Dennis & His Dad: The Life and Legacy of Max Prager

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On today's episode of Timeless Wisdom.

Dad, happy birthday.

Oh, thank you very much.

Now I need to add here, my father has been badgering me. I don't know if that's the— well, I think that's a fair word, actually.

I don't agree.

You didn't know what I needed to—

let me finish. Well, you said badgering.

You never badger.

I don't like the verb.

He doesn't like the verb.

My father has been gently prodding me.

Good.

I knew it. I knew you'd see.

Now you know how I learned to speak well, folks. My father has been gently prodding me periodically not to ask him the same questions. He thinks you folks will be bored by the same questions because you all remember what they were and remember his answers. So actually, I do have some new questions. So here's one, for example.

All right, shoot.

What's your favorite color?

Yellow.

I just thought I would ask it.

You don't have a favorite color?

All right.

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

I'm Dennis Prager, and this is it, folks. An hour that many of you look forward to all year, and I'm laughing only because it's so true. Because it's my father, Max Prager's birthday, July 18th. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday, happy birthday.

Happy birthday to you.

Yep, that's right.

July 18th, 1918 is when my dad, Max Prager, was born, and it's become a fairly set schedule on this program to have him on on July 18th. So Dad, happy birthday.

Oh, thank you very much.

Now I need to add here, my father has been badgering me. I don't know if that's the— well, I think that's a fair word actually.

I don't agree.

You didn't know, I didn't even let me finish.

Well, you said badgering.

You never badger.

I don't like the verb.

He doesn't like the verb.

My father has been gently prodding me.

Good.

I knew it, I knew it.

Now you know how I learned to speak well, folks. My father has been gently prodding me periodically not to ask him the same questions. He thinks you folks will be bored by the same questions because you all remember what they were and remember his answers. So actually, I do have some new questions. So here's one, for example.

All right, shoot.

What's your favorite color?

Yellow.

I just thought I would ask a totally nonsensical opening question.

Is that true? I knew I'd get a nonsensical answer.

Oh, it isn't yellow. You don't have a favorite color.

All right. No.

All right, here is one though. This is not nonsensical, but I've never asked you this. What's your favorite movie?

Don't have any.

Really? By the way, are you a big movie fan?

Not at all.

Very interesting. You rather watch a Mets game?

Oh, much.

Fascinating.

Much.

Never been a big movie fan. I love movies.

By the way, talking about that, we'll get into heavier stuff. And we're gonna have a lot of opportunity for callers to ask you questions this year.

Good.

But I— so what I wanted to ask was in reference to the Mets, you are a Mets fan, correct?

Correct.

Were you a Mets fan from the year they began?

Exactly.

Because it was a substitute for the Brooklyn Dodgers?

Exactly. Uh-huh.

And that's why you don't root for the Yankees?

I root for them only because my grandchildren are Yankee fans.

Yeah, how did that happen, by the way?

What, did that have grandchildren?

No, that— we know how that happened. We don't know how the other happened because the grandchildren who root for the Yankees are my brother, your older son's children.

Correct.

But he was an anti-Yankee fan.

True, but I guess he didn't transfer his allegiance or lack of allegiance to them.

I guess not. So now you like— and mom also is a big Mets fan.

Tremendous.

And so you two enjoy watching Mets games and not movies.

In fact, she's more rabid than I am.

Well, that was true as well, you told me, for the New York Rangers, the hockey team.

Exactly. Much more rabid than I am.

You used to go to Rangers games, is that right?

Oh, very often.

Yeah. I did too as a kid. I enjoyed that a lot. Alright, let me give the number here: 1-800-PRAGER-776. I have— I do actually have a list in front of me since I did take your advice. There are going to be a number that might correspond to previous years, but there are different questions that I do want to ask you.

Can I make a comment?

Yeah.

It's just coincidental that the first time you interviewed me on the radio on my birthday was on your son Dennis's bar mitzvah 10 years ago.

My son David.

And today is the first time you're interviewing me after his wedding.

That's right.

So let's hope it will continue for many years.

You mean many joyful things and many— you mean our many interviews.

Good.

Yes, exactly. Now I have to ask you though, 88 is a tall number for an age. I mean, let's, let's, we'll be, we'll be honest here. What I want to know is most people, I could speak for me, when I think of my age, I think, wow, I can't believe it because I feel 24. When you say you're 88, does it, does it seem to you you're 88, or is your internal chronology much lower?

Much, much lower. Much less. In fact, everything that I like, everything that I'm interested in, has not changed since my 20s.

Yeah, so you don't have the sense— I guess—

I don't have the sense of aging.

Yes, exactly. Well, partially, because you've aged with your wife, my mom, thank God.

No, I've also been very fortunate. I had my annual physical last week. And the doctor says to me, "Mac, there isn't a thing wrong with you." Now that's a hell of a good report at my age.

And you ascribe that to a particularly healthy lifestyle?

I do not— I don't know about that, but I think I once told you this. I don't know whether it's on the radio or not, but to me, my attitude is a great factor in my being healthy and in my having longevity.

And that attitude is?

That attitude is don't let adversity take, make a sick man out of you. You just shrug it off and continue.

Because it's, that's part of life inevitably.

You can't allow adversity to conquer you. Because it affects your health and I think it affects longevity as well. Tension is the worst thing in the world.

Yes, that's right.

That's right. And you do have an ability to shrug it off.

Oh yes, that's a gift. I don't think it's— well, it may be genetic because my father had it.

Well, it's also— I think it's learnable or the human species is really in trouble. But I think you're right. I think that there is a built-in— ability. I have that too.

You're lucky.

Yeah, I agree with you. I, I do agree, but I've tried to give it to others because that's why I do the Happiness Hour.

It's not easy to give it to them.

No, it isn't easy, but we have to try. You could try.

Exactly.

Hey, here's a question that I was thinking about, and you know what, I think we're going to have Mom on this year for her birthday too.

Oh, beautiful.

Yeah, I think we should do that.

I think she'd do very well.

There's no doubt in my mind.

And the, I'll ask her this, but I'll ask you this. Do you think on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being unbelievably easy, 10 being unbelievably difficult, how were you, how are and were you to live with as a husband? 1 extremely easy.

Oh, I think you better ask her that.

Well, no, no, but your self-perception, I will, but what is your self-perception?

I'll be frank with you.

Yeah. I think you know this, it's in my book as well. That after 2 years of going with mom, and I was at the big age of 20, so she must have been 19, we broke off for some reason, and it was a weekend, just for one weekend. And apropos of what you asked, and one of my close friends said to her, You know, Hilda, I think you're very lucky that Mack broke off with you. He's a nice guy, but he's difficult. Does that answer your question?

Yes, it does. However— Fine, we'll leave it at that then.

I don't think— as I say, it's hard for me to tell you or to answer your question. I think it's easy if— I'll tell you this, she's changed me quite a bit. I was intolerant of a lot of things, which is again genetic from my mother. Tremendously intolerant, and she helped me to a great extent to get rid of that.

Now you're married, what, 65 years?

Uh, September will be 66.

Yeah, that's quite remarkable. Alan tells me that you told him that you get 10 hours a night of sleep?

Yes.

Since when?

This is, I would say, the last year or so.

Oh, the last year or so, okay.

Oh, not before.

Yeah, I mean, when you were my age, how much sleep did you tend to get?

Oh, maybe 6, 7 hours.

Okay, fine.

A normal amount for a working man, you know.

Right, I was thinking about—

Remember, I'm retired, so I can sleep.

About retirement, are you a fan of retirement?

I think we once discussed it. It's a question of what you call retirement. Retirement from what? I think that's important. Retirement from what? If you mean retirement to just sit around and wait for your next meal or to watch television, then I'm certainly against that. I believe the mind, like the leg, the muscle, the heart, The brain is an organ. That organ has to be completely and at all times usable, just like the other parts of your body have to be used, otherwise you become atrophied.

All right, all right, hold on. We're going to take a break here. By the way, Dad, when we come back, my first call is going to be from Omaha, Nebraska. Okay. He has a very important point about why asking some of the same questions are very worthwhile. 1-800-PRAGER-776. My father's birthday, July 18th, born 1918. 88 Today. I'm Dennis Prager. We continue.

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. Every year on July 18th, I have my father on the show. My father lives in New Jersey and he's on by phone. It is his birthday. He's 88 today. And I must say, you know what I— when I think about that is— Yeah. And I don't— you know, I don't engage in silly compliments or meaningless statements, but I don't detect any deterioration in your energy. I'm talking about, I don't mean physical energy. I mean, you know, your legs are not the same that they were, obviously. But your mental energy, your mental acuity, your dynamism has not—

And love for life.

And love for life. And, you know, again, that may just be built in, but I don't, I, you know, I'm your son, I could detect it. It's just, it doesn't seem to be there. Am I right or is it very subtle?

You know, while you happen to be right, but I am blessed and probably you are as well with your brother, that mom is the same way.

Yeah, that's right, gee, I agree with you.

She'll be 87.

Yeah, neither of you, that is correct.

And she'll be the same way.

Yeah.

I mean, I'm just gifted that I have her for a wife. And that's maybe perhaps we get along so well because of that.

Well, it certainly helps.

Neither one of us has ever shown depression.

Right.

I mean, everybody has trouble, and yet we get over it, the two of us.

Yeah. We're going to go to Omaha for a call. Mike is the operations manager, Mike Shane, for my station, KOTK 1420 in Omaha. Mike, it's a pleasure to have you on with my father, Max Prager.

Well, thank you. It's my pleasure, too.

Thank you.

Good.

So tell it to— I want my father to hear what you have to say.

Okay.

Well, uh, you said you have done this every year, and I guess for 10 years.

Um, your show came on here in Omaha in December, this past December, right?

I did the math, and that would mean that we've never heard what he has to say to any of those previous questions here in Omaha. So thank you for us to hear some of those questions.

Exactly. That's what I try to tell my father. It's not the exact same list listeners is last July 18th. And even if they are, they want to hear this again. People, people— it cracks me up when that happens.

Yeah, but I feel terrible. You feel—

you do.

Mike, Mike, you made my day.

I thought everybody remembered everything I said.

Oh, that's good.

That's a good line.

You know what? I'm more humble knowing I do this every day. What did you say, Mike? I said we might have remembered it if we'd heard it before.

Yeah, right, right.

Fair enough. Thank you. Really good point. It's great to be on in Omaha.

It's an important city to me because of many reasons, including my dear friend Joel Alperson's city there.

So we will have some repeats. By the way, folks, you should know my father has been writing his autobiography, and it's on his website, maxprager.com, and it has elicited more interest than you could ever have imagined, right?

Correct.

That's the beauty of the internet and the beauty of your writing. How long is it now?

Oh, about over 300 pages.

And what are you— what year are you up to?

1986. But you know what I do? Things that happen, like Mom's surgery, my surgery, things that occur in our lives that I feel are important, I immediately write up on it. And then I continue chronologically.

Well, I'll tell you what is staggering—

Like the wedding, you know?

What is staggering to me is your prodigious memory.

I mean, you— Well, you cannot write, you cannot write an autobiography or memoirs without it.

Yeah, I think I'm stuck there.

I tell people, don't even begin to write it. You have to have a memo— my book starts from the age of 4, and I write about events that occurred in my life at the age of 4, and people who read it say, "Oh, come on, Mackie, it's impossible." I said, look, believe me, I'm not lying. And I named names of people that were there. And that's ridiculous. I'm amazed myself. I would like—

I know this we didn't do in the last year or maybe even two, and I do want to review this for a moment. And we have a full board here around the country want to ask you questions.

Good.

And we're going to get to a lot of people. But I want people to understand, to get a grasp, especially younger people. To, to understand the technological changes you have witnessed. For example, did you grow up with a refrigerator?

No, I grew up with no steam, no, no steam in the house and no electric.

So how, so how did you keep meat, for example?

We kept meat in an icebox.

Literally an icebox?

People The men came up every day and delivered blocks of ice. And then they had a pan underneath the icebox where it drained off. And God forbid if you went out sometime and didn't take care of the pan, the poor neighbor downstairs had a flood. And we also put stuff on the fire escape.

Right, well, in the winter.

Yeah. That's all in my book, by the way.

Could you— I know that. Again, maxprager.com, you can get my father's autobiography. And now I just want to understand the icebox. Is it literally a block of ice?

No, no, no, no, no.

It's ice in a box.

It looks like a refrigerator today. It was usually wooden, and the top, the top of the icebox, or the top shelf, carried the ice. And that ice froze, you know, kept cool the entire box. And the other shelves, you put your food.

So how— I see. Okay. And the—

there were ice I still remember a fellow would bring up a big block of ice for 15 cents.

Huh.

Amazing. So okay, now you said you didn't have steam.

No. Now it's again in my book. What happened was the— for $2 extra rental a month, they then put in steam radiators with steam, and for $2 extra a month you got electric.

And how did you have heat?

In other words, the tenant had the option of either taking it or not taking it.

How did you have heat in the winter?

Oh, we had a big, big oven in the kitchen which served the purpose of heating really a very small area. You have 5 rooms, you can't heat the entire 5 rooms from a stove. So it would heat probably the kitchen and maybe the nearest room next to it and also we used that for cooking.

So were the other rooms cold in the winter?

Freezing.

Well, I got that answer.

Freezing.

And you slept with your brother?

Yes, I slept with my brother till he got married, believe it or not.

You never had your own room?

No.

The idea must sound like a palace to you.

No.

Your own room. Okay, you slept with your brother.

I tried, he snored.

Uh-huh. How do you know you didn't?

Pardon?

How do you know you didn't?

Because he never complained.

Uh-huh.

Maybe he just did.

We both know your late, wonderful, terrific brother Murray.

Oh, the greatest.

The greatest, yes.

I miss him. Miss him terribly.

Yeah, we all do.

It's a real— and you had two sisters who are also gone.

You know, he had my attitude too.

Yes.

I don't know if you remember Murray's attitude. Yeah, I adored him.

He was very much like I am.

I adored him.

Am I right?

Yeah, no, I adore— well, not as much. I think he let things bother him. Oh no, you're right, I'm thinking of his wife.

Exactly.

You're right, he didn't. You're right.

He was like I am.

You're right, that's right. I didn't think of that. It's a very lucky Prager trait, if indeed it is a trait.

One of my sisters was like us as well.

Yeah, yeah.

All right.

Anyway.

We'll take calls. We'll be back in a moment. It's Max Prager's birthday, and I'm telling you, this is how he sounded 30 years ago. I mean, This is, this is, it's a phenomenon in my mind. We'll be back. 1-800-PRAGER-776.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

If you're eating less, staying disciplined, and the weight still isn't coming off, the problem may not be your effort, it may be your metabolism. After years of stress, dieting, and lack of sleep, the body adapts. It slows down and holds on to fat. That's why PhD Weight Loss focuses on your metabolism first. Fast so your body stops working against you. Mention Prager today and receive 2 free weeks plus free food, a $1,500 value. Call 864-644-1900. That's 864-644-1900.

Are you enjoying Timeless Wisdom? We'd love to hear from you. Call 877-243-7776 and leave a review, share your thoughts, or just even an encouraging word for Dennis. Your voicemail might just make it on the show. That's 877-243-7776. That's 877-243-7776. Thanks for listening and for your support. Now, back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.

You're listening to The Dennis Prager Show, my annual dad's birthday show. My father is born July 18th, 1918. You'll do the math, and he's on with me. And as energetic as ever. Let me take some calls from around the country, Dad, okay?

Sure.

Let's go to Scott in Colorado Springs, Colorado. You're on with Dennis Prager and Max Prager.

Thanks, Dennis.

Hi.

Mr. Prager Sr., happy birthday to you and many more.

Dad, did you hear him?

Not at all.

Oh, that's a bummer.

Many, many more happy birthdays to you, Mr. Prager Sr.

He's wishing you a happy birthday, Dad. I don't know if it's the connection or the— the hearing aid issue.

No, no, I heard you. I don't have a hearing aid on, but I heard you very well. Perhaps the callers—

Okay, fine.

Maybe we're speaking a little louder.

All right, Scott. Yeah, you speak up, Scott, and go ahead.

Your insights and perspectives are of great value. And one more comment. You are both— the two of you are both a testament to very healthy father-son relationships. Thank you.

I guess thank him.

Thank you.

No, thank me too, actually.

Thank both of us.

Go ahead.

Oh, it's a two-way street.

That's right.

Mr. Prager Sr., a question. At 88 years old, are you any less or more hopeful for humanity now than you were, say, 50, 70 years ago?

Did you hear the question, Dad?

Just repeat that.

All right, I will. Are you more or less or equally hopeful for humanity as, let's say, 50 years ago?

That's what I thought he said.

Yeah.

Much, much, much less.

Less hopeful.

Much less hopeful. It's amazing. We had very little technology that we have today, right?

Mm-hmm.

But somehow the enmity, hatred that exists in the world was not evident at that time at all. Although we had wars, of course, but this hatred Never like this.

What hatred are you referring to?

Not only the different cultures, but there seems to be people of the same culture who can't stand each other, which I never saw in my day. That's what I'm worried about. It has nothing to do with other cultures hating other cultures. You know what I mean?

So let's not talk about humanity. Let's narrow it to America. Are you less hopeful about America?

In what way?

Any way. Do you think that it has as bright a future as you thought it would have a bright future 50 years ago?

Uh, I would say about the same.

Okay.

So you're more optimistic about America than humanity as a whole.

Oh, no question.

Yeah, well, we certainly share that.

Okay.

No question about it.

All right, Scott, bless you. Thank you so much for calling in Scottsdale, Arizona. It's, uh, is your name Linwood?

Yes, sir.

Okay. Hi, Linwood. You're on with my dad and me, Dennis Prager and Max Prager.

Hi.

Thanks so much. First of all, congratulations, uh, Max, on 88 wonderful years. It has to be enormously gratifying to you to have two sons who have done very, very well.

Very grateful.

In their respective enterprises.

Extremely.

Yes. My question for you— Dennis has made what many of us listeners would regard as progress from old liberalism to conservatism, somewhere in the '80s, Dennis?

Yeah, well, I changed parties in the '80s. My values predate that by many years. Right. But I was a Democrat till the mid-'90s, actually.

And so my question for Max is, did Max come along with that, or are you reflective, Dennis, of what has been part of Max and his wife's heritage for years and years? Good question. It's amazing that Dennis, his brother Kenneth, and I all were very, very rabid Democrats, and we changed without even influencing each other. We all did it on our own. That is amazing.

Yeah, it is actually. I didn't know that you had changed party affiliation.

Oh sure.

See, there you go.

Well, you see, Dad, Dad, this is what I contend. Tell me if this is how you feel. I contend that my values have stayed pretty much the same. It's that liberalism has redefined itself.

Oh, much more to the left.

Yeah, okay.

Much more to the left. And I can go back a lot further than you or most of your callers.

Yeah, I will.

That's certainly true. Yep.

Okay, good.

We'll continue here. Joliet, uh, or Joliet, uh, Illinois. And, uh, John. Hello, John, you're on with My Dad and Me.

Hi.

Hi, Dennis, great show.

Thank you.

I was hoping you'd mispronounce the name of the town.

Sometimes you do that.

I do often, yes.

Okay, I wanted to ask your dad, uh, how old was he when he came here, and, uh, where did he come from? He must be kidding.

No, he's not kidding. Wait, wait, we'll get the answer when we come back. That's why I don't think he has a talk show host future. You don't say that to a caller. We'll be back in a moment.

I'm Dennis Prager.

Alrighty, welcome back to the Dennis Prager Show. It's a special, truly special hour each year that I spend with my father on his birthday, July 18th. John in Illinois, why do you feel that my father wasn't born in the United States?

Uh, well, I was under the impression that you came here just after World War II, that you were like the first Prager born here.

Oh, how interesting. Okay, well, in fact, I'm third-generation American, as it happens, because I have a grandparent born here too. But let Dad tell about his, uh, your parents. Of course, you were born in You were born in Brooklyn.

Correct. That's why I thought he thought I came from another country.

Oh, I see, because Brooklyn. You don't have a Brooklyn accent, but you have a Bronx accent. I'm kidding. You don't have any. But very quickly, where were your parents born?

In Poland.

And they came when?

Dad came in 1904. When the Russo-Japanese War broke out and he had already been, he had already served in the Russian Army so he was fearful that they'd call him back. So he had just gotten married to my mother and so he emigrated to the U.S. and 2 years later he brought over my mother and all children were born here.

So, so They came in 1904, he came in 1904 and your mother in 1906.

Correct.

How well did either parent speak English?

My father spoke no English. He understood English very well, but he just didn't care to speak it, I don't know why. He spoke Yiddish. My mother could speak English and understand English.

Mm-hmm.

She worked—

You see, he worked all day long with people who only spoke Yiddish.

As I have said to you on a number of occasions, thank God there was no bilingual education when you grew up.

Oh, that's for sure.

Yeah, I mean, just, it's—

They'd have Yiddish classes.

Well, exactly, and you would have been hampered terribly in your work.

Oh, of course.

A couple of autobiographical reviewing here. You most wanted to be a medical doctor?

Yes, yes, always wanted it, but of course the Depression came and I was lucky that I was the youngest sibling. So the other 3 siblings all worked and that enabled me to go to college during the day, which was a rarity among people at that time. Most of the children from my neighborhood, when they worked, they went to college at night.

Do you ever remember experiencing any anti-Semitism as a kid?

Mm, in fact, never. I personally never. In fact, I had friends who were Black, I had friends who were Italian, and we never, there was never a question of diversity of action. We were diverse, but we acted like one people.

Just played with each other.

Oh, we played ball all the time.

Yeah, which is another interesting thing. I often think about that. You have commented often you would stay out all— till basically bedtime playing in the street.

Correct. I came home, I came home 8 o'clock at night from school as a child of 7 on a trolley car, believe it or not. I traveled by trolley car. I came— the school let out at 7, from 7 in the morning, including Sundays.

That's because it was a Jewish religious school.

And I still loved school tremendously.

Yeah, I didn't inherit that from you. Now, but the playing is the interesting thing to me.

Oh yes.

You would play, when did you eat supper?

I'd come home, have supper, everybody already ate. Then I'd go—

So wait a minute, this is very interesting because a lot of people have this image of any family, especially from the past, that they had family dinner every night.

Oh no, no. Everybody ate when they came home. And then at night—

And we're talking the 1920s.

Right.

Yeah.

Of course. Then I'd go down for an hour and play with my friends, and then some of the siblings were asleep when I got up. And here I'm 8, 7, 8 years old.

Is it fair to say that your environment raised you at least as much as your parents did?

Environment did what?

Raised you.

You mean environment outside the house?

Yes.

Oh, definitely, definitely. Most, most of my time was spent outside the house, right? My house was for two things: sleeping and eating, period.

Nothing. See, that's a huge difference today because we're fighting our environment to raise children.

Coming home, watching television, this— we didn't have that. Your, your, your everything, your, your social life Your athletic life, and I was always an athlete, was always in the street.

Yeah.

You don't see that anymore.

That's right.

What was your first car?

Oh, I bought it, it was right after I came home from the Navy.

That's what, so what year is that, '45?

I bought an old, a used Chevrolet, I mean '46, a used Chevrolet from a client of mine. I still remember the name. I won't mention his name, of course. And I bought this car. My father was thrilled that I came home with a car. You know, it was like I was Rockefeller's son after that.

Yeah, I could only imagine. By the way, did cars in those days come in two colors, black and black?

No, no, you mean two different colors?

No, no, no, in other words, were all the cars black? Because whenever you see films—

Oh, no, no, no, no.

So what color?

I still remember the car that I bought.

Well, what color?

And I painted it light green.

That's beautiful.

I still remember that.

Light green.

Light green, yeah. Should have stuck to the maroon. I don't know why.

Yeah, that's quite a color to paint it, yeah.

Turquoise.

So it was a used Chevy.

Oh yes.

And do you remember it well?

Very well.

I'd love— do you have a picture of it?

No.

Oh, what a bummer.

Then I went to— then after that I started to buy DeSotos.

I remember that. That's all I remember are DeSotos.

I bought DeSotos for quite a while.

And they were all two-tone blue.

That's correct.

Yeah, I know. There was no other— I didn't know DeSoto came in any other color, actually. We'll be back in a moment with another segment with my dad. But God, this goes fast. You can visit my father, you could even write to him through maxprager.com. Where he has his autobiography. We continue on The Dennis Prager Show. You're listening to The Dennis Prager Show. My father, Max Prager, on his birthday, and his website is www.maxprager.com. You could read his autobiography, and it is absolutely fascinating. And Dad, this has really been fast and fun, I must say. And you got your wish— I did not repeat, uh, almost any questions from the past. We'll do that next year.

You don't realize how much I enjoy it, Dennis. Yeah.

I love it too.

Let's hope we do this for quite a while.

Yes, that's exactly my hope.

That would be great.

It's been a very rich year for us, and certainly with the happy occasion— you came out for Aaron's bar mitzvah, we went to Florida for David's wedding, and you're coming back to California for Anya's wedding.

Wonderful.

It's been—

you and mom have really traveled, and I am very grateful to that.

Let's keep it up.

I agree. Rich in Denver, hi, Dennis Prager and Good morning, gentlemen.

First of all, I'd like to pay a sincere compliment by telling you that your son challenges me intellectually.

And that's—

to me, that's the highest compliment I can give.

Well, I thank you.

Well, thank you very much.

He thanks you, too. Thank you.

But I knew this a long time ago.

As a new father, my twin daughters were born about 5 months ago.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

Unfortunately, I don't have my father around anymore. To get advice. So what I'd like to ask is, what would you recommend I do, and how can I be as good a father as possible?

Dad? Dennis, you want to repeat that?

Yeah, he just had twin girls. I heard that. What would you recommend for him to be as good a father as possible?

Well, it's not something you could read in a textbook, and it's not something you could, uh, I think parenting is a gift. It's a gift like any other gift that's given to a person. I don't think you can— I've seen it. You either have it or you don't.

Well, we have to— I know you believe a lot in a lot of built-in traits, and you're right.

Very much so.

But we have to be able to convey, otherwise we're doomed because—

All I could say is that you must have Be a disciplinarian, but a tremendous amount of love to be given to the child.

And there's a word that—

There's no time, no time to be his or her friend. Continue to be the parent. Because too many people say, "My child is my friend." They have friends on the outside, they don't need you. I don't think you do the child a bit of good by saying, "I'm your friend." Be their parent. They should know that you're their parent, and they'll always love you.

Well said, Dad. It was really fast, really good.

Good.

Tell Mom to prepare for October 24th.

Exactly.

Okay, Dad.

Thank you very much, Dennis.

Happy birthday, Dad, from me and all my listeners. All right, folks, again, his website, MaxPrager.com, and it's, uh, it was a wonderful hour, and we continue on The Dennis Prager Show.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

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Now back to more of Dennis Prager's Timeless Wisdom.

Hi everybody, this is Dennis Prager. Oh, major echo there. Yeah, we'll be back in a moment, folks. Okay, we're good now. And this is a little difficult today because I am— it's my first day back with you My dad died, as many of you know. And Mark Eisler, thank you so much for your 2 days of terrific radio for me. And my father died, and I left the, what we call in Judaism, the house of mourning, where you, you know, people just visit and you reminisce about the deceased. And I decided to share that with you. I thought about this long and hard, but the truth is I have a— I don't want to sound platitudinous, that's why I'm hesitating, but I do have an emotional or personal relationship with you, my listeners, that transcends a normal radio show. And normal radio shows are great. I have no— this is not a statement about any other show. It's just I, I've realized over the course of years that I, I have a sort of bond. So I decided that I would devote the show today to my dad, to death, to parents, to children. So it's a whole micro show, as it were. There's always a lot to talk about in the world, but we don't live only in the world. That's why my show is half micro, half macro. I think, uh, maybe 60% macro. But you know what I'm talking about. Life, life should not be only one or the other. If you don't care about the world and you only live for family and friends, that's not healthy. No. And if you only care about the macro and you don't make a family and you don't have intimate friends, that's not healthy either. Life, life should be both the macro and the micro. So I have a lot of thoughts and I'd like to share them with you and I'd like to take your calls because so many of you have lost a parent. Or both parents, as I now have, and have your, your own world of thoughts and feelings. So the first thing to, to say about my case here is that I was unbelievably fortunate to have a father till the age of 96 and a mother till one month short of 90.

Wow.

And until my mother died at 90, my father was spectacularly energetic. He was on my show every year on his birthday. You heard one example of that played yesterday, the third hour of the show. Spectacularly energetic, feisty, full of vim and vigor, loving life. And then my mother died and it— and half of him died. There's— there's— that's the way he would put it, and those of us who knew them knew that that was true. She was the love of his life. I don't only mean the— the woman love of his life or the romantic love of his life. She was the love of his life. He liked a lot of people, a lot of people, but he loved her.

Mm-hmm.

And that, uh, that was shattering. But he didn't complain. He cried, he cried a lot, but he didn't complain. He just kept saying how lucky he was to have her for 73 years. And then 2 years or 2 and a half years after that, my father had, uh, had surgery and he came out of the surgery paralyzed from the waist down. So that was the— that was a bad blow to a man who would— was still driving his car and totally, thoroughly, 100% independent. And my father said something that was very powerful, and it's truly to his credit. He said to me, and he said to my brother— there were just two of us— he said to his two sons and to others as well, "I have led an utterly blessed life, and now God wanted me to experience what most of the rest of the world has experienced." It was a very touching thing, and it— that was entirely in keeping with my father's disposition. He wrote an autobiography which you can actually read. It's online. It's also in hardcover, which I don't know if it's available. I'm not telling you to buy it, but you might want to check the autobiography at maxprager.com. There are a lot of pictures of him. In the Navy, which was one of the great highlights of a life filled with highlights. He fought in World War II for years in the Pacific, ended up a, I think, a Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy, and then finally retired in the early '50s. Loved it, loved every minute of the Navy. In fact, he loved every minute of life. That's the point. He was a sort of larger-than-life figure and was just in love with life. He got a big kick out of everything. He once said to me that he doesn't want to die because he doesn't want to miss the next technological innovation. Oh. He was a big fan of the latest in technology. I guess he passed that on to me. I have a very similar feeling. And that— it's difficult to summarize anybody's life, but that vim and vigor and zest for life, strong opinions, let you know what they were.

Yeah.

Very, very strong, very, very strong ethical component to his life. There were scandals in New York City where he lived and— or where he worked, I should say. And he was the accountant for many businesses. He was a terrific accountant, a certified public accountant. Did, did, uh— At least did mine until his early 90s, did my taxes. And he was a great accountant. And there were scandals in, I don't know, the '60s or '70s in New York City where nursing homes were involved in fraud, and he was the accountant for some nursing homes. And they had told him to fudge figures. And he told them to shove it. Yeah. And they, they ended up out of jail because he was their accountant, whereas a lot of executives of nursing homes ended up in jail. Very, very strong sense of that. I'll talk about our relationship later on, but I want to speak about him because obviously you're influenced by a parent. And certainly boys by fathers, sometimes for the negative and sometimes for the positive. In my case, overwhelmingly for the positive. He had that ethical commitment. He was a freewheeling spirit. He spoke of sexual matters at the, uh, at the, uh, the the Sabbath table. He was an Orthodox Jew, but he was extremely worldly. Part of the, I guess, part of his naval experience and just his temperament. Very free spirit in the sexual realm. All of the grandchildren were just sitting around We were all together, you know, these past few days and reminiscing about the comments that he would make, which were pretty, uh, robust, shall we say. My producer Alan is with me and is smiling, remembering my father very well. And I'll have Alan actually say a few words in remembrance. There is an interesting aspect to losing a parent who has lived a very long time, and you are not a young man yourself. And of course, it's totally luck that, you know, I would have a parent this long. It comes though, like everything does, with a price, because I, I've had that many more years to just assume I have my parents.

Dennis Prager.

So you, you know, wow, I don't— they're no longer here. It's something one has to— I have to— one has to assimilate into one's consciousness. So here I am to talk to you this show about the loss of my second parent, my father. 1-800-DENNIS-PRAGER, 776-7776. This is The Dennis Prager Show. Hi everybody, this is Dennis Prager, and I'm deciding to share my period of the mourning for an immediate relative, which is— is a 7-day period in Judaism. In fact, if you'd see me, you would see I am unshaven, which is very rare for me. And like, I can't figure out what I look like, actually. It's a strange, strange look for me, but it's good. I believe in ritualizing an event, if you will, even an emotion. But, uh, I am here and I am talking about my father and I want to talk to you about your parents and about death and, you know, the real nitty-gritty of life that, uh, is part of life. As Ecclesiastes puts it, there's a time to live and a time to die. My father, as it happens, decided it was time to die. And I don't know how many of you caught it the last time I had him on. I had him on for his birthday about 10 years running, July 18th. And the last time I had him on, he was not the vigorous man he was before, not because of health reasons, but because he was, A, lost my mother, and B, then he had become paralyzed from the waist down and needed 24-hour care, which he hated. Such a vigorous man. And He said, and I don't know how many of you caught it, of who heard it, but he said in very matter-of-fact tones in the middle of the interviews, and it shocked me that he said it on radio, I knew he felt it, that he wanted to die. No self-pity, no complaint, just an honest statement that at this point he was ready to go. And he was a very, very big believer in God. This was not a secular man speaking about the futility of life, just period. And I, and all of us in the family respected his saying that and understood it. I visited him with my wife and younger son and stepson. My older son had seen him considerably more frequently living on the East Coast, so he didn't make this particular trip, but we did. And it was last Wednesday to New Jersey, and, uh, he, uh, he died on, uh, on Saturday. And there were some, uh, in the family who were adamant, uh, that, uh, that gave him permission, that last visit gave him permission to go. And I have no idea, only literally only God knows, but all I could say is thank God we made that trip. It was totally understood to be a goodbye. It was not, I'll see you, you know, I'll see you next month. And he, when he got, he had the stroke 2 days later and he signaled to my brother who was a very prominent physician in New York, and my father was blessed to have a son living a few blocks away who was a major physician because he never had to enter a hospital. This is a whole subject unto itself. The rest of us who don't have children who are doctors, having a stroke like that, probably would have been immediately rushed to a hospital, put on tubes. He was even more paralyzed after that. He had the movement of his right arm, basically. That was it. And they, you know, been kept alive just to be, just to suffer, in effect. And instead, my brother could give him sedatives, and the family that lived in New Jersey— lives in New Jersey— would be around him. He signaled with his hand because he wasn't speaking clearly those last— that last day. And he signaled with his arm up, up to heaven. I want to go up. I want to go up to heaven. Why would one not honor a, a person's wish? After saying over and over and over how good a life— it's what he kept saying to me last Wednesday. I've had such a great life, Dennis. I've had such a great life. The name of his autobiography is Attitude and Gratitude, and he walked the walk. He didn't just talk the talk, he walked the walk. He was tested the last 5 years. And he not only never complained, all he did was express gratitude for everything he'd had. Most of all, well, for his life in general, and most of all, of course, for my mother, his wife of 69 years, his partner of 73 years. He did, he led a charmed life. He knew it, and he was very, very grateful. Thank you. These are things that make an impact on a son. I think that I, I hope that I have inherited that attitude, the attitude and gratitude, if you will. Gratitude is a big part of my view on happiness. There are people who have tremendous amount and spend their lives complaining. There are people who have little and spend their lives speaking with gratitude about everything that they do have. May I add on a personal note that the, um, the thousands of messages on my Facebook page have deeply, deeply touched me. It's why I'm really— it's why I'm broadcasting today, because I share a lot of my life with you. I've been broadcasting 33 years. I've gone through a lot of things. With you, as it were. So, uh, these are some of the thoughts. I have a lot more. Let me take your calls. And let's go to Ron in Sacramento, California.

Hi, Ron.

Dennis Prager.

Good morning, Dennis.

Hi.

I'm gonna quick—

I'm gonna quickly say that, uh, I'm deeply saddened for your loss. I don't, I don't understand, obviously, because I you, connection between your father and you, and your mother as well. I will only say that, as I indicated to your screener, I'm always extremely envious and jealous of people like you, and I mean this in the best way, not the bad—

worst way.

I know you do, I know you do, and you don't have to defend yourself.

Okay, well, essentially what I'm going to point out to both you and your listeners is quickly this: I have nothing really good to remember about my parents. Well, I'm going to call them that for the moment because they weren't parents that were supposed to love, nurture, and care, enrich, and protect their children. All I remember about them is hatred, beatings, sadness, and that's all I know I remember.

Ron, do you have children of your own?

I do, sir. You know, and they don't even know that I'm dying of advanced stage 4 prostate cancer. So, you know, again, like I said, you're—

You don't have—

Yeah, you're just a—

Hold on, hold on, hold on. This is a powerful call. We'll be back in a moment. Hello everybody, Dennis Prager here. And I'm devoting today's show as I come back in the period of mourning of 7 days that the Jewish religion mandates, and I am talking about my father. Dennis Prager, who died on Saturday night. I had seen him Wednesday. I'd gone from LA to New Jersey Wednesday, gone back to LA on Thursday, and then went back Saturday night to catch the Sunday funeral. I would say of the thousands of trips that I've taken in my life, the one I took last Wednesday to see him was the most important. I got to say goodbye, and it was a big, big deal. And may have actually enabled him to exit, as it were, which is what he wanted. I'm talking to you about parents' deaths. This is a— not a sad show, it's a serious show, and it's a break from, of course, the great political issues, which have great importance, and I have a lot to say about them, as you well know. But this is what is on my mind now, and I am in effect having this period of mourning with you. And I thank you again for those kind comments on Facebook, and this is not a moral pressure to others of you to send in comments, it's just— I just want you to know that I'm touched. And those of you who donated to Prager University, because August is when we raise funds for Prager University and did so in my father's honor, or something analogous. I'm very touched by that too. Now, Ron in Sacramento, uh, had a terrible relationship with his parents. Are you there, Ron?

Yes, sir, I am, Dennis. Okay.

And, uh, you have stage 4 cancer, which I'm very, very sorry, very sorry to hear. And your children are not in your life either?

Um, that's correct. The, uh, my younger two, I haven't spoken to them since, uh, 2002, 2003. And then my oldest daughter, I haven't spoken to her since 1991. And, you know, again, quickly, in a nutshell, why did this happen? Uh, it's various reasons. Uh, you know, it's just conflict between their mom and I, you know, obviously going back and forth about different lifestyles and, you know, the way that she wanted to raise them, the way that I wanted to raise them. And it just never seemed to end with regards to the battles between myself and my, my first ex-wife, you know. But I, I just want to again point out both again to you, Dennis. I mean, you are an absolute— an amazing person. My day for me is not fulfilled unless I listen to you. And that's, that's what lifts me up daily. And the only other part in my life that's meaningful is my dog.

Let me just say this to you, Ron. First, I truly wish I could hug you. I really do. Uh, second, I do want to give you one piece of comfort that comes from the book I most treasure, the Bible. And in the book of one of the prophets called Malachi, it says that there will be a day when God will return the hearts of fathers to sons and the hearts of sons to fathers. There are Two things to be said about that. A, I do believe that is true, and it will not happen perhaps in this life, but it is not— that prophecy is not about this, this world. It's about a world to come, as it were, whether here or in a non-physical world. And the other is Why would this be written unless for the fact that— except for the fact that it was so common even then for parents and children to be alienated? So I hope that— I hope that gives you some solace because I really believe it.

Thank you.

So, God bless you. That's why you can't talk politics all the time. We don't live lives just about that. But as I said, we have to be concerned with the world. You have to be concerned with both. Anyway, Ron, I give you a hug through the airwaves. Thank you, Dennis Prager. I really do. We will be back in a moment. I'm Dennis Prager. Hi everybody, this is Dennis Prager and I am talking about my dad who died on Saturday night. To devote a show to life and death and to parents and children and to my own father, to honor his memory. In Judaism, there is a 7-day period that starts with the death of the individual who is an immediate relative, and it's called sitting shiva. Shiva just means 7, so you you sit, as it were, you sit for 7 days. And I thought about this and thought about it and thought about it and thought I would like to share part of this with you because you're, uh, I'm in your life and frankly you're in my life. And this is a big chunk of my life. My father loved this show. I discovered that in his house in New Jersey this past week. I discovered tapes from shows from the early '90s, and he just had them beautiful. My father's the most organized man that I have ever met. Let me give you an example. This is priceless. So I was, uh, it was about, I don't know, 10 years ago, I was visiting my dad, and, uh, I was going to leave from New Jersey Dennis Prager to Toronto to give a speech. And maybe it's more than 10 years ago, but it was, it was at the— it was in the beginning of the time where the Canadians insisted that you bring a passport. Americans were able to get into Canada for all of history just with a little ID like a license, driver's license. And so I forgot to bring my passport from LA when I went to visit my father because I was thinking about going to New Jersey, not about going to Canada afterward. So I would have missed a lecture, which I never do. It's exceedingly, exceedingly rare. I've spoken with the flu. And I felt terrible. And my father said, well, is there any other ID that you can use? Well, yeah, I said, yeah, a birth certificate. You know, but what good is that? Oh, he said, I have your birth certificate and I swear that this is what happened. He went over to a certain drawer, opened it, and gave me my birth certificate. Is that mind-blowing? I would— it's inconceivable. It's not in the realm of the possible that I would have been that organized.

Box in the garage.

Oh, a box in the garage. I'm lucky if it would have been in the box in the garage and just not lost. And he knew where his son's birth certificate was. That is how organized he was. My father smoked cigars until about, I would say, 4 months prior to dying. I wonder if they will record his death as smoking-related. I'm not kidding. Because ultimately he had that stroke and died, you know, and they'll say, well, you know, heart, who knows. Yeah. Uh, he, uh, gave me my first cigar in my teens, and I am— I think of him every time I smoke a cigar. He loved his scotch. He drank, uh, scotch with the ease that most mortals drink orange juice. Never once inebriated. Right? You know my dad.

Looking at Alan.

Uh, me, I, you know, if I had given that much scotch, I would simply fall fallen down. I just, you know, I can't handle alcohol.

Did your mother drink?

Did my mother drink? Yeah, he gave her either a martini or, yeah, yeah, he would make her a martini periodically, but she wasn't nearly as— his statement was, in the Navy, You basically had two choices: alcohol or prostitutes. And he was married, so he chose alcohol. That was his view. You know my father.

He always had a view.

He always had a view. Although I will say this, let me, you know, we're pretty realistic about our dad. Had he had a radio show, he would have been off the air within 3 or 4 days. He would have insulted so many callers, berating them for what he perceived as just being so wrong as to be dumb or whatever. But that's another matter. We had a realistic view— the "we" is the family— and he was a magnificent grandfather. And this may surprise some of you, but it's, it's, it's important to be said because I don't want people to have this, an image that isn't true. My parents gave us a great home, but they were not loving parents when we grew up. They became loving parents when we were adults, but their love was overwhelmingly for one another. And, you know, that was not easy for my brother or for me. So everybody, most everybody has challenges in being raised. But I just, I don't want you to get a false impression that this was, you know, out of some film or some perfect home. It was not. Dennis Prager. But they, uh, there was a lot of respect. That's probably ultimately more important. Would have been nice to have had more affection, but it was what it was. I went for affection to friends, and those of you who have heard my take on friendships know how life-sustaining I think they are. And I'm talking about male friendships. Oh, and the friends in my life to this day are of immeasurable, literally immeasurable significance to my happiness. And it started very young because I realized that's where I'm going to get my love, and I did. My closest male friend began and never ended that I I would have one in the 6th grade. Before 6th grade, I don't recall having— and yeah, I had buddies, but starting then. All right, more coming up, devoting this show to life and death and to my father's memory. MaxPrager.com is his website. You can see pictures and read about him. Yeah, that's worth signing in for. All they want are names. My dad believed in fighting evil. There's no question that he communicated that to me and to my brother. He hated the bad guy. That's why he enlisted in World War II. He could have— he did not have to. He had a child. You were exempt, I believe, and he just volunteered. He writes about his Navy days, years in the Pacific, as among the greatest of a great life. It wasn't like the greatest in an otherwise humdrum life. It was the greatest days in many ways in a great life, an exciting life.

Yeah.

A, uh, I got, uh, I'm sure I got a lot of my love of America from my father. I would look at his Navy books with, uh, just as a child. It's a great series about, um, that were given, I guess, to everybody who was in the Navy. Glenn Mills, Pennsylvania, and Sue. Hi, Sue. Dennis Prager.

God bless you, Dennis. Um, I own your dad's book. I listened every year. My husband and I listened to you 3 hours a day since the '90s, I guess, but God bless you. I'm ordering a copy of today's show, and thank you for yesterday with Dad on his 89th birthday. But I hope that somehow, perhaps on Prager University, you could do some excerpts of your father's ideas— that were so good and of yesteryear when people cared more about each other and less about money and status and things of that sort. He was a wonderful man. I love the story about the fork and Murray's buttocks because your dad's mom got upset. But these are such wonderful stories and I really appreciate them.

That's great.

No, I'm serious. It's— I hope you write more about him and about some of these stories because people need to hear these things. They really do. And I remember you're talking about how you should stay in touch with your parents and how your dad every night would call his mother and you were there at the table and his mother would say that your mother was a hetla and you guys laughed about it. You didn't take umbrage or insult.

That's right, that's exactly right.

But in other words, you understood that that was grandmom and didn't hold grandmom against herself. She was grandmom and she deserved respect. And your dad—

Well, you really, you really, you're, you're, you, you make it worthwhile because you do. You really, it, it made the impact that I would like it to make. Folks, I'm sharing my, my dad and this period afterwards with you today. You're listening to The Dennis Prager Show.

On tomorrow's episode of Dennis Teaches the Torah.

One of my mottos in life is that every blessing comes with a curse.

The—

there is a a great deal of beauty in taking care of one another and, and, and those kind of bonds. The ugliness is that it becomes higher than morality. It's, it's like my country right or wrong, my family right or wrong, my blood right or wrong. And I think that the ultimate message in the Torah is right or wrong is higher than blood.

Come back tomorrow for Dennis Prager's signature series on the first 5 books of the Bible. Dennis teaches the Torah. This has been Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Visit DennisPrager.com for thousands of hours of Dennis' 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.

If you're eating less, staying disciplined, and the weight still isn't coming off, the problem may not be your effort. It may be your metabolism. After years of stress, dieting, and lack of sleep, the body adapts. It slows down and holds on to fat. That's why PhD Weight Loss focuses on your metabolism first, so your body stops working against you. Mention Prager today and receive 2 free weeks plus free food, a $1,500 value. Call 864-644-1900. That's 864-644-1900.