rational reason why they should care more about Jewish suffering than non-Jewish suffering. And the reason is - the Jews as God's Chosen People attrack evil more readily. P next tackles the war against differences, the most dangerous one being good and evil. Moral relativism, moral equivalency and the denial of evil are three ways to avoid judging and confronting evil. Other important and intrinsic differences under attack - religions, nations, economics, human and animal, male and female, adults and children. Vol 1, #4 P publishes his August 27, 1985 debate on the Ray Briem show (nationally syndicated by ABC radio) with Rabbi Meir Kahane, who wanted to expel Israel's Arabs. Kahane argues there's a basic contradiction between Zionism and democracy. Vo 2, #1 P supports allowing Mormons to build a study center in Jerusalem. "[I]f we Jews cannot keep our fellow Jews Jewish in Jerusalem, we ought to consider closing up shop. Perhaps the reason that some Jews so fear losing Jerusalem's Jews to Mormonism is that deep down they know what a poor job they have been doing in making Judaism morally, religiously, and persnally appealing to their fellow Jews." Then Prager unleashes a powerful essay on false gods. I've heard Prager say that if he could to an audience only once, this would be the topic. The thesis - ethical monotheism rules. No other value, no matter how beautiful, must challenge the supremacy of God-demanded goodness. False gods include religion, art, education Vol 2, #4 Taking a look at Dennis Prager's listed lecture schedule, it shows that he was speaking at Aish HaTorah in Toronto, Canada. I don't believe that Prager has spoken to Aish HaTorah in many years. I think the organization is disgusted with Dennis, that he is not fully orthodox. They feel like they have failed with him, and consequently don't use him anymore as a lecturer. I think some parts of Chabad take the same approach.
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