Can a Marriage Survive Religious Differences? | Male/Female Hour

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On today's episode of Timeless Wisdom.

I recently caught my wife cheating on me with another man. And this is— when I say recent, this is probably only 4 days ago. And our problems have spawned from the topic you're talking about right now. I, I've always been religious. Growing up, and— but when we dated, we weren't religious. Uh, I was semi-religious, I guess you would say. And then when we got married, the older I got— we've been married for 2 and a half years— the older I got, the more religious I got, because I guess maybe the wiser I got and the more I felt that religion became more important to me as we went on. And, uh, the reason I've hurt her and I guess pushed her away is I wanted her to be involved with this religion.

Well, what is your religion?

I, I'm a Christian. I attend a Church of Christ.

And so when you married, neither of you was particularly religious?

Not necessarily, no. I was on the inside, but I didn't know outwardly.

Okay, but from her perspective, the two of you were similar religiously?

Uh, yes.

That's coming up on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager.

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Welcome to Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Hear thousands of hours of Dennis's lectures, courses, and classic radio programs. And to purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bibles, go to dennisprager.com.

I'm old-fashioned. I like 2 sexes. Yeah, and another thing, all of a sudden I don't like being married to what is known as a new woman. I want a wife, not a competitor.

Competitor.

Competitor.

Talk about it a bit, this crying in the morning thing, this depression, you know, let's get that fixed.

That's what men think, isn't it?

What?

Well, that unless you've got the answer, unless you can say, oh, I know this bloke in the Essex Road who can fix that, then there's no point bothering. How do you write women so well? I think of a man and I take away reason and accountability. I love him, I love him, and I don't care what you think. I love him for the, for the man he wants to be, and I love him for the man that he almost is. What do people have rows about here? Money, sex, sex, money. He wants, she doesn't want. She wants, he doesn't want? Women have always been a big problem to me, Dr. Fussbender. Are you listening, Doctor? Yes, yes, yes, go on, go on. Alrighty, everybody, welcome to the Male-Female Hour. Every Wednesday at this time, we have an hour on men and women. I call it male/female. I've explained why, rather than man/woman, but that's not what we're going to enter now. In light of the fact that we are entering Christmas and Hanukkah time, and it raises a question for those of you married that I would like to have your input with regard to. I think it might help others, and maybe I can help some of you. Don't know. What do couples do who have religious differences? And I don't mean 2 different religions. That's one of the religious differences, obviously. But what do you do? I think even more common than being in different religions is one being religious and one not. How, if you have worked this out in your marriage, Tell us how. If you haven't, if it's, if it's been injurious to your marriage, I want to hear from you as well. I don't know if there is a generalizable rule. It would seem to me that the generalizable rule is that the more you share, either irreligiously or religiously, that an atheist might do better with an atheist, and that a religious person will do better with a religious person of the same Religion. I mean, it would seem because of my general rule, not just mine, but the, I think, common sense general rule that the more a couple share, the better it is for them. On the other hand, I have no doubt because I have met such couples that some people have worked out, look, there are Republicans and Democrats who are married. And don't, don't, I'm not saying that as a joke. The differences between liberals and conservatives are more profound often than religious differences. As it happens. And, and somehow those people have— is it you just respect the other? What have you done if you have this, and/or has it been very hard on your marriage? But if this takes place in your marriage, I want to hear from you at 1-800-PRAGER-776. 1-800-PRAGER-776, which is 877-243-4645.

877-243-4645. 777-6.

877-243-7776. Now again, remember, I'm not just talking about 2 different religions. I'm talking about the more common one of one is more religious than the other. It used to be that the common stereotype, to be redundant, that's what stereotypes are, common, but, uh, and was accurate. Stereotypes, after all, I argue most stereotypes, not all, but most are accurate. It's just that not everybody falls into it. That's the danger of a stereotype, is to make it universal. But it's usually true in most cases. And the usual one in the past was that if there was a religious difference, the woman was more likely to be the more religious of the two. I don't think that that's the case now. I'm— I don't know. I don't know. The scenario presented was that she dragged him to church, not vice versa, where the guy was the major religious figure in the family and, you know, just nudged his wife constantly to, come on, honey, will you? Let's go. We gotta go to church. So what does a marriage do? And maybe we could be of some help If nothing, if we do nothing else, maybe we'll just offer you the consolation that you're not alone if you have this problem. I hope we could do more than that, but at least just know in any event, whatever your problems are, you're not alone. Which, by the way, is, I guess, it's not schadenfreude, it's not a joy at others' misery. That's an ugly trait. But there is something understandable to know that Everybody has their own package of problems, bundle of problems, is— yes, it can have a healthfully comforting degree of solace for a human being. But let's find out again, if your marriage is one of differences, either one is more religious than the other, or even a believer in God and an atheist, or different religions. If you've worked it out or it's been tension-inducing, I want to hear from you in either case. All right, and let's go to some of your calls, and let's go begin with Jeff in Phoenix, Arizona. Jeff, Dennis Prager, The Male-Female Hour.

