The Happiness Show That Started It All

On today's episode of Timeless Wisdom, we found the cassette that answers the question, when was my first happiness hour? This is from January 1999, the first happy hour.

It's coming up on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager, and it starts right now.

Rising interest rates, stock volatility, out-of-control inflation— people are concerned about what the future holds financially. This is Dennis Prager for AmFed Coin and Bullion. There's no better time than the present to move a portion of your IRA into precious metals, you should know there's a right and a wrong way to set up your precious metals IRA. Mistakes could cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars in IRS fines. Call AmFed Coin and Bullion, 800-221-7694, americanfederal.com. That's americanfederal.com.

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.

It's the happy, happy, happy, happy hour. Yes, it is. Hi, everybody. It's very special what I have on tap today. I'll explain in a moment, but first, but first. But first, but first, remember folks, come hell or high water, blood, frogs, lice, vermin, whatever, we have the Happiness Hour on the Dennis Prager Show because the happy make the world better and the unhappy make it worse. Now everybody, I'm listening.

Yes it is.

We've got video up there of families dancing to this stuff. We've got everything. If you want, if you sing along, video it and we'll put it up too. But it's a very serious subject, actually. Happiness is why I titled my book on it Happiness Is a Serious Problem. It certainly is. Life is tough for the vast majority of human beings, and it's extremely tough for a lot. I don't know— well, I do know, actually. I know— I think I know one person for whom life has been relatively easy. But I will keep that name anonymous at this time. But overall, it's not me, by the way. It is not me. If it were me, by the way, if I had an easy life, we wouldn't have to have a happiness hour. I would not have written a book, certainly not a book titled Happiness Is a Serious Problem. So what's special about today? After a great deal of searching, And we have— I've recorded most of my shows for 29 years. We have thousands upon thousands of cassette tapes and then digital, and we're eventually going to digitize thanks to another great man in Nebraska. And one great one in California found it, Alan Breeze. And we found the cassette that answers the question, when was my first Happiness Hour? And it was January what? 29th, 1999. So here it is. Now obviously that you don't hear the theme song, there wasn't chosen yet. So here is the actual— and by the way, this is the first time— well, it's the second time I'm hearing the first few minutes. I have not heard this. This is as new to me as it is to you, unless you heard it that day and remember it. I didn't. I don't. This is from January 1999, the first happy hour. Well, ladies and gentlemen, the music introduces a new dimension to the Dennis Prager program.

Happy hour on the Dennis Prager Show.

That's a fun theme. Can't knock that. It has occurred to me that some of you think that all I care about is good and evil, right and wrong, truth and lies.

Clarity and non-clarity, and you don't know the other sides of me, and I feel cheated and cheating you. Now here I spent 10 years writing a book on happiness, and I never even talk about the subject on the show, and that's crazy. So folks, welcome to the Happy Hour.

By the way, we renamed it Happiness Hour over the time— over the course of time. Go ahead.

We won't do it again.

I love that line. If it fails, we won't do it again. I had no idea how this would go over. I remember my thinking, and I really, I remember it vividly. Maybe people will think this is unbelievably superficial. People might think that, what is this doing on a serious talk show? Nobody else does anything even remotely like it. This is not your field, Dennis. You know, if some psychologist wants to go on radio and talk about happiness, that's fine. I also had this in my mind that happiness is a selfish pursuit. So here I am, a guy who wants a more decent and moral world. Why am I spending an hour every week on something that's just selfish? You have no idea, you really don't, how much went on in my mind against having this to come to fruition of a, what I called then happy hour, but now happiness hour. And when I just said— can you just possibly move back 20 seconds— when I said, if this doesn't work out, you know, we'll just drop it, I was thinking aloud. Here we go again.

Welcome to the happy hour.

And if this fails, we won't do it again.

It's as simple as that. But I'd like to share with you on this hour and have you ask and comment on your own happiness issues. The problem being happy.

By the way, does anybody know what this music is? Anybody know? Well, yeah, we're SoundHound, but with the talking over, over it, uh, deflect. I'd be very curious to try it out. All right, continue.

Happy.

Maybe a listener knows.

So today I'm going to talk to you. I'm going to open up with one of the ideas that I, I could bring to your attention. You know, one of the reasons a lot of people are unhappy?

Why?

Because they think that everybody else is happier than they are.

Good point.

