Timeless Wisdom - Jews and the Left

Is war in the Middle East the revival of an ancient conflict recorded in the Bible? The nation of Israel is a resurrected nation. So what if there was going to be a resurrection of another people, an enemy people of Israel? Dinesh D'Souza's new film, The Dragon's Prophecy, offers new understanding of October 7th, Israel, and radical Islam. We came back to a land that was largely barren and empty, and we brought it back to life, and we're going to keep it. Watch it now or buy the DVD at SalemNow.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. Thank you. It's very tough to talk after all of this. I— it's much easier to do a radio show. I'm— I just have Alan and Sean, and they never applaud me. I never hear anything positive. This, this is much tougher. Congressman, to hear those words from you is a very big honor for me because of who you are. I'd like to comment on something that Congressman Gallagher mentioned. I moved to California in 1976 in my 20s, and I moved to Simi Valley because I was brought out here to by the late, great Dr. Shlomo Bardin to succeed him as the head of the then Brandeis Institute and then Brandeis Bardin Institute. To the dismay of the board, I might add, which is its own issue, but they couldn't say no to Shlomo Bardin. In any event, the first thing I did was join the Rotary Club. I was the only Jew in the club, if I'm not mistaken. This is Simi Valley, 1976. Not a hub of Yiddishkeit. And it had a lasting impact on me. I— it chokes me up, actually. I get choked up a lot when these things happen. I fell in love with America. That's why I'm choking up. Give me a second. And, uh, that was the, um, that was sort of the beginning of my falling in love with America. I'm a yeshiva boy, and the, the world revolved around Jews and Judaism and Torah all of my years till I was 18. And I realized when I was 20 that I loved this country. I didn't realize it as a kid. And then I joined this Rotary Club, and it was very, uh, it was very moving to me that it was completely irrelevant to them that I was a Jew. They weren't— it didn't mean anything. Do you understand? And you see, this is the great tragedy, and I'm going to use that word a few times tonight because of the Jewish tragedy of embracing leftism. It is, it's a tragedy. It's, it's— there's no— I mean, I have worse words, I'll leave it at that. But it's at the root of leftism is ingratitude. It is its single most profound characteristic, and it's the most disgusting characteristic in human life. To be ungrateful, to live in the greatest country humans have ever made is disgusting. I know from having been abroad so much in my life, and by the age of 26, I think that's what I was when I was here, I had already been to about 30 countries, and it was everywhere on Earth It didn't matter. Not even West Europe, even progressive West Europe. A Jew in France is a Jew. A Jew in England is a Jew. A Jew in America is an American. That's— you see, I didn't even plan to say this, but when the congressman mentioned Simi Valley, and then I thought the Simi Valley Rotary club. It was so profound to me. If I were in the semi— if I were in the Paris Rotary Club, I'm not saying they would have been anti-Semitic. I don't believe they would have. But I would have been— it would have been Denis le Juif, Dennis the Jew. You are the Jew, the Jew, the Jew, the Jew. The Black, the Black, the Black. The Turk, the Turk, the Turk. Third generation Turks in Germany are Turks. They may not even speak Turkish. They may only know German, and they're still a Turk. First-generation Turk in America is an American. There is no place on Earth where that is true. And the left has the audacity, the chutzpah, the arrogance, the idiocy to call this country xenophobic. It is the least xenophobic country in the history of mankind. There is no parallel in history of people living in a good place and tearing it down. There is no parallel to what the left is doing to Western civilization generally and to the United States specifically. And let me make something clear, as I do every single day: I divide between left and liberal. Alan Dershowitz is a liberal, said to me, it is in the film you will see next year that Adam Carolla and I are making No Safe Spaces, on film, in his apartment, to me. I, as an American, a liberal, a Democrat, and a Jew, far more fear the left than the right. Any liberal who does not fear the left more than the right is a sweet, well-intentioned fool. That's the fact. That is the sad fact. I am sorry. It includes people I love, and I mean it, I love. You can be a lovable fool. You can be so foolish as to let the bad guys win. The left is the enemy of liberalism, and Alan Dershowitz is the quintessential liberal who understands that. If you don't understand that, it means you don't want to understand it. It is so obvious. Okay, that was just semi-valid. I'll take questions now. So I had a few names that I wanted— nearly every name that I wanted to mention was already mentioned by the wonderful Mitch and Bruce. God bless them. God bless the Jewish Republican Alliance. Thank you, Rabbi Feinstein, for having us here at your synagogue. By the way, talking about that, would you stand up if you're a member of Valley Beth Shalom? We— I want to welcome you in particular. Thank you for coming. By the way, I hope this is taken only as a good thing. I would love to speak to the whole congregation one day, but that— I just want to throw that out. By the way, the Republican candidate for Congress