Hi.

Good morning, Dennis.

Hi.

My— I think one of the things that attracted me to my wife 23 years ago, or 24, 25 years ago when we were dating, was that I was going to be a missionary pilot, and that I had a strong sense of wanting to know God and who he was. And through the years, I came to the belief that God's not going to respond, so I'm not going to keep struggling the rest of my life. And she kept going to a Christian church with our 3 children as we went along. So I think that one of the final answers for me is that we continually respect each other. I've allowed and encouraged my children to go to church. The beliefs that—

Now, wait, you said they're her children.

Our children.

Oh, I know, but at one point you said her children, so—

I'm sorry.

Oh, that's okay. So they're your children together?

Absolutely.

All right, so you, you became a what, an agnostic, an atheist? What would you call yourself?

I would call myself, uh, yes, any of, any of— I don't care. Yes, up to all those.

All right, fine.

I care, I care about it. It's important to me. But I just think that I don't know. I don't know. That's the main thing.

Well, nobody knows. People either believe or don't believe. And I'm not giving you a hard time, but I think the fact that you don't know for certain doesn't mean you're not a believer. I don't—

I'm not. I'm not a believer.

Okay, fair enough.

In the Christian faith.

All right. Are you a believer in God generically?

You know, I've come over time. I've come to I think that with creation and— so the answer, the ultimate answer for me is—

So you are what I call a monotheist who is not in any religion, but who sees the good of religion.

Yes.

I know a lot of people like you. And so therefore, you encourage your wife, though you don't share her Christianity, or at least her Christian beliefs, You encourage her and the children to live it. Do the children ever ask, why doesn't Daddy come to church?

Well, my oldest is now 20, and so the struggle has reasserted itself in that, you know, they have more questions now than ever. And so, you know, we've had to approach each other, and I had to say to my wife, I want to Honor— you know, I want to be honest with them now. I want to tell them what I did.

Well, apparently you were honest with them earlier, because you didn't act religious.

Yeah, that's true. However, when you say I didn't act religious, some of my friends say, well, look, we still think you're a Christian because that's the way you act. Well, I didn't throw away the baby with the bathwater.

No, no, no. Act morally or act ritually? Did you go to church? You say you didn't go. So you were a moral monotheist?

Correct.

Okay, so your kids knew that you did not do anything specifically Christian?

They came to know that, correct.

Well, they—

and that became somewhat of a struggle where my wife didn't want me to—

Why wouldn't you go to church with them?

Well, I did, but when I wasn't paying attention, and my wife finally said, okay, you don't have to go anymore, I don't. And when she asked me to go at special occasions, I go and participate. In the full ritual.

Right. So you are at the sum total, before I let you go, is that you worked it out with your wife?

Yes.

Because you deeply respected her religiosity. I thank you very much. I appreciate the call. This is a real issue for more than a few couples, either over time or from the beginning of the marriage, from in fact before the marriage. One is a believer and one is not a believer. In any given religion. And, and the nonbeliever is deeply respectful, and the believer just makes peace with the fact that, look, I'm gonna be doing the religious part pretty much on my own, but my husband or wife loves me and respects that about me. Comments on that when we come back on the Male-Female Hour.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

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Now, back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.

Every line has its own story, as every couple has its own story, of course. I'm Dennis Prager. This is the Male-Female Hour, and in light of the season we're in, one of those rare years of Christmas and Hanukkah, in fact, coinciding, So this, uh, this is very applicable to a lot of homes and a lot of listeners. And the question is, if your home has a, uh, has a husband and wife of either different religions, or more likely one less religious or irreligious and one religious, have you worked it out or have you not worked it out? And hearing from people, the last caller, I suspect, represents millions of homes, in fact, where one spouse is in fact a believer in the religion, in that case Christianity, and the other one respects that spouse's religiosity, indeed sees value in it, but personally doesn't do it. Now, by the way, the question arises, as it does in his case, If you see the value in your kids having a religion and you respect and see the value in it for your, in this case, your wife, why wouldn't you? He was on so long, I didn't get a chance to even ask him all the questions that I could have. But why wouldn't you go to church with them? I'm not saying he never did, but just for those of you who don't see, it enters a problem caused by the age of stupidity that the baby boomers ushered in in the '60s and '70s, the false notion of hypocrisy, that it's hypocritical for a person to go to church if they don't believe in that religion.