Which is pretty disgusting when you think about it. Oh, I get miserable thinking about all the happy people around. Ladies and gentlemen, may I tell you how we sabotage our happiness in life? Well, we do in many ways. But let me just tell you one right now. We compare ourselves to people we are sure are happier than we are, and then we get miserable. I can give you example after example of this. Uh, I, uh— oh, you do it all the time. Do you compare your happiness to people you think are less happy? Eh, eh, eh, eh. Nope. You compare yourself to people you think are more happy.

Now remember, this is 1999 and I had just spent, as you heard, 10 years. In fact, it was so long, it took so long for me to write the happiness book that I gave the money back to Random House because I didn't have it in on time. I actually paid back the advance and then HarperCollins picked it up. And I've been with HarperCollins since, and my next book is still The Last Best Hope, is my next book. And that too will be HarperCollins. But that was— remember, this is the culmination of massive amounts of both talking in speeches, not on radio, and writing. So here we continue, and this is a big one. I'm fascinated that I picked as my first topic, we compare ourselves to people we think are happier than us. I think it's one of the big 5. That is so human to do. You know, we, everybody does it. The guys who are on the Forbes 400 wealthiest Americans don't compare themselves to the 300 million Americans poorer than them. They compare themselves to the 166 ahead of them on the Forbes list. That is the way it works, my friends. That is the way it works. I will continue.

They're not, or very rarely are they. Uh, let me give you a great quote. This quote will change your life. It's not from me, it's a woman named Helen Telushkin who made this up. But if you memorize this quote, you will immediately be a happier person if comparing yourself to people you think are happier is part of your misery. And that is this— I will even use a reverberant sound to impact it even greater— the only people I know who are happy are people I don't know well.

We need a great line.

She said, the only people I know who are happy, the only happy people I know, are people I don't know well.

By the way, folks, that is one of the great lines of world history, and I can say it because I didn't come up with it. The great late Helen Telushkin did, and it's worth putting over your bathroom mirror to see it every day. The only happy people I know are people I don't know well. She came out with that spontaneously when I was in high school, and it is amazing it stuck with me. You know what sticks with me? Ideas. Dialogue doesn't. And I paid a big price. Events don't, dialogue don't, but ideas stay with me. And I was in high school when she said it. Her son, Joseph Telushkin, today one of the preeminent Jewish thinkers and writers, and biblical literacy, Jewish literacy, I mean a whole, like a dozen books. Anyway, we were in her kitchen. We were talking about kids in our class we thought were happy. She closed the refrigerator door and said, "Boys, let me tell you something. The only happy people I know are people I don't know well." And it's so true, 'cause as soon as you know anybody well, you know how much pain they have in their life. It's if you don't know them well, you don't know. We'll be back, 1-8-PRAISE. Dennis Prager, 776.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

Precious metals dealers come and go. This is Nick Grovich, president of Ampfed Coin and Bullion. We've stood the test of time since 1983. With the flurry of coin and bullion dealers coming and going, how do you know who to trust and what to buy? At Ampfed Coin and Bullion, we value educated consumers. We want to alert you to good bullion buys in the market and help you steer clear of the tricks and bad deals. Call AmFed Coin and Bullion for a free coin performance review. 800-221-7694 or americanfederal.com.

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

When you're crying, when you're crying, you bring on the rain.

Bring on the rain.

Stop your sighing.

Stop your sighing.

Won't you be happy again? Happy again. When you're smiling.

When you're smiling. Keep on smiling, keep on smiling, and the world will smile.

From the wisefoodstorage.com studios, gourmet emergency meals at the best prices, wisefoodstorage.com. I'm Dennis Prager. The Happiness Hour. We unearthed my first Happiness Hour, then called Happy Hour, from— let's see, it would be, uh, 12 almost 13— no, no, 12 and a half years ago, January '99. '99 is when my book on happiness came out. It was a gamble, a big gamble. What to you now is a given— oh, Dennis and his Happiness Hour— I mean, to be honest, that's the first thing most people who meet me in the street or at a speech say, I love your Happiness Hour. And but you, like so much in life, you take a gamble with— you flirt with failure. In order to have a big success. I had no idea that this would succeed. None. And you heard me say, look, if this doesn't work, we don't do it again. I would have been absolutely unsurprised if I didn't get a single call, or if the only calls I got were, Dennis, come on, you talk about serious subjects. What is this, a happy hour? What are you, at a bar?

Right?

That's the way people associate it. Happy hour. In fact, I used to say our happy hour is the only one you don't get inebriated in and you still leave happier. In fact, you do leave happier. So I'd be curious when you first met the happiness hour. 1-800-PRAGER-776. And what I— I'm listening for the first time. I have not heard any of this. This, I purposely didn't want, I wanted this to be as spontaneous for me as it is for you. And I picked a great subject for the first broadcast on happiness. And that is that we compare ourselves to others that we think are happier than us. All right, continue.

Got it. Everybody that you know well, you know how much pain and unhappiness they have had in their lives, right? It's only people you don't know well that you assume have been much freer of pain and unhappiness than you have. But as soon as you get to know people— I'll never forget, this was really a dramatic moment for me. I know this, and by the way, the moment you really know this, the moment you really know this, you'll never be jealous again. And jealousy is one of the greatest obstacles to happiness in the human condition. People are jealous and they get unhappy. Jealousy is, is totally subversive, but there's nothing to be jealous of. But let me tell you how we could play tricks on ourselves. I am very brain-centered, and I know what I'm telling you to be true, and I have incorporated into my life. But listen to this. A few years ago, I was on a book tour for the book prior to my book on happiness, and I was in a— I won't say what city because It's possible it could be traced to, you know, somebody listening could figure it out. I don't, I don't want to betray a confidence, uh, but I was on a major city in the South, major American city. I was on this talk show during the day, and this talk show host was in his 30s, very successful, prime time show, good-looking guy. Uh, he has a picture in the studio of his wife and children. She's beautiful, the kids are beautiful. This guy is happy. He's telling me how much he loves living in this city. And I think to myself, which is the way most of us do think, I'm thinking, my God, I think I may have met a guy who has everything. Well, we continue the interview, and then there's of course a commercial break. During the commercial break, uh, we start talking about our mutual love of computers and how we both love the internet. And he says to me, Dennis, I can't tell you how valuable I find the internet. And I say, really? Me too. He said, well, let me tell you, I, I type in multiple sclerosis and I have learned so much about that disease. I said, well, why did— why do you concern yourself with multiple sclerosis? Because my wife has it. And I tell you, I have the chills as I relate that story to you, because I remember thinking, Dennis, you fool, you violated your own knowledge, your own principles of happiness, in, in thinking Well, here's a guy bereft of problems. No one is. No one, no one, no one, no one. People, even if they don't have a wife with multiple sclerosis or a child who's ill or something, people have demons. Every single human on Earth has demons. Every one of you listening has demons. Something in you that is, that, that is self-destructive that pushes you into arenas that will hurt you. For this one, it's in the area of emotions. For this one, in sex. For this one, in booze. For this one, in drugs. For this one, in money. For this one, in power. For this one, it's insecurity. For this one, it's in the physical realm. I mean, it's endless. So we compare ourselves to— I'll tell you another reason people compare themselves to others and think others are happier. All around you are images of happy people, right? Everybody is smiling in ads. Everybody is smiling on billboards. Did you ever see a picture of your grandparents? I'll bet you you don't have one picture of a smiling grandparent, if you're— certainly if you're my generation.

Let me remind you, you're listening to what we finally found, the first broadcast of the Happiness Hour, January 1999. Okay, continue.

You see any pictures? I was just watching the Civil War on PBS. I— on tape, it's not on PBS now. I bought it on tape. And it's a terrific series.

By the way, let me explain for some of the younger listeners. Prior to Netflix, uh, people used tape to watch movies. It would move across from one spool to another spool It wasn't that long ago. You actually— No, you can't use it with me, Sean. Eh, eh, eh, eh, eh. It's amazing. The president feels powerful when he enters Air Force One. Sean feels powerful when he puts on the laugh track. We continue.

Dennis Prager, got— gotten all these awards, correctly so, deservedly so. And all the pictures from the Civil War, not one person is smiling. And I don't mean wounded soldiers, I mean before they became soldiers, after they got home. Not one person in any picture, not one general, not one private, not one civilian, is smiling. Because it never occurred to them, why would I smile for a picture? Who walks around smiling? People who walk around smiling all the time are institutionalized, right?

Right.

So we walk around thinking these other people are all happier than us, and that makes you more unhappy. Uh, this is the happy hour, a new innovation on my show. Maybe we'll do it third hour Fridays, we'll see how it goes. A lot of you are calling, which is already a semi-precious stone, uh, and, um Uh, it's important stuff. I've come to realize how critical happiness is.

It took me a long time, my friends. It took me a long time to realize that happiness was not just a selfish psychological pursuit, but a moral obligation. 1-800-PRAGER-776, The Happiness Hour.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

Precious metals dealers come and go. This is Nick Grovich, president of Ampfed Coin and Bullion. We've stood the test of time since 1983. With the flurry of coin and bullion dealers coming and going, how do you know who to trust and what to buy? At Ampfed Coin and Bullion, we value educated consumers. We want to alert you to good bullion buys in the market and help you steer clear of the tricks and bad deals. Call Ampfed Coin and Bullion for a free coin performance review. 800-221-7694 or AmericanFederal.com.

It's so important to make someone happy.

Make just one.

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

Heart to heart, you, you sing to one smile that cheers you.

One face that lights when it nears you. You're everything to— that's, that's what a man wants to be, everything to his woman. There was more wisdom in that song than in the entire departments of women's and gender studies at all of the universities put together. If all you knew was what Jimmy Durante sang, you could lead a better life than getting a PhD in gender studies or women's studies in terms of interaction with the opposite sex. I say it with no joy, but anyway, that's why we founded Prager University, to undo what most universities do. Welcome back to the Happiness Hour, and the— it's a real special one today because I am playing for you The first Happiness Hour I ever did, 1999. Let me take some calls here. And it's fun to listen to. That's the reason I have not heard it. So I have no idea what I'm about to say, but I'm pretty much of the same opinion as then. Here is someone who claims to have heard that first show, Michael in Prescott, Arizona. Hi, Michael.

Hi.

Well, I claim and I actually did hear it.

How do you know you heard the first?

I don't know. You've talked about Mrs. Teleskin and that insight more than once, so you know, it's possible I'm just sort of retrofitting, but I just remember because you were the only person I'd ever heard up until then to talk about happiness. I went to law school with Michael Josephson, by the way, and I didn't know him, but you know, he came on to be prominent.

In the ethics arena.

Yeah, but I never heard anyone before you talk about that. I think that's probably your, I would say that's your greatest insight. The idea that people compare no matter what they feel like. They always think somebody else is better off emotionally. And I never heard any, and I just, 1999, that's not that long ago. I've been listening to you for many more years than that. And so I do remember that program. I was in Fullerton in those days, and so heard it on KRLA or the previous station, wherever you were.

Well, I'll tell you, I'm very touched. Thank you very much. It is a big one, the comparing. And it's in the book, by the way. It's one of the chapters in the book. Of course, I've done so many shows. How many shows does that mean? If I started in January '99, So yeah, figure 40. You mean why? Why 45 even? Oh, okay. Just for a year. Okay. So 440, 440. Yeah. Some even closer to 500. Yeah. 500 shows. And I would say that we've had about 300 topics. So obviously, uh, vast numbers of these, uh, are not in the book on happiness. Let's go to another call here. And thank you, Michael, I appreciate that a lot. Let's go to, uh, let's stay in Arizona for a moment. Phoenix and Mike. Hello, Mike. Dennis Prager.

Hi, Dennis, how are you today?

Okay, thanks.

We're calling you Dr. Happiness.

That's nice, I like that title.

I did hear your first program. Now that I'm hearing it again, I've been listening to you for a long time and I use some of your teachings on my children. My 21-year-old just got married, and when she was 12, she came to me and said, "Daddy, I'm bored." And I said, "Well, honey, then you must be a boring person." And she goes, "That's not very nice." And I said, "Honey, you can choose to do anything you want. You could read a book, you could call your friends, you could ride your bike, but you come to me to make you happy? You need to decide this on your own." So she went and she read a book, and then 2 weeks later— the best part of this whole story— she comes back, she says, "Daddy, I'm— never mind. And she walked away.

I love it.

I love it.

