How to Overcome Your Bad Mood

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On today's episode of Timeless Wisdom, Arnie in Clearwater, Florida. Hi Arnie, Dennis Prager.

Hi Dennis, uh, I suffered for years from moodiness which led to depression which led to ruining my career, and after open heart surgery I started listening to you by quite by accident because I couldn't do anything else but listen to the radio. And I determined to fight moodiness. I could not agree with you more. You fighting feelings is not like being in the ocean. It's a battle. And I, I, I don't want to stroke you, but I'm telling you, I, I don't agree with all your political points of view, but you saved my life. I, I fought moodiness by getting up in the morning putting on a pair of swim trunks and getting back to swimming. I swam in college for New York University, and at 66, I have more friends, male and female, than I ever had in my life. I have people calling me, Arnie, let's go here, let's go there. And Dennis, it's a battle. I'm up in the morning. I don't know why it attacked me, but it still does. But I put those swim trunks on, I put my sneakers on, and I say, The hell with you. You're not taking over my life.

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.

Hey everybody, welcome to the Happiness Hour on the Dennis Prager Show.

Every week at this time, come hell or high water, lice, vermin, bloody water, frogs, hail, smiting of the firstborn, we talk about happiness this hour. And now I invite you to join me in singing our theme. It's the happy, happy, happy, happy hour. Yes, it is. It's the happy, happy, happy, happy hour. Yeah, happy people make the world better, and the world is made worse disproportionately disproportionately by unhappy people. You have a moral duty to be as happy as possible, or at least to act it. You— it's a duty you have to everybody around you and to the world. If you're religious, it's a duty to God. The unhappy religious make a pretty lousy case for God and religion, don't they? Yes, and it isn't easy, folks, because life is hard for everybody. That's the way it is, and I have found little correlation between how hard life is and how happy people are. The happy tend to be happy under almost every circumstance, and the unhappy are unhappy under almost every circumstance. Today's topic is moods. Moods. And the notion that if you're in a bad mood, then by golly, you're unhappy, and that's the way it is, and you just let it overtake you. And frequently act out—

uh-uh—

act out as a result of it. So I'm telling you that there was no way to be happy if you can't fight your moods. Everybody gets into a bad mood. The difference between the moody and non-moody is not that the non-moody never get into a bad mood.

Eh eh eh!

That's what you moody think. But now then, there is some truth to it. There are people who who are less prone to bad moods. I know some. And there are people who are more prone to bad moods. I know some of them too. Nevertheless, everybody has to fight them. Whether you— if you are more prone than others, then you have a bigger fight than others. But you see, others may have other fights in other areas of life. Everybody has to fight their nature. Everybody. This one may have to fight his or her nature with regards to being selfish. This one with regard to being moody. This one with regard to alcohol. This one with regard to gambling. This one with regard to sex. This one with regard to envy. It's endless. It is just endless. People have to fight their natures. That's a given in life. In fact, my book on happiness— I got a real— I got a book by a woman whose mother was reading it and had been moody her whole life and it had an effect. I wanted to read that on the air. It just sounded like an advertisement, but I still wanted to read it. My book is Happiness Is a Serious Problem, and if you like the Happiness Hour, I can't imagine that you would not find the book powerful. But the reason I mention it, aside from the hope that you'll read it, is that the subtitle is A Human Nature Repair Manual. I never mentioned that, but that is the subtitle of the book, because we have to fix human nature. Now, if your nature is toward the moody, you have to fight it. You can't give in. I'm in a bad mood today, and, and so be it, leave me alone. Or, or even worse, I will act out on it and make others unhappy. Let me tell you about this and I will take your calls now. Do you find it— even those of you who tend toward moodiness, do you find these words even meaningful, that you have to fight your moodiness? Or is it so powerful that the idea that you have to fight it is like saying you have to fight, I don't know, a cold? You get a cold, you have a cold. Although, of course, the truth is, now that I think of it, the analogy is not all that bad. What do you do when you get a cold? You do fight it. You take every cold remedy you can think of in order to get rid of it, to make its symptoms less severe, and to make its duration shorter, correct? That's exactly how you ought to view a mood, like a cold. Although it's, it's, it's much more toxic than a cold in many people's cases. And when you get a cold, you just don't, "Oh, Terrell, I'm gonna sneeze on you." No, you protect your sneezes, right? In fact, people will say when they have a cold, people who, you know, "I can't shake your hand, I can't hug you because I have a cold." I wish people did that with their moods. I can't inflict this upon you, so please be aware that I'm having a mood. But you, you fight a cold by taking all sorts of cold remedy things so as to minimize its symptoms. Likewise with a mood. But if you do get into moods, do you find what I'm saying utterly impractical? You can't. The mood takes you over. If you are married or you are the child of or the parent of or the sibling of or the friend of a moody person. Does this make sense to you, or am I, as the Hungarians would put it, peeing in the ocean? This means nothing. The problem is so huge that these words of advice can do nothing. But from childhood, people think that you give into a mood. All right, the mood wins. Dennis Prager, zero, mood, one. That is how people frequently think. And the mood wins. The mood is dominant. Now, why does, why does giving into moods hurt your happiness? Remember, this is a happiness hour, not a morality hour. And the reason is, there are two reasons. Number one is its effect on you. The more you give into moods, the more moody you will get. You have to fight the mood. You have to act against the mood. You— behavior will shape the mood. Do whatever you can to get out of it or to minimize its symptoms as if you had a cold. The other reason is it sends people away from you. And if happiness is— it involves people loving you and enjoying you and having more friends, then please know a mood or moodiness sends people away. You have every reason in the world to fight your moodiness, every reason in the world. And people don't think of this because we think that feelings predominate. This is only since the '60s, I believe, when the age of stupidity was ushered in, in the '60s and '70s. This is what, this is what people thought. Look, it's feelings. You can't fight feelings. Feelings are dominant. To fight feelings is to be a hypocrite because you're not acting authentically. Then the mood is authentic. Alrighty, now I need to know how you react. Any questions about moods that you would like to ask me? They have to be fought. They cannot be allowed to win. Oh, he's in a bad mood. Well, wait a minute. Oh, he's in a bad mood doesn't work. It doesn't work. I'm sorry. Or she's in a bad mood. Then you do something about it. Are you an animal? That, you know, our dogs, they act entirely upon their mood. We understand that. We are humans. That's why I did an entire hour on the Happiness Hour on brain versus mind. Or mind versus brain, to be more precise. All right, let's take your calls here. 1-8-PRAEGER-776. That's 877-243-7776. 877-243-7776. We begin with Arnie in Clearwater, Florida. Hi, Arnie. Dennis Prager.

Hi, Dennis. Uh, I suffered for years from moodiness, which led to depression, which led to ruining my career. And after open heart surgery, I started listening to you by— quite by accident, because I couldn't do anything else but listen to the radio. And I determined to fight moodiness. I could not agree with you more.

You—

fighting feelings is not like being in the ocean. It's a battle. And I, I don't want to stroke you, but I'm telling you, I don't agree with all your political points of view, but you saved my life. I fought moodiness by getting up in the morning, putting on a pair of swim trunks and getting back to swimming. I swam in college for New York University, and at 66, I have more friends, male and female, than I ever had in my life. I have people calling me, Arnie, let's go here, let's go there. And Dennis, it's a battle. I'm up in the morning. I don't know why it attacked me, but it still does. But I put those swim trunks on, I put my sneakers on, and I say, the hell with you. You're not taking over my life.

And, you know, Arnie, I need to tell you, I feel that if I replayed your call the rest of the hour, I would do a service to my listeners. I don't have anything to add. I'm so happy with your call. I'm just curious, you say it killed your job. Did it also kill a marriage? Did it kill your children?

Yes, it killed the marriage, right? And I had to start from scratch with 3 wonderful sons. Now I have grandchildren leaving messages on my cell phone. Papa, get your baseball glove.

God bless. I want to comment on this as soon as we come back.

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 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.