Why, though?

Is it hypocritical for you to go to your child's concert if you can't stand classical music? Why isn't that hypocritical? Nobody would say that, right? Your child takes piano lessons and is going to give a Mozart recital, right? You can't even pronounce Mozart. You think it's Mozart. The music bores you out of your mind. You wish you were in fact collecting bees with your bare hands, but you're just going to sit there and cheer for your child. Why? Are you a hypocrite? Of course not. What you know is that this is good for my child. The fact that I can't— couldn't care less— not me, Dennis, but you, the parent. I happen to love classical music, but that's a separate issue. I just want to make it clear, I'm talking about another person, a theoretical person. That's not hypocrisy. That is a wise parent. The fact that I don't believe in it doesn't mean that I don't want my children to believe in it. So there's nothing— it's not only not hypocritical, it is wise and good for you to go to church or synagogue if you don't believe in it. But if your spouse does take your kids, Why shouldn't Daddy go or Mommy go? Well, I want to be true to my beliefs. But you don't apply that to anything else in life unless you believe that the religion is bad. Well, if you believe that it's bad, then you have a real marital crisis. Because what you believe then is that your spouse is engaging in an evil.

All right.

Then I, I have no recommendation. But for the vast majority of you who respect your spouse's religiosity, if you're not religious, I don't see why you wouldn't go with them to church or synagogue, especially if it's the kids. What does it cost you folks? What does it cost? That's a— that's, by the way, that's worthy, Alan, of its own time to put that challenge out there. It doesn't even have to be in a male-female hour. All right, let's go to some more of your calls here. Let's go to Voorhees, New Jersey, and Tom. Hello, Tom. Dennis Prager. Hi, Dennis.

Hi, Dennis, how are you?

I am well, thank you.

Um, I'm a shegitz.

Uh, so you're— you, you are, uh, a non-Jew?

That's correct.

Right, okay. You're using a term I'm not a fan of, uh, but it's, it's, it's, it doesn't matter. It's, it's a Yiddishism for non-Jew, but go ahead.

Right, and, and, and actually, I, I consider you something of my rabbi.

OK, I'm honored by that. Thank you.

I listen to you all the time, and your discussions on religion have been valuable to me and to my wife.

Great.

It has not been always that easy.

Thank you. Now, you are— are you in any religion?

I'm Catholic. My wife is Jewish.

OK, go ahead.

So we made decisions early on. When we were first dating, she was You know, she had been bat mitzvahed, but she wasn't very observant. Um, and when we decided to get married, you know, we got married by a priest and a rabbi, um, and the rabbi and the priest both counseled us that we should bring the children up in a religion and not try to do both. It was too confusing for the kids. And my wife had no difficulties at all in agreeing to that. Um, and we were going to raise the kids Catholic. But when the first baby was born, it was much, much more difficult. Because all of a sudden, you know, her religious background and her family background all of a sudden came back. And it was kind of funny, because when she was holding our firstborn, my wife started spouting Yiddish words, which I hadn't heard her ever use.

How interesting.

And, you know, she'd pop out a formula all over the place.

I would have predicted this, by the way.

Yeah, I didn't. I mean, I was a little naive at first.

Well, no, you aren't the naive one. She was the naive one. You weren't naive at all. You took her at her word. You had every reason to. She was naive about the impact that having a child would have on the ultimate questions of life.

I agree, and that's exactly the sum and substance of it. And also, And in the early part of the marriage, I was not the best husband. I'm still a work in progress. So that made it even worse, you know, in some ways.

Mm-hmm.

Because, because if, if, if I were the loving husband I should have been and strive to be, but it would have been easier, I think, for her. But it still was difficult. And, and her family didn't really give us any trouble. And, uh, in that regard, they accepted that, though it was not freely discussed.

Mm-hmm.

We celebrate all the Catholic Christian holidays, but I also go to Yom Kippur. I've gone to Yom Kippur services with my father-in-law, and we celebrate Passover every year with my brother-in-law, and we have the Haggadah, and we do the whole nine yards, and it's part of our—

So what it ended up, it ended up that the kids are being raised with 2 religions.