Well, I get credit for that, and I am very, very delighted that my kids stopped 'I am bored.' They gave up on that so fast, just like his daughter, because that would be my line. Then you're boring. There is no excuse for being bored in the world in which we live. You're in solitary confinement, or, I don't know, you just collect cow dung all day in medieval Europe, maybe you have a right to say, "I'm bored." But there's no right to say that in the world in which we live and the opportunities that are available to us. Take more of your calls and we'll hear who the first caller ever was. To that show when we come back on the Dennis Prager Happiness Hour.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

Rising interest rates, stock volatility, out-of-control inflation— people are concerned about what the future holds financially. This is Dennis Prager for AmFed Coin and Bullion. There's no better time than the present to move a portion of your IRA into precious metals. You should know there's a right and a wrong way to set up your precious metals IRA. Mistakes could cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars in IRS fines, call AmFed Coin and Bullion, 800-221-7694, AmericanFederal.com. That's AmericanFederal.com.

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

You'll never hear this particular one again. We found the recording of my first Happiness Hour. This is the Happiness Hour on the Dennis Prager Show. Dennis Prager, every Friday second hour. I gave it a try 12 years ago, 12 and a half years ago, and even said if this doesn't work, well, we just won't do it again. But it worked. And my first subject was people comparing themselves to others, and we compare ourselves always to those we think are happier. Than us, who've had a less difficult life, and then makes us even more unhappy. Continue, please.

I've come to realize how critical happiness is in people's lives. Cindy in your car, thanks for calling.

Hi, am I on?

You are indeed.

Okay, I think this is a great idea.

Good.

Anyway, my comment is that I am a very happy person, and I think that people get turned off when you're, you're too happy, and, um, And, you know, thinking about the story you just told, that when you're looking at someone's life, you know, everyone has demons. Well, that's also part of figuring out that nothing's perfect and life isn't perfect, so you have to just make the best of it. And I think also people get turned off whether you're— if you're too unhappy.

Whenever someone goes through something, I'm sure, you know, everyone has had a bad Right, so people are turned off if you're very unhappy or if you're very happy.

Right, so where is that middle ground?

Well, that's a very good question.

In other words, it's easy to turn people off.

All right, well, I was curious to know what the first call would be, and that was it. Cindy, wherever Cindy is. Cindy, if you're listening, love to hear from you. We'll give you some sort of prize. Wasilla, Alaska, and Curtis. Hello, Curtis. Dennis Prager.

Hello, Dennis. It's very nice to talk to you. Thank you for taking my call.

Thank you.

So what I was telling your, uh, the person I just spoke with is that I heard, oh, several years ago, that you should be kind to everyone you meet because everyone you meet is in a great battle. And, uh, it's similar to what you spoke a while ago about your friend who thought you had it, the most happy person you'd ever met. So That's what I do. I try to do— it's not always that, but be kind. Everyone's in a great battle.

Excellent. When did you first become acquainted with this Happiness Hour?

Well, in just the last few months. I've been listening to you for a couple years, but maybe the happy hour didn't really connect, but I paid more attention to it in your, in your recent months. Yes.

Well, thank you for that. By the way, there are a few people, and it is few, It's overwhelmingly popular, but I periodically will get an email, and it's always from a guy. I've never gotten this from a woman, and that is, Dennis, love your show, listen to everything except the Happiness Hour. I'm a political junkie. And I always wonder, is that person introspective? It's not, you know, I don't hold it against the person, obviously, but I just wonder is if you are only interested in politics, and there are such people, right and left, then obviously you're— I have to believe you're not terribly introspective. What is going on inside of me? And I can't live such a life. The micro and the macro are both incredibly important. Alrighty, let's go to Chad in Los Angeles, California. Hello, Chad. Dennis Prager. Hello Dennis, how are you? Okay, thanks.

Great, um, I, I was calling, um, the, uh, the quote, the, uh, only— I only—

the only happy people I know are people I don't know well, right?

I disagree with that. I, I feel that I know quite a few people that are happy. I myself am very happy. Uh, I don't have a perfect life. I— everybody has problems.

Well, that's what she meant though. That's what you see.

You're—

I— you're fully right. If you take her literally, then of course it's not true. There are happy people, obviously. But that's not what she really meant. She really meant to say, don't be fooled. Please know that everybody has real burdens and pains. Okay, okay. So that's good. I'm glad you called, and I'm glad to make that clear. Most of the time when I have given that quote, when I have cited that quote, I think the live audiences— I can never tell from the radio— but a live audience will laugh, and it's not because they don't think that there are any happy people on earth. They laugh because of the deeper truth of it, that don't get fooled by thinking this other person is happy-go-lucky and they have a painless life. There's no such thing. Okay, and let's go to Orange, California, and Diane. Diane, Dennis Prager, hi.

Hi, Dennis.

Hi.

I just wanted to tell you, I remember distinctly the first Happiness Hour because I have multiple sclerosis. Oh, you gave that example. I went, you know what, Dennis is right, and I'm happy anyway, but Something like that is just not going to make you unhappy. It's how you react to it.

There was a quote that I cited recently. A very popular sportscaster died, and he had, I think, some terrible cancer. And he said— I quoted him on the show this past week, I think. In the obituary, they mentioned this. What is it? Life is 80% what is given to you and— no, no, 20% is what you're dealt and 80% is how you react to it.

You can't control the wind, but you can adjust your sails.

God, there must be so many sayings that say that same thing.

Yeah.

Well, that's very touching to me that you have multiple sclerosis and heard the first show.

Yes, I know you've told that story since, but even then it just hit me like a ton of bricks and I really love your show, Dennis Prager.

Well, God bless you, and I mean that.

Wow.

You know what I would like? I would like to know how many sayings there are that make that same point. It's not— I'll give you another one. It's not the cards you're dealt. That's how you play them. You know, so we now have the wind in the sails. Any of you know more, either come on in on the phone or send me an email. You're listening to the Dennis Prager Show. I played for you today the first Happiness Hour. We found it, and it's, it's been a lot of fun. And let me, let me take as many calls I can before the end of this particular hour, celebrating 12 and a half years consecutively of the Happiness Hour. And let's see here. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Marianne. Dennis Prager, hi.

Dennis, good afternoon. It's a pleasure to speak with you.

Thank you.

I've been listening to your show for about 3 years. 2008 got me started, and, uh, if there was one hour of radio time I have a week, it would have to be the Happiness Hour. Wherever I am, I try to tune into it because it really does make a difference in my life, and the happy people really do make the world happier.

And make the world better. Make the world better.

They do make the world better.

That's right.

And one of my happiest friends is a woman who lost her husband quite unexpectedly 18 months ago, and yet every day she greets with a smile and the decision to choose to be happy. And it's a great blessing to me. My, my, one of my favorite happiness quotes is by Ray Bradbury. I'm sure you're familiar with it. You can make yourself happy or miserable. It's the same amount of effort.

Hahaha, that's terrific. You know, I'll tell you the truth, we ought to collect some of these, because, you know, the collective wisdom of the audience is infinitely greater than mine. And so I defer to you in that sense, and I would love to have you send me some intelligent quotes. One of our favorite, and we have it on the happiness video at Prager University, is Lincoln's. We decide— what is it? We decide to be as happy as we— no, we— no, no, my favorite quote and I'm mauling it. Anyway, it's essentially that we decide whether to be happy or not. It's as simple as that and it's very— that's obviously critical. Carmen in Paris, California. Hi.

Yeah, my name is Carmen and I like to hear your show. It's beautiful, especially I learn more more from my husband because he loves your show. So, and I learn more the language because I hear your voice and I took classes and I get more proficient in the language. But you know, I still have some kind of—

Well, well, that means a lot to me. A lot of immigrants have told me that they have learned a lot of English through listening to the show. And I think of that all the time and I try— it's one of the reasons I try to speak as as clearly and not too fast as possible. So on this anniversary, forgive me if I didn't get to your call. It was a once-in-a-lifetime review of the first show. Now call in on anything under the sun. Well, ladies and gentlemen, the music introduces a new dimension your attention to the Dennis Prager program.

On tomorrow's episode of Dennis Teaches the Torah, a lot of people believe that the purpose of life is having children. And in Jewish life, there's a particular sense of nachas from children.

Many of you have heard the term nachas.

It's both Yiddish and Hebrew. It means joy, joy and pride, in some combination thereof.

And that the purpose of life is to have nachas from your children, and that's not true.

And woe unto the child whose parents feel that way.

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's lectures, courses, and classic radio programs and to purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bibles.

Rising interest rates, stock volatility, out-of-control inflation. People are concerned about what the future holds financially. This is Dennis Prager for AmFed Coin and Bullion. There's no better time than the present to move a portion of your IRA into precious metals. You should know there's a right and a wrong way to set up your precious metals IRA. Mistakes could cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars in IRS fines. Call AmFed Coin and Bullion, 800- 221-7694, AmericanFederal.com. That's AmericanFederal.com.