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

Thank you, Jimmy.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. You're dead, but you're alive. Dennis Prager, the Happiness Hour here. By the way, if you have suggestions for music for the Happiness Hour— and I told you, one day I think we're going to just have happy music, and we'll do talking as well, but music is God's drug. That's what I always call it. It's a gift to us. This is the Happiness Hour, where we do talk about happiness. And why I do it every week is because happy people make the world better. And if you care about making the world better, you have to care about happiness. Happiness is not a selfish pursuit. It can be, but it isn't. It is in fact one of the most altruistic things you can do is to pursue happiness, not pursue pleasure. That's a different thing. I'm talking about pursuing happiness. Now sometimes pleasure is involved, but that's not the issue. Arnie in Florida, I thank you for that call. And it's doubly powerful because as a man who says he doesn't always agree with me on political stuff, probably disagrees with me a lot, but it doesn't matter. On the Happiness Hour, there's no politics anyway. And many of my hours don't have politics for that matter. But the point is that while recuperating from— what was it, open heart surgery, did he say? He was listening, all he could do was listen to radio, found me, and it changed his life. And it's intended to change your life, to be perfectly honest. That's why I broadcast. I would actually like to change your life for the better, to be perfectly honest. That's as honest and as open as I can be. And that's especially— it's true on every hour, but it's especially true on the Happiness Hour. And this, this hour's theme is to fight your moods. You don't give in to them. Whatever the mood is, from PMS in women to whatever mood that a guy will be in, I mean, you have to fight it. If you understand that life is a daily battle You do in fact put that down, Alan, as that's a good subject. Life is a daily battle. People, people don't think that. That is why we have a lot of particularly, I think, unhappy people today. It's because a lot of people, my generation specifically, the baby boomers, grew up with so few battles in so many cases that life has hit them on the head with, with ferocity. They can't believe how complex and difficult life is because it was so idyllic for those who grew up before the horrors of the '60s and '70s in our society. So the other thing that I wanted to say is remember the reason you have to fight your moods is not only for your sake in the sense— and not only for others' sake, but You bring people in. Look, the way he ended it about his grandchildren. And look, he lost a marriage and he lost his job through moodiness. Is that enough, folks? Is that enough? And he's reconciled with his sons, and now the grandchildren leave messages on his cell phone. Papa, Papa, bring a glove. That was the last thing I heard when we had to take a break. Let's play together. This is why the happier— it's like the rich get richer, the poor get poorer. The happy get happier, the unhappy get unhappier, because the unhappy alienate people. Hello, hello, hello, are you hearing me? Are you hearing me, oh moody ones? You alienate people and then wonder why you're alone. And people flock to the happy, flock to us who have conquered the inevitable unhappinesses and moods of life. That's the difference. Who wants to be around unhappy people? Name one. There is no such person. Oh yes, I take it back, there are psychiatrists because they make a living on it. And that's not a disparaging statement at all. It's just they want to be around unhappy people because they feel they can help them. Alrighty, let's go to Newport Beach, California, the home of many moody people, and Bridget. Hello Bridget. Hi, thank you for calling.

Um, I just wanted to say that I've actually— I'm an extremely moody person and have been my entire life. And also am a very upbeat, happy person, but the moodiness really takes its toll on your life.

Sure, yep.

And you're right, you really have to work at it. But one of the things I think is really important is if you don't make a practice of working on it, that when those really bad moods come and hit, you're completely incapable of dealing with them. You don't have the tools necessary to realize what's coming. And I think the other thing that's really important, especially for people who were in circumstances like mine, is you need to start paying attention to what's going on in your life. What are the things that set you off so that you don't go there all the time?

Wow, very good.

That's been a really hard lesson for me to learn, but let me tell you, it's worth getting on the other side. I've had to do a lot of hard work, but it's work that I wouldn't trade for anything, because now I have the control. And now when those moods hit, I realize that maybe I just need some downtime and that that's perfectly okay, because it's far better for me to do that for a little while than to lash out at people and be angry.

How did you learn this?

Um, I kind of had to face it when I had children. You know, I was kind of mean to my husband for a really long time. And when you have children, it really changes what your priorities are. And I thought, this cannot go on. And so for the last 9 or 10 years, I have been diligently and daily working on making different decisions, but it has not been easy. I really have serious issues in this area, but if you talk with anyone who knows me, they would never say that I'm— moody or that I'm irritable. Well, my close friends know those things about me, but, um, but I was—

your husband— is your husband proud of you?

Um, I think he's still a little weary, but, um, but he really sees the effort that I've been putting forth, and it is making an impact on our lives together. It's making an impact on my children.

You know, moods need a 12-step program, just like other addictions. People are addicted to moods like they're addicted to alcohol.

And you know, our society is, is this constant state of stimulation, and we don't realize how much that plays into things.

Well, it could. It could in your case.

Yeah.

In other cases, you know, people know how to tune out. Yeah, I know how to tune out. Exactly. I know that. I know that about you, and I know that about me. Well, you're— this is an ideal call for people to hear. And the moment you knew that life is a battle, you won.

There you go.

Yep. Thank you so much.

My pleasure.

Wow, what a great call. I really, I really hope this is making an impact on those of you who are moody. I wonder, do those who get into these moods know it? I gotta believe they know it. I'm in most cases anyway. Yep, you fight it. You can fight it. That's the point. I'm empowering you here, folks. That's the point. We'll be back in a moment. This is the Happiness Hour on the Dennis Prager Show.

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, 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.

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

I love this song too. Hi everybody, happiness hour on the Dennis Prager Show. This is a life-changing subject. You have to fight your moods. For some reason, people think they have to allow their moods to control them, and I don't get it.

Why?

You have to fight them, and that's why these last calls have been so powerful, so powerful. One man and one woman about how they have decided to do so, and it's changed their lives. One man lost his— the man lost his wife and his job with his moods. Almost lost his kids from what he implied. And, and, and now it's turned around, although not vis-à-vis the, the ex-wife presumably, or the ex-employer. And let's go to some more of your calls. You have great insights, and I want people to hear you as much as they hear me on this. Phoenix, Arizona, Cindy. Hi, Cindy. Dennis Prager.

Hello, Dennis Prager. This is such a great topic. I think that moods are so often, at least for me, very self-indulgent. And I learned something at a women's conference several years ago, and that was that you have to check your feelings with what is real. So often we indulge ourselves in this mood, this feeling, based on something that's not real. My husband's a jerk. Oh, really? No, my husband's not a jerk, and I need to talk myself through it, and I need— I have a moral obligation not to wallow in a feeling that has no reality to it.

How did you learn this?

I was at a Christian women's conference about 6 years ago, and she said that. And I just thought, how true is that? You know, something I, I, I guess I, you know, it was, it was so obvious once it was stated, but it was something that I just, I hadn't seen because of this, uh, whole worshiping of feelings.

Worshiping of feelings. That's right, Cindy. Thank you. I tell you, it's one— I, I don't want to put the— I feel bad putting you on the spot, those of you whose calls I'm about to take. You don't have to match the preceding calls, please know that. There's no competition here for first place in calls. But I would be remiss if I didn't say that these calls have been tremendous. For you to hear— the reason that I'm happy about those calls, I need to explain, is that now you can hear better that it can be done. You may hear it from me and think, well, I'm talking theoretically. And then when you hear people who have a lifetime battle with moods and say they can, they can conquer it, or they can at least not act upon those moods. And the less you act upon the moods, the less you will have the moods. That's the point. For so many reasons, including that you will draw love into your life, which will help you fight some of these moods. But this last Dennis Prager's comment was great. How often are your moods based on reality? Oh, my husband's a jerk. Is that the reality? It may not be. It may be the reality. You truly may have married a jerk. There are jerks out there and you may have married one. That is possible. But it is also possible that he's not a jerk. He's just a normal man with the, with, with, uh, with, with, in other words, normal flaws. And, and that what is upsetting you may not, may not warrant it. I wonder how often people who get into a bad mood ask themselves exactly what Cindy was talking about. Does the reality warrant my mood? I'm so unhappy that he didn't do this or did do this or that she did this or she didn't do this or whatever. Is it warranted? Maybe it isn't. Maybe your mood is in fact a far greater reaction than the events should have elicited. I don't know, that's something to think about. All righty, let's get some guys here because it's not only women who get into moods, but I think it would be false for us to dismiss the fact that it is more women than men. And that is why I have raised as another issue, and I'll, I'll revisit it in one of my hours, not even necessarily the Happiness Hour. We teach men far more from when they are boys to control their natures than we teach women to control their natures from when they are girls. And both sexes pay a big price for that fact. We continue on the Happiness Hour on the Dennis Prager Show in a moment.

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Thanks for listening.

And for your support.

I don't know exactly when it happened, but sometime in the last 50, 60 years, the idea that feelings should be dominant over behavior arose and has ruined a generation's ability to be happy, let alone to be even often decent. Feelings are extremely significant, but they shouldn't be determinative.

Determinative.

This is the Happiness Hour on the Dennis Prager Show, an hour every week on the subject of happy, because happy people make the world better, and for all the other reasons that I comment on. Today's subject, and the calls have been extremely significant, is that if you get into a bad mood, you have to fight it. And you have to teach children to fight it. Uh, you don't solve it for them. You teach them to fight it. It is one of the greatest gifts you can give a child. One of the greatest gifts, beats any material thing you will ever give your child, is the ability to fight their moods. Alrighty, let's go to Tustin, California, and Lisa. Lisa, Dennis Prager, thank you for calling.

Hi, yes, I just wanted to say I hope the moody people are really paying close attention because I don't think they realize how much they're hurting the people that they're around.

They don't.

And I know personally I feel like, like a storm cloud is just coming over my head and I walk on eggshells and I just want to run away. I just want to escape it. And, and it's—

who in your case? Who is it in your case?

A spouse.

A spouse. It sounds like you're married to more than one person. I assume it's the spouse.

Yes.

No, I feel for you. I wish he were hearing this. Uh, you can certainly download it and play it for him. Okay, uh, the, the, uh, I believe that, uh, chronic bad moods destroy more marriages than infidelity. Yeah, because it's over time, it wears away at the other. An infidelity you confront, I mean, we're not talking about somebody who's a serial adulterer, but, but where that happens, you can confront it, you have pain. But if everything else, or most things else, are, are, are doable and there isn't this chronic moodiness, there's a chance for that marriage. But what you're describing is— why should you have to put up with it? It's not fair to you.

Yes, I know. And I think I'm like the opposite of that. And I'm always—

Why did you marry? I talk about this a lot in my happiness lectures about the moody marrying the non-moody. Why did you, the non-moody, did you know it about him?

I think I It wasn't— it's just something that's gotten worse over time as we knew each other. And I think I was like a real hopeful, positive person. I got married kind of young.

He's older than me. And you thought you could save him?

Possibly, possibly. Or I don't know, maybe I made excuses for it and that it— you know, I didn't realize it was something that was going to get worse over time, and it definitely has.

Well, as I said, I hope that that he can hear this. I really do. I hope you, you know, you can download it from prageradio.com. And I, I hope so. People need to know this about marriages and, and about parenting and about the effects on those around you. It's toxic. It's utterly toxic. Okay, let's go to a male here, and a male who gets into moods. Here we go. Belmore, New Jersey, and Dominic. Hi Dominic, thank you for calling. Dennis Prager.

Hi Dennis, so much to say about this topic, but I think the biggest testament that we can— to changing mood is the way we can be in a heated battle with a relative that we take for granted and walk into a room with people we don't know and immediately change.

Ah, bless you. Oh, I tell you, the calls today—

ah!

Now what? You just said all the Moody's should know this. How come you were able to answer the door after dumping on me and acting beautifully to the FedEx person? How come it must be obvious that you can't control your behavior?

Absolutely. I have— I've started to try to practice with my wife to try to stop the bleeding early. We, uh, we were out this weekend, and usually I'm the more moody person because I have this list of things I'm always trying to get done in my head. And so I can start a day moody, and we'll— and I will kind of snip at each other. And then at some point, usually sooner than later, where we'll say, okay, we got to stop and regroup. We don't want the rest of the day to go this way, and make amends and say, look, let's start over. And part of that, part of changing that is what you say all the time, is moving it.

Is what?

Having to say it, and then you smile, and you make the effort, and then you move forward from there, and it works.

Yeah, well, again, thank you to That is always a challenge, this point that Dominic raised, where the recipient of the bad moods wonders, how come you could treat all these other people so nicely? Why am I the recipient of that? And I use the FedEx man as that example, but it is wondrous that the moody absolutely can control their behavior. And one way to prove it is if somebody would offer them $50,000 to not act in a bad mood for the next month. How— I'll bet you that it would work in the vast majority of cases. 1-800-PRAGER-776, the Happiness Hour. And let's go to Portland, and in Oregon it's Heather. Hello, Heather, Dennis Prager.

Hi Dennis, I want you to know that I really love your show and I read your book, Happiness Is a Serious Problem, and that's one of the reasons why I took some action to correct my moodiness and I've actually went into some therapy. And I want to just— I don't disagree with anything you've said, but the irony for me is that I actually got worse as far as feeling more grief and sorrow and worse moods during the course of therapy.

Oh, I want you to tell us why. Don't go away. I'm very interested in hearing why. Very. Do not go away. Do not get mugged. Nothing should happen to you in the next few minutes.

This episode of Timeless Dennis Prager's Endless 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 so your body stops working against you. Mention Prager today and receive 2 free 3 weeks plus free food, a $1,500 value. Call 864-644-1900. That's 864-644-1900.

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

The Happiness Hour on the Dennis Prager Show. Periodically I choose an hour. This one was so important That someday I'll replay it. That is, that is how significant it is about moods, and you have to fight them. You cannot give in to them, or you doom your chances for happiness. For among other reasons, you will alienate people you love, or potentially who will love you, from you. And Heather in Portland, you suffered from moods, went to therapy, and now, now continue.

Yes, so my grief and sorrow and feelings actually became more intense and worse for a while, but I was— what I realized is that I had a very immature avoidant style of dealing with my life and expressing my feelings, just handling things more directly, addressing things directly, and recognizing that my feelings are telling me something, but they're not— they don't have to control me. I just gained a lot of insight about the proper place for feelings. And so now, instead of being in a bad mood all day when my husband does something that hurts or offends me, I just tell him, "You know, that hurt my feelings." And sometimes we actually even bicker more than ever, but it gets resolved and it's not an all-day thing.

Now, at therapy, how did therapy help you? Because you say it became more intense, your moods.

Well, you know, I guess maybe that's not accurate. My feelings felt more intense, but because I was sorrowing and grieving over the right things.

Did the therapist tell you— I'm curious, did the therapist tell you to control your moods?

For a while, she was encouraging me to think about my feelings and experiencing my feelings As far as moods, I don't— you know, because I think the mood came from my feeling, my negative feelings just being so generalized, and now I understand what the negativity is, and I, I, um, when I have those feelings, I don't have to focus on it all day and have it be a mood. It's just a feeling.

Well, excellent. Thank you very much, Heather. The only reason I raised that, and it's something I will raise at greater length We should do a happiness hour on whether or not therapy helped you. I'm amazed that I don't recall ever doing that. And because there is good therapy and bad therapy, and good therapy is terrific and bad therapy is terrible. And bad therapy just has you walk around the victim and feel even more right to have your moods. Folks, when I tell you Diana and Greg and Mary Ann and Ann and Carol that I wish I got your calls, you have no idea how true that is. But my friends, life is a battle, happiness is a serious problem— that's why I named the book that— and moods have to be fought.

Episode of Dennis Teaches the Torah.

In Hebrew, in the Torah, not only do you have, uh, in the traditional text the words, you also have from ancient times signs on every word of what we call cantillation or trope, how to sing the word. The Torah is traditionally sung in synagogue, not read. It's sung to certain notes. The notes are all there. One of the rarest notes— I think it appears like 5 times in the entire Torah— is called Shalshellet. I will sing it for you. You'll have an idea of how awkward it is. It goes like this: Shalshellet. It's the longest note, and it— in the— of all of the cancellation notes. Why did they put that note on the word 'he refused'? There are two separate reasons given by the rabbis. One is because he refused so many times, and he refused That's how it would be sung. The other one is he didn't refuse so quickly. And he refused. And I'm dead serious, there is, there is no established answer which one it is. Is it because he refused so often? Or because he took so much time to figure out that he refused?

Come back tomorrow for Dennis Prager's signature series on the first 5 books of the Bible, Dennis Teaches the Torah. 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.

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