Well, they go to church, they went to church until they decided they didn't have to when they were 19, 18, 19.

So what if I asked your kids now, what, are you Are you in any religion? What would they answer?

They would probably say we were raised Catholic, and that's probably about as far as they would go. They're not terribly observant themselves.

So your word to the wise, to those considering marriage, is you better think this through.

Yes. I mean, I mean, I'm still glad we got married.

No, no, I understand, and I appreciate that. It was an honest call. Forgive me, I gotta— I have to take a break. And I'll comment on this when we come back.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

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Now, back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.

You're listening to The Dennis Prager Show, and this is the male-female hour, and given the Christmas-Hanukkah season that we are entering, I am Asking you how you have, if you have indeed, worked out religious differences. And I don't mean 2 different religions, that's one of them. The other is one is more religious than the other. We've had 2 calls, of course I've spent a lot of time with both of the callers, and one representing one, both of the same religion nominally, but one religious, one irreligious, and one where you have 2 different religions. And the last one was all of a sudden, in this case it was a Catholic man and a Jewish woman, and they had agreed to raise the kids in one religion. It would be Catholic. She was at peace with that. Then the child was born, and then all of a sudden she felt Jewish again, to put it as simply as possible. And this happens in both directions. People dismiss because they are in love, which is the most powerful emotion there is, And because there are wonderful people in all faiths, there just are. And they're not easy to find, so people are deeply attracted, marry, and they don't worry about the issue when there are children. And it is— that is the reason that all things being equal, I have so argued that to the best of people's ability, they marry somebody in their religion or who converts to their religion or whatever, but that they share one religion. By the time a child will come. Because when the children come, then all of a sudden things you might have thought were not significant do turn out to be significant. And that's, uh, it's part of the complexity of an open society where there are good people of all different backgrounds. Uh, my, my— these people have my sympathy, not Anything else but my sympathy, but I'm trying to help those who are planning marriage to think this through prior to their getting married. Alrighty, let's go to Denver, Colorado, and Liz. Hi Liz, Dennis Prager.

Hi Dennis, how are you?

I'm well, thank you. I have to tell you, you are one of the heroes of my family. Wow, that means a lot to me, thank you.

My husband is a Christian pastor in Denver, and he has counseled Couples from various different religious backgrounds, one being a believer and one not, or 2 separate, um, religious backgrounds.

Mm-hmm.

And they get into the relationship in love and excited, and that generally is not enough when one has a strong conviction about their moral belief. What you say about morals being such a strong an important thing, more important than race or anything else, is very true, because he finds that so many couples love each other, but when you feel strongly about moral convictions and your spouse doesn't, that's such an intimate relationship.

Now, do you mean moral convictions or religious convictions?

I mean both, moral and religious.

Yeah, well, you may have very similar moral convictions and still have the problem of different religious convictions.

You're exactly right, but I think if one of the spouses feels very strongly about their religious or moral convictions and the other one doesn't share that, it is the exception to the rule that they have a strong, growing marriage.

Well, I thank you for your call.

You—

I—

that's my worry, because I want marriages to be good, but we— I'm doing this hour in the hope that there can be some clarity out there, and also to find out how people who may have worked it out I don't think that nobody can work this out. I think that it's harder, and marriage has its own issues, and including within the same religion, as I think we'll find out here. And I thank you, Liz, with Stephanie in Phoenix, Arizona. Hi, Stephanie. Dennis Prager.

Hi, how are you?

I'm okay, thanks.

Okay, my story is my husband and I are both Jewish, right? We've been married for about 35 years. At the time we got married, he really had been raised in what I call a very secular background, right? Christmas trees, Easter Easter egg hunts, the whole thing.

Right.

And I had grown up in a conservative, traditional Jewish background.

Right.

And that's what our house was. We belonged to a conservative synagogue. Our kids were raised that way. And then about 10 years ago, my husband started to get involved in the Chabad Lubavitch movement.

Right.

And liked the rabbi very much, got involved in learning, and decided that he was no longer interested in going to a conservative synagogue. He only wanted to go to the Lubavitcher movement. And as I'm sure you know, maybe not all of your—

All right, well, we'll continue. Don't hang up. This is an example of where in the same religion you will now have differences. We'll come back.

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You're listening to The Dennis Prager Show, the Male-Female Hour. And I was just saying to Alan, this is a riveting hour. I, I— your, your stories, every one of them is unique and important here. I'm talking about religious differences in marriages and how you have worked it out, if indeed you have. So I want calls where it has been worked out or it hasn't Worked out, but for people to hear and try to derive some clarity on the issue. And remember, there are 2 distinct issues. 3, really. 3. 1, different religions. 2, one is religious and one is not religious. 3, one is much more religious and one is much less in the same religion. The third is our current example. We've had an example of each one now. I've deliberately taken the calls that way. We have— we've had each, each one represented. We go back to Stephanie. Stephanie's married 35 years, and this was after 25 years, correct? You said 10 years ago?

Right, about 10 years ago, exactly.

Okay, so you're— you were always the more religious. You're both Jewish. You were the more religious Jewish.

Right.

Then 10 years ago, he became involved in what's called ultra-Orthodoxy, and the ultra is only descriptive, it's not a condemnation. I'm a big fan of Chabad, though I happen not to be Orthodox, but I'm a very big fan of theirs. And he has become involved with them, and now, is he fully Orthodox now?

Well, not totally. I mean, one thing about the Lubavitch movement is they really sort of take you wherever you are. So yes, we have a kosher home, but we always had a kosher home. He goes to services now generally Friday nights, maybe Saturdays. We're not—

All right, so wait a minute. So in your case, it has worked out?

Well, it's worked out, yes, but with a little bit of a rub. I mean, as you know, one of the things that they do in Orthodox synagogues is they— the men and women sit separately.

I mean, that's a big deal. Right.

So you—

all right, let me now tell you, listen carefully, OK? I'm going to let you go, but please listen carefully. This goes to everybody listening, and it's not just about religion. It could be about politics. Let's say 2 liberals got married and one became conservative, or 2 conservatives married and one became a liberal, or let alone where 2 irreligious people married and one became very religious, or 2 religious people got married and one became irreligious. My human sympathy, no matter what the values— I may totally agree with the one who changed, But my human sympathy is always with the one who didn't change. Remember, it's like a deal when you get married. I am A and you are A. But if you become after 15, 20 years not A, then the one who stays A has been dealt a raw deal. I mean, let's be honest. And I'll even say, look, you know, I have great problems with the left, but let's say 2 2 leftists marry, and then one becomes a conservative politically, and I agree with the conservative, but my sympathies are still with the liberal spouse because that spouse changed on you. I'm not saying that you— they can't change. I'm just saying that I have a human sympathy. So you who change have to guard the, the, their feelings of the one who didn't change. You have to be very respectful. If you became religious, super religious, Christian, Jewish, whatever, in the course of the marriage to someone and neither of you was particularly religious beforehand, you have to be very respectful of your spouse and understand what you've done. You've, you've, you've done a 180 on them. And so please bear that in mind. All right, that, that's what— so that's my, my message to Stephanie's husband. And I say that as someone who is religious. Alrighty, let's go to Dallas, Texas, and Corey. Hi, Corey, Dennis Prager.

Hey, Mr. Prager, how you doing?

Very well, thank you.

Uh, never done this before. I know everybody says that who hasn't, but, uh, I respect what you say. I listen to you on good days. You make me feel good even when I'm already happy.

That's a great compliment.

Today is a sad day for me though. I recently caught my wife cheating on me with another man.

Oof.

And this is— when I say recent, this is probably only 4 days ago. And our problems have spawned from the topic you're talking about right now. I, I've always been religious growing up, and— but when we dated, we weren't religious. Uh, I was semi-religious, I guess you you would say. And then when we got married, the older I got— we've been married for 2 and a half years— the older I got, the more religious I got, because I guess maybe the wiser I got and the more I felt that religion became more important to me as we went on. And the reason I've hurt her and I guess pushed her away is I wanted her to be involved with this religion.

Well, what is your religion?

I'm a Christian. I attend a Church of Christ.

And so when you married, neither of you was particularly religious?

Not necessarily, no. I was on the inside, but I didn't know outwardly.

Okay, but from her perspective, the two of you were similar religiously?

Uh, yes.

So, so you're the one who changed, in effect?

Yes, sir.

There's no blame here, please understand. I just want to understand what happened.

Yes, sir.

All right, so you're saying that that has caused tension?

It caused tension.

To the, to the extent that you feel that she has now had an affair.

Yes, I know she did.

Right. I, I'm saying to you, but, but you attribute it in large measure to this tension.

Yes.

Because you have grown apart because of your, uh, increased religiosity and where she has stayed the same.

Yes, sir.

Yeah, well, go on.

I'm trying To understand right now that for me, I don't want to throw this away because I value a marriage. I think it's a sacred thing. And I think no matter how hurt you get and how far gone you think it is, I think it's worth a shot to fix it. And we've even planned to get counseling even tonight, actually, to work through this. But I'm just trying to figure out, I know you say that, um, Yeah. you have to respect the other and And maybe not push them or beat her over the head.

That's right, I do say that.

My religious values. And can, can 2 people, after this has happened, can they coexist?

You mean after an affair?

After something. I mean, before, if I had—

All right, all right, let me, let me, let me react as soon as we come back.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

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Now back to more More of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.

Wow, did this go fast. Let me say quickly to Corey, who's in a world of pain, totally understandably, wherein he, he has affirmed And religiosity— they're only 25, the couple, or at least he's 25. I assume she's nearer his age. And she's now had an affair and they're going to counseling tonight. And he thinks it's in response to the religious drift that he has become religious, in his case Christian, whereas they weren't just, I guess, culturally Christian when they married. Although he said in his heart he was more than that, but of course that doesn't matter. It's what you do more than what's in your heart vis-à-vis other people anyway. And very quickly, I am of the belief, and I have said this often, that an affair should never be an automatic end of a marriage. Never. Not an automatic. It may have to end a marriage, but it should never be an automatic end. But the point of this is back to the question of religious difference and how powerful an impact that could have when one changes. It's tough enough if you marry with differences. Imagine if you marry with no differences in that arena and then one of you does go in one direction or the other. I have, I have wanted to— some— I have wanted to hear from all perspectives, and my God, we have them all. It's worthy of many, many returns as a subject. Let's see. I'm married to a non-believer. He goes to church with me but does not do it out of respect for me. It doesn't work well. I'm converting to Catholicism. My ex-husband was a bitter ex-Catholic. And yes, and that was part of their problem. I'm a Christian and my husband is agnostic. He sees the value of Christian values but just doesn't understand the faith. I could talk to all of you for days and we will return to this. And Ben in Florida, my wife and I are Jewish and over the last year she's converted to Christianity. And yes, it's a complex world out there. Again though, There are 2 quick rules. Those of you contemplating marriage and especially young enough to still have— to want children, don't think that the religion you were raised with is insignificant to you. When you have a child, it may become very, very significant. Something for you to think about. And secondly, the one who changes towards religion, away from religion, to another religion, has to respect the fact that they are the ones who have changed on the other. They changed the rules of that marriage. This has been the Male-Female Hour on The Dennis Prager Show.

Tomorrow on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager.

I know you will want to hear this. Donovan Campbell is a graduate of Harvard Business School, where he also— and he also finished first in his class at the Marines. Basic, uh, at the Marines Basic Officer Course, served 3 combat deployments, 2 in Iraq and 1 in Afghanistan, was awarded the Combat Action Ribbon and a Bronze Star with Valor for his time in Iraq. And he has this book out which, uh, is just extraordinarily well received, Joker One: A Marine Platoon's Story of Courage, Leadership, and Brotherhood. You're a religious man. Would you make Did you pray before each battle?

As a matter of fact, we did. I personally prayed because I was terrified I would make mistakes and screw things up.

What did you pray for, or what did you pray?

I prayed for humility, that I would know when I was making a mistake and correct it quickly. I prayed for wisdom, the ability to see myself and the world as God sees it. And I prayed for unselfishness, the ability to put aside, you know, my daily desires in favor of serving and taking care of my men first. And that was hard.

And then when we—

before we went into battle as a platoon, we prayed the 23rd Psalm and we prayed the beginning of Psalm 144. Blessed be the Lord my rock, who trains my hands for battle and my fingers for war. And that was sort of our pre—

In your Hebrew studies at Princeton, did you study the 23rd Psalm in Hebrew?

I did, but it's been a long time.

Do you remember any of it?

No, I'm ashamed to say. Perhaps I didn't study as hard as I should have.

אדוני רואי לא אכסר בינות שירביצני על מימינו חותינה הלני. Does that ring a bell?

Vaguely, and I'm humbled and impressed. I don't know what else to say.

Well, I'm more impressed that you studied Hebrew than that I did. You're a remarkable man. It's just a joy to have you on.

Join us tomorrow to hear more on timeless wisdom with Dennis Prager. Visit Dennis Visit DennisPrager.com for thousands of hours of Dennis's lectures, courses, and classic radio programs, and to purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bibles. We want to take just a second to thank the team at Life Audio for their partnership with us on the podcast. Go to LifeAudio.com to find dozens of other faith-centered podcasts in their network, including shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, And more.

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