from this district, I met him earlier. I'd like Dr. Ken Wright to please stand. It's a mitzvah to elect him. Just want to say, mitzvah has two meanings, by the way, as those of you who know your Hebrew know. It means good deed is the most common translation, but it also means commandment. Just wanted to leave it at that. Commandment to elect him. So, uh, of course, Alan, my, my co-founder of Prager University was mentioned to you. Marissa Streit, the CEO of PragerU, is here. Marissa, please stand. Larry Greenfield was mentioned, so I won't mention him. Don't even think I mentioned him. I have nothing to say about him. I just wanted to make sure he was mentioned. Okay, so let me tell you, I— you have no idea. I give a lot of speeches. I will be speaking about 5 times a week for the next 2 months. And that's not radio, that's besides radio. But this speech was very special to me because of the— I have said this is not a— it's not a happy speech. And I know it's being videoed, so I want to make clear to anyone watching, I'm speaking Jew to Jew. I know there are of course non-Jews here, and you're obviously, needless to say, welcome. But I'm really speaking Jew to Jew in this speech, and I can't tell you— there are no— there really aren't words, and I'm good at words, but there aren't the words to describe my deep disappointment in so many of my fellow American Jews. For being on the left, not for being liberal, but for being leftists. When I would read that there was many synagogues around this country that sat shiva, that went into Jewish mourning when Donald Trump was elected president— let me put it to you this way, having just completed a 500-page Commentary on Exodus. When God wanted to destroy the Jews, and I learned about it in yeshiva, I wasn't on God's side. This is a joke. I don't want to destroy the Jews. I'm just telling you, I never understood how you could get so angry at the Jewish people, even God. I'm angry at my fellow Jews who are on the left. You are not only hurting America, you are hurting Jews. And I, I, I, and it has been a lifetime of trying to understand how do people side with those who want to hurt them. There is no parallel on earth. For a Jew to be on the left is like a Black being for apartheid. Were there any Blacks who went around the world supporting the South African regime? I don't think so. And if they did, we would think these are very strange people. How does a Jew support the left? This is the seat of Jew hatred on Earth today. How do you do that? Are you stupid? What is wrong with you? It is perplexing. The Jews of England may leave England if Corbyn is elected the next Prime Minister. Do you understand how bad it is? How do you support the left if you're a Jew? What is wrong with you? What the hell is wrong with you? By the way, there is no easy answer to it because it's unique. There is no example in the history of the world of a group siding with those who wish them ill. There is no example. I debated the head— it's so, so— the rot is so deep. I debated the head of the Jewish Studies Department of UCLA at UCLA some years ago, and the subject was is there a moral difference between the Palestinians and the Israelis? And he said there isn't, and I said there is. The head of Jewish studies at UCLA, the same UCLA Department of Jewish Studies invited, uh, what's his name, the, uh, the, the— I'll tell you, I have it down here— Cornel West. Cornel West supports BDS, and they invited him to give the keynote lecture on Abraham Joshua Heschel. There is— do you understand? You can't imagine. I can give you anecdote after anecdote of Jews supporting people who loathe them. Now, I don't say Cornel West loathes all Jews. You know the old line, oh, I'm only anti-Israel, I'm not anti-Jewish. You— so wait, so you support the economic strangulation of one state on Earth, the Jewish state, the state the size of New Jersey, but Jews are not supposed to see you as an enemy? Let me ask— I always— I have said this for 30 years. If somebody said, you know, I really love Italians, but I, I would like to strangle Italy, right? You would laugh, wouldn't you? But we're supposed to take seriously the moral idiocy, I love Jews. It's only Israel I loathe. Please, please, that's the Jewish state, okay? And here's another thing for American Jews. In the history of the word chutzpah, this, this is chutzpah exponentially greater than— there are no— I don't know the words. I— English and Hebrew don't have the word. For American Jews, having the audacity to tell Israel how to think. That is an unbelievable audacity. The arrogance of the left has no limitations. I am an American Jew living in the safety of this phenomenal country, 7,000, 10,000 miles from you, 'Your children are on the line at Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt, and Gaza, and I'm telling you how to vote. I know better. So if you vote for Netanyahu, you stink.' And now there's this great rift between American Jewry and Israel. You know what? Israelis know better about what is good for Israel than you do. Who the hell are American left-wing Jews to say there's a rift? We don't like Netanyahu's policies. Well, let me tell you something, they elected him, and if they elect a left-wing prime minister, this conservative will support him just as much as I support Netanyahu, because this American Jew thinks What is good for Israel, not what is right and what is left. What? I have one task as a non-Israeli Jew: protect Israel. That's it. It's a level of arrogance, the likes of which is truly unparalleled in my study, lifelong study of history. American Jews and claim about, oh, we're having a rift with Israel, the younger generation isn't identifying. Maybe it's because you on the left poisoned the younger generation. Okay, guess what? Jewish kids are not born anti-Zionist. They're taught how to be anti-Zionist. They're taught to think they know better for Israel than Israelis do. I supported Yitzhak Rabin on the left. I adored him. I supported him. I, by the way, many right-wing Jews thought I was out of my mind. I even supported Oslo. If Israel does it, I'm okay with it, even if I disagree with it. I can make aliyah in one nonstop flight from LA to Tel Aviv, and then I am an Israeli citizen that day. So if I don't choose to do that, I can simply say, how can I help you? That is the only question an American Jew should ask any Israeli prime minister. They sat shiva. American synagogues sat shiva. The mourning ceremony for the death of an immediate relative was used and perverted and sullied and dirtied by non-Orthodox synagogues around this country. Who had the audacity to take a Jewish ritual where you sit for your child, God forbid, or your parent, or your brother, or your husband, or your wife, and did it because Donald Trump was elected? Did they sit shiva for one Israeli slaughtered during any of the intifadas? No, because they're leftists before they're Jews, just as Catholic leftists. It's not just Jews. Leftism is the most dynamic religion in the world of the last 100 years. Catholic leftists are leftist before Catholic. Protestant leftists are leftist before Protestant. And Jewish leftists are leftist before Jew. They may not feel it. They may think Judaism and leftism are the same. The Pope thinks Catholicism and leftism are the same. The Presbyterian Church USA, which passed the BDS resolution, thinks that Protestantism and leftism are the same. It's the poison of leftism in Jewish life and in non-Jewish life that could lead people to think this way. It is to sit shiva. There was a rabbi, shockingly, in Berkeley who— who, are you ready— fasted. He fasted. Did he fast for one of the Americans who died on 9/11? Did he fast for one of the thousands of Israelis slaughtered? Did he fast? I mean, he fasted because Donald Trump won the election. How stupid can you get? How? No, no. How arrogant it is. It's showmanship. Look at how pure I am. Look at how wonderful I am. I am fasting because a man I don't like became president. So here's something I tell the left every day on my radio show. This is news to them. Guess what? We didn't like Barack Obama as much as you don't like Donald Trump. They can't imagine that. They're like children. Narcissism and leftism are synonymous. The world revolves around my feelings. They can't imagine. You know why they can't imagine that we were as disgusted with Barack Obama's presidency as they are with Donald Trump's presidency? Because we act civilly when we're disgusted and they don't. And because we, we didn't close bridges and didn't close tunnels and didn't smash windows and didn't break down businesses and didn't surround Democrats in their restaurant seatings, they didn't understand we were just as disgusted with the worst president possibly in American history. You know why? Because we're nicer. That's why. We are simply not— conservatives are nicer than leftists. Not than liberals, but than leftists. We are. We just don't do what they do. But they're infantile, so they act out. They smash. We didn't have a majority on the Supreme Court since I'm born, and that is a while ago. And let me tell you, we don't bang on the Supreme Court doors. Nor do we check your high school records. I swear as I stand— that's why I'm wearing a kippah. I'm standing in front of sifrei Torah, scrolls of the Torah. So that is how holy my words are I am about to say. If there had been the identical equivalent, let us say Merrick Garland were in fact nominated and his, and his case taken up, his nomination taken up, and some woman came a week before the nomination who said he did whatever and whatever to me in high school, I would have had the identical reaction. That is not how America conducts the way it evaluates a judge of the United States Supreme Court. That is it. I don't know if she's lying. How could I know? But that's the whole point. Since there's nothing to know, why was it taken up? It was taken up to smear a good man, and that in Judaism is a sin. When I— I've been on radio for 35 years. I was on during the Clinton era, the entire Clinton era. I made an announcement regularly: there will be no Monica Lewinsky jokes on my show. If you start to tell me one, I will hang up on you and you will never hear one from me. It's all recorded. You can hear me say it. And I said why? Because I cite Judaism frequently on my radio show, and non-Jews love it. It's the Jews who have a problem with it. And, uh, and I, I quote the famous Here, I'll say it in Hebrew. Whoever humiliates someone in public, it is as if you have shed his blood. That is why that is the epitaph for the Democratic Party of the last 2 weeks. They have shed the blood of an innocent man. That's all they did. Ah, but then we are told in typical moral idiocy of the left, believe women. That is an amazing statement. Believe women, not believe evidence, believe truth. Believe women. You are not embarrassed to make such a claim. What would you think of someone who said, believe men? Are you joking? That's what I would say. I don't believe men and I don't believe women. I believe evidence. That is all there is to it. The reduction of all values to race, gender, and class is one of the ways in which the left is destroying the West. And by the way, you know, it's so funny, they get angry when I say this, but they say it. They say what they want to destroy. Barack Obama, 5 days before he ran in 2008, announced, we are 5 days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America. I don't want to fundamentally transform the best country that was ever made. It is— you, you quote them to them and they still don't know what they said. Oh, we on the left love America, but we want to fundamentally transform it. Let me just ask those of you married, or in fact, even better, those of you divorced. What do you think of the notion that your spouse would like to fundamentally transform you? Is— let me just ask you, is that a sign of love? I'm just curious. Just curious. I don't know. What do I know? I've been divorced, remarried. What do I know? But I gotta tell you, it sounds to me bad. It's not the most loving. If my wife said, "Oh honey, I love you and I hope somehow you're fundamentally transformed," I would think that there was a— in Gemara we say a stira, a contradiction between those two ideas. Oh, we love America. Oh, so it's sexist, intolerant, xenophobic, homophobic, Islamophobic, racist, and bigoted, and we want to fundamentally transform it, but we love it. With love like that, you don't need enemies. What love? What a sick love. They're not even honest with themselves. Of course you don't love America. You crap on it every day. That's your essence. It's the essence of it. It's a racist country. The pre— President Obama said it. It's got racism in its DNA. And then they call Trump divisive. The audacity, the chutzpah, the idiocy. What about— or how often— what was that city in Missouri with the, uh, Ferguson? How often did President Obama mention Ferguson? You know how— what a lie. That's a sheer lie. A jury consisting of a lot of Blacks acquitted the, the policeman. There was no racism whatsoever. His life was ruined. I feel bad for the kid, but the kid attacked the policeman. That's the fact. That's a fact. It's not a CNN fact. It's not a New York Times fact, but it's a fact. But this president, he's divisive. He's divisive, right? So let's talk about Donald Trump for a moment. I'll preface it by saying, for the record, as of this moment of this speech, at this time, this president has been a great president. I don't use the words easily, and by the way, just Just for the record, he was my last choice of 17 Republicans. And no, no, it's not funny. I, I must say, this past Yom Kippur, I wrote him a note asking for teshuvah, for forgiveness. I fell into the trap of hearing some stupid comments and making my conclusion based on that. He said stupid things. You're right. So let me talk about saying stupid things. None of us have ever done that, but I just like to— I'd like to analyze it. For example, the famous Planet Hollywood tape that was released about groping. Okay, so here's the story, and I learned this in yeshiva. That's where I got most of my wisdom. If you believe I have any wisdom, that's where I got it. What people say privately says nothing about them. That's the way it works. There are two things that let me know your character: what you say publicly and how you behave. It is not the thought that counts but the deed. This was drilled into me. Judaism is a behaviorist religion. It says you give 10% to charity. If your heart isn't in it, doesn't matter. That's the way it works. That's Judaism, okay? That's the way it is. Your heart is— you don't want to fast Yom Kippur? Too bad, Charlie. You're supposed to fast on Yom Kippur. That's Judaism is behavioral. Maybe one day your heart will catch up, but Judaism is not interested in your heart. It tells you over and over not to trust the heart. If I judge people by what they said privately, there is no good person on Earth. None. That is simple as that. Okay, just for what I have said about other drivers would put me in hell. Whatever race, ethnicity, religion, or gender a slow driver in the left lane is, I hate that group like the biggest bigot in America. If I see a Jew with a yarmulke going slowly in the left lane, I'm anti-Semitic. How about this? David McCullough, in his great biography of Truman, notes that when Truman went to visit New York for the first time, he wrote back how many kikes he saw. Harry Truman is the man who recognized Israel against the entire advice of the State Department, which— which— but if Jews were as stupid then as they are today, they would have somehow learned the guy used the term kike privately. We can't vote for him. and they would've lost the greatest advocate they had when Israel was founded. I don't care what people say privately. It tells me nothing. He said, if you're famous, you can grope. They let you grope them. Didn't say he did it. And if he said he did it, he was probably lying. He was having fun with another guy in a totally silly way. That's all it means. That's— get it? That's all it means. Unless you went to graduate school and you got so stupid you don't understand what I just said. So yes, I opposed him during his McCain comment. Was totally beyond the pale. I mean, absolutely. I agree. I agree. People are packages. What he has done as president is so unbelievable. My wife and I had the honor of having dinner with Vice President Pence and his wife in their home just a few last months. There were only 5 guests there, the 5 guests and 3 Trump— of 3 Pences, the the parents and one of their daughters. And, uh, he, he told us it was quite remarkable the opposition he had to moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem. The, the, the, uh, he told us, uh, well, I'll tell you what I can tell you. He told us world leaders just stood in line, as it were, calling him, begging him not to do it. And warning him the Arab world will explode if he does it. And then he did it, and there was no explosion. One of his virtues which comes with some of his flaws, but the virtues are more important, is he doesn't give a damn what people say about him. He is completely not intimidatable. World leaders call him up, tell him not to do it. He thanks them, has a Tootsie Roll, and then does what he wants. That's it. Didn't you know, in a certain sense, Donald Trump, who, by the way, I believe is an extremely bright man, okay, extremely bright. But Donald Trump, Donald Trump, there's a certain beautiful simplicity to the man. He says, wait a minute, didn't every president promise to move the embassy? Republican and Democrat, every presidential candidate and president. Wait, and didn't Congress pass a resolution to move the embassy? So, okay, I'll do what every past presidential candidate promised and what the Congress resolved to do. What's the big deal? So what is the big deal? And by the way, did you know this? Did you know the Conservative Party of Canada has now on record it will move the Canadian embassy if they are elected? And do you know why? Here's the answer: Donald Trump. That is the only reason. Oh, and it really annoys the New York Times. He goes and tells our allies, uh, excuse me, you should be paying for your defense. What is exactly wrong with that idea? Why is that alienating our friends? If they're friends, they should not be mooching off us to defend themselves. Then there is my favorite critic. Critique, like the Pope, a moral giant if there ever was one, said we should be building bridges, not walls. That is only meaningful if you went to graduate school. By the way, I'm only half jesting because I did go to graduate school, but, but, but I dropped out. I dropped out after 2 years. I realized I don't know why I'm here. I, I— so anyway, but, uh, I'm only half jesting because this is very serious. And this is truly a big reason Jews are on the left. It's not the only reason. Jews are the best educated ethnic group in the United States. The more highly educated you are, the more of a fool you are. It is not true for everyone. It is true in most cases. When someone says something morally stupid to me on my radio show, I then ask— I let them finish. You know, I have never yelled at a caller. In 35 years. Okay, I am known for being polite, so I politely ask, just curious, what college did you go to? To which they will say, well, why do you ask? I said, because you had to go to college to say something that silly. And I mean it sincerely. And I don't blame them, I blame their higher education. You have to have a higher education to believe these things. To believe we need to build bridges, not walls, or to compare the wall to the Berlin Wall? Didn't the Berlin Wall keep people in? How do you make— because they're both spelled with a W? Is that— it's breathtaking, the idiocy of that comment. It's breathtaking. There's a very simple reason for the division on immigration, and it has zero, zero to do with xenophobia. Zero. It has to do with the belief that the nation-state is a good thing or not a good thing. That's all it is about. The left has— since Marx, the left has never divided the world among nations. It has divided the world among classes. That is a very major belief on the left. The nation is a bad idea. That's what the left believes. The nation is a bad idea. If you listen to my program regularly, you know that on many occasions I have noted that a few years ago in the Superman comic strip, Superman stood in front of the United Nations and gave up his American citizenship to be a citizen of the world. Left-wing writers have taken over Superman. The original writers were super-duper Jewish patriots. Jews in the '30s were crazy about America. Jews in the '40s were crazy about America. Jews in the '50s were crazy about America. Jews in the '60s became leftists. That's what happened. Jews made the films that celebrated the flag. Jews made the films that were— that loved the word patriot and loved the symbols of patriotism, like the flag. Would you like to compare how many flags there are up in Jackson, Mississippi versus Santa Monica, California? No, no, I mean, let's— so they'll say, well, that's not a sign of patriotism, that's just a piece of cloth. Okay, to some of us it represents a lot more than a piece of cloth. You might as well say that's just a piece of parchment. Why have synagogues with Torahs in them? It's just a piece of parchment. Fools. They're fools. An old Yiddish saying: I'd rather lose to a wise man than win with a fool. It is very tough to deal with fools. Jewish leftists are fools. They mean well. All fools mean well. Mean well doesn't mean a damn thing. It doesn't mean anything. Mean well. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Jewish communists meant well. Non-Jewish communists meant well. Who doesn't mean well? Who wakes up in the morning and says, oh, I really want to do evil today? There are very few such people. So that they are sincere is of no interest to me. Every bad ideology is filled with sincere people. It's a shame, it's a shame what has happened. Though I do remind people, it is not just a Jewish phenomenon. When I see what's happened to mainstream Protestantism and non-Orthodox Catholicism, there's no difference. Leftism is a poison. And I've not even mentioned the issue that I have to say may be the one that I am most worried about in many ways, and that is the male-female issue. I pity America's young because of leftism. I pity them. You are the products of child abuse when you are told by teachers that you are not a boy or not a girl. You will decide later what you are. I could cry for these kids. There are kids now being raised with no gender. No gender. You have a vagina, you will have breasts, you have ovaries, you have a uterus, you have the double X chromosome, but you're not a female. You'll decide one day. Do you know how many schools teachers are told not to call their children— I mean, talking first graders— do not call your students boys and girls? The New York subway has announced no more of it. No longer are there announcements, ladies and gentlemen, just passengers. We do say hell, so you could have said, what the hell? It's not funny, it's frightening. I wrote for years for the Jewish Journal when I just had to take a break to write my Torah commentary. And I wrote a piece. If you read it, it attacked no one. It was utterly respectful. But I said, you know, the Torah very strongly says that God created the human being male and female. And there's a law in the Torah, man cannot bear a woman's clothes and a woman cannot wear that which pertains to a man. The Torah celebrates the differences between the sexes and wants them to be maintained. The head of the Reform movement, Rabbinate, called me a hater. They all called me haters, rabbi after rabbi, in unorthodox life. Orthodox rabbis kept silent. They're not particularly strong, but they're the only allies I have in Jewish life, so I love them. But courage is not a ubiquitous characteristic in the human species. Orthodox rabbis should be protesting on behalf of the male-female distinction, but they're too busy with other matters like, is the Erev up around LA? Which may be important, but it's not as important as maintaining the male-female difference. Okay, Erev isn't in the Torah. Just in case you think I only am giving it to non-Orthodox Jews, I just thought I would be fair for a moment and tell you why nobody likes me. But, uh, it was— but this, this issue of the male-female issue, a generation being raised to think this way. The latest study, I don't believe it, but still, the latest study just came out 3% of American youth do not identify as male or female. If it's true, it's only because society has told them not to. It is exceedingly rare, genuine gender dysphoria. It is exceedingly rare. But listen to this: if you have a 12-year-old and she says, 'I'm a boy,' you can take that child to a therapist to try to work it out, which in 99% of instances does work itself out. Out. She goes through this phase. But do you know that there are girls now who are getting mastectomies? Underage, under 18 girls getting their breasts lopped off by surgeons because they think they're boys. How could a surgeon do that? And these are the same people who protest the BRIS. Oh, that is so wrong. Foreskin, foreskin removal, that is pagan. But taking a girl's breasts off because she thinks she's a boy, that's progressive. This is the upside-down Orwellian world in which we live, and it all goes under the framework of leftism. Every rabbi in America should be railing against leftism. I don't care if you're a Democrat or Republican. I care if you rail against leftism or not. That is the threat to America. That is the threat to the Jews. That is the threat to Israel, not the right. But that's the way it is. A few final points before I take the questions. Christians, former head of the Reform Rabbinate announced he would never— he recommends that no Reform rabbi in any community attend any of the nights to honor Israel that evangelical churches put on. Now let me tell you, you probably— none of you almost know about these nights to honor Israel. I have had the honor to speak at the Christians United for Israel National Convention in Washington many times. I'm going to San Antonio in 2 weeks for their— that's where it started in San Antonio. Pastor Hagy's church. So I have seen about— yes, I have seen about a dozen of these nights to honor Israel where these Christians get up, sing songs in perfect Hebrew, celebrate the Jews, not just Israel, celebrate the Jews in Jewish history. And the first time I went to it I, uh, it's a little embarrassing, but I, I will tell you the story. The first time I went, I watched it and all I did was sob. I just kept tearing up. It was overwhelming to me as a Jew to see non-Jews celebrate Jews this way. I had never seen anything— I couldn't imagine it. And I, I, I have in my life 3 times, only 3, ever asked God for anything. The first time I was about 8 years old, I'd heard the rabbi say, if you're in trouble, say, "Anah Adonai Hoshea," "Oh God, save me." So I broke an expensive vase in my parents' house, locked myself in the upstairs bathroom, and said, "Anah Adonai Hoshea." Here's the eerie thing: my mother came home and didn't yell at me. It worked. I was blown away. The rabbi was right. This is, this is a killer phrase. I gotta, gotta keep that in mind. But my, my own— why do I call my work The Rational Bible? Because I'm very rational, and it's very hard for me to ask God for anything. I can ask God for others. I I just don't ask for me. But, uh, so the, um, let's see. So there was a second time. Oh, what was the example? Oh, this— I want to give you the example. Oh yes. So the second time was like 40 years later when I was at this night to honor Israel, and I just kept sobbing. And I said, okay God, I need your help. I can't go up there and just sob. I'll look like an idiot. So that was the second time. And the third time was— so that was the third time. They said the third time was something personal, and that also worked. But it's very eerie. But I just want you to understand how deeply I was moved. Now, here's the story. The head of the Reform Rabbinate announced that Reform rabbis will not attend in any of the communities that have this because we do not share the agenda of these right-wing churches. Okay, so I have an answer. Since you will never attend a right-wing Night to Honor Israel, why don't you make a left-wing Night to Honor Israel? There are no left-wing nights to honor Israel. It's like trying to go to the 9th floor in an 8-floor building. It ain't there. There are no left-wing church or synagogue nights to honor Israel. So it's a phony, phony line. And anyway, so that's the deal. We Jews, because we're so filled with friends all over the political spectrum, we're going to really— forgive me— crap on our Christian friends who honor us, and we will boycott their evenings to honor Israel. So this is what I'm told by Jews who want to debunk these spectacular Christian friends we have. They only do it because Two reasons: they want to convert Jews, and because they believe that this will bring Jesus back, because they have apocalyptic views. Israel will go up in flames and the world will welcome the second coming. Now, I want you to know I am with Christians as much as I am with Jews. Probably actually more. I'm more with Christians than with Jews. I work for Christians, for evangelicals, for 20 years. I speak in churches more than synagogues, so I know that community really well. Not one ever told me we support Israel because it'll bring Jesus back. By the way, just by the way, even to show you how stupid Jews on the left are, not just morally wrong, just stupid. Let's say they believe that. Let's say they do believe that the only reason Christians support Israel is to bring Jesus back. What's wrong with that? Let's just say it were true. You'll support the Jews till Jesus comes? From a Jewish perspective, that's a good deal. I made that deal, by the way. It's somewhere at the Brandeis Pardes Institute in their archives. This is actually on video. I am 30 years old. I'm with Jerry Falwell in a dialogue in Beverly Hills at one of the big auditoriums there. And I say to the Reverend Falwell, Folwell, who was the head of the, you know, the leading Christian of that moment, he and Billy Graham. And so I said, Reverend Folwell, can we shake on this deal? You and your followers support Israel and the Jewish people until Jesus comes, and we in turn agree to recognize him when he does. And by the way, you know, none of that was meant as in any way as disrespectful. I love these people. I adore these people, and they're my allies, my friends. So please understand. But still, I wanted to make the deal to show Jews how myopic they are. They're so angry at religious Christians who are on the right that they don't even ask what's good for Israel and the Jews. They're just like children. They are. Leftism and childishness are together. I feel I'm a little— I'm angry at these people. They don't— they— I don't agree with them on same-sex marriage. So, so, okay, so don't agree with them on same-sex marriage. Fine. For that, you, you won't even participate in a night to honor Israel? That's, that's the way they think. This is the state of Jewish life at this time. All right, my friends, I think, I think I covered a lot now that I look at it. Yeah, let me just end with this, just end for 2 minutes on this, really 2 minutes. So what should we be doing? We have a task. The left uses tikkun olam constantly. But they— but it's a dishonest quotation from the Bible. It's not even in the Bible. It's a dishonest quotation from the liturgy. Doesn't say tikkun olam, period. It says tikkun olam b'malchut Shaddai. Repair the world under God's rule. That's good. In other words, no God, no improvement. Yet Jews are the most radically secular of any ethnic group. Jews think that an America that is godless is a good place. That's what they think. But I have a piece that's on the internet. I wrote it many years ago, How I Found God at Columbia, and it was the truth. I was very mystified at why my teachers were teaching me nonsense. At such bright people teaching me so much drivel, that America was just as culpable as the Soviet Union for the Cold War, that Israel was the villain in the Middle East, that men and women were basically the same. I was learning nonsense by— from bright people. And I give you my word, one day walking in the big area on 116th and Broadway, All of a sudden, something I had said since kindergarten in yeshiva came into my brain. Reshit chokmah yirat Adonai. From the Psalms, wisdom begins with fear of God. And a life-changing, a life-changing moment occurred for Dennis Prager. The reason there is no wisdom at Columbia is that there is no God at Columbia. And that That is our task. I don't care if you're an atheist Jew, an agnostic Jew, a believing Jew. Without God, it's all nonsense. Only without God can you believe that there's no such thing as male and female. You really— you've really lost the ability to think clearly. This is our task. If Jewish— if all the Jewish professors at universities, taught tikkun olam b'malchut shaddai, repair the world under God's rule, America would be in better shape. That's my message. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you, everybody. Thank you. God bless you. Thank you very much. Thank you. You were so many of them. When we're done with Q&A, we have a little special treat, so please don't leave. You can stay. First question is from Mark W. West Hills. Who's that? Oh, Dennis, red wave or blue wave in November? I'm sorry, red wave or blue wave? Oh, I, I, I, I never make predictions. I, I only I mean, I know what we have to do. I don't know what will happen. I was sure that Hillary Clinton would win, so never ask me a prediction in politics again. And, but I think, listen, I hope they believe there will be a blue wave. I hope that the polls keep showing it so that they can become arrogant as they were in the 2016 election. And I do say this, you really do need to get everyone you know, if you have to drive them to the polling place, that is your job on Election Day. Next one from Aaron in Encina, age 23. What is the best way to reach the other side on a massive scale? Well, it depends what the other side is. To reach the left is almost impossible because they won't read us. They won't listen to us. They won't watch us. They won't talk to us. We are happy to talk to them. We invite people. I'll never forget, I bumped into Thomas Friedman at Dulles Airport, the New York Times columnist. And he didn't know who I was, which, by the way, in and of itself was revealing. And believe me, this is not ego talking, okay? There was a girl who thought I was Phil Jackson, so I just want you to know. I don't walk around thinking everybody knows me. But hey, if you're a columnist in the New York Times and you don't know, let's say, among the 5 leading conservatives in the country, you're out of it, man. And he's out of it, but it doesn't matter. I didn't care that he didn't know me, but I did say to him, I said, you know, I do a national radio show and I'd love to have you on. He said, oh, that's very sweet of you, but I don't do radio. He was on NPR the next week. Because NPR will ask him toughies like, "How are you?" "How are things in the Friedman family?" "Why do you think the president is an idiot?" "Why is the New York Times so terrific?" That's what NPR will ask Thomas Friedman. By the way, I don't ask questions to get you, I just ask questions to clarify. So, and anyone who's known my show, I've had big leftists on, the handful that would agree to come on. But here is the point again on reaching. You can't reach a side that won't allow you to reach them. This is the point. They won't watch our video. They won't read National Review or Townhall or any of the other websites with unbelievably intelligent people writing for them. Forget that they won't watch Fox News, but we watch all of their stuff. We read all of their stuff. We go to school where their teachers teach us all of their stuff. We're immersed in leftism from birth. They avoid us. They don't know anything. That is why it is effortless for me to win debates against leftists. It's not because I'm a good debater. I am a good debater, but that's not why I win. I win because I know every one of their arguments and they don't know one of mine. It's all new to them. They live in a bubble. We do not. You can't live in a conservative bubble. It doesn't exist. You would have to go buy an island somewhere. It doesn't happen, but they do. I get the New York Times, I read the Washington Post, I read all of their stuff. I read more of their stuff than my stuff. Okay, but I'm a talk show host, maybe it's my job, but I did it anyway. All right, I read Pravda because I studied Russian. I read the Soviet Party newspaper. I always wanted to know what the other side thought. They have no interest in the other side. I'm going to Colorado State University in 2 weeks. You should see— I did— you should watch my fireside chats. Where do people go, Alan, to find it? JustPragerU.com. I have a fireside chat every week. It's very popular. You would enjoy it. But anyway, I talked about this the entire chat today. I usually take questions mostly from young people. By the way, you should know, of our billion views, 65% are under 35 years of age. So here's the good news. If we can get them to hear us, we will prevail in most— not all— in most instances. What— you know how many people say to me when they have— then they have left the left, you know what they say? It's not conservative, it's just common sense. And I say, that's exactly right. If it's not common sense then we don't hold it. That is exactly right. It's just common sense. Okay, very good. This is actually very apropos. Sharon, where you are, Dennis, yep, do you see a solution to the divide in America today? Well, somebody asked me that, uh, earlier tonight, and I said, the, uh, what was the solution to the divide in the 1860s? One side would have to prevail. There's a civil war in the United States. If you deny it, it's because you don't want to confront unpleasant reality. I totally get it. I don't like unpleasant reality either. I've been saying this for years. There is a nonviolent civil war, though I don't know if the left will keep it nonviolent. Uh, I mean, the Hillary Clinton announced yesterday, we, there will only, we will only act civil if we win Congress. She said it. I'm paraphrasing exactly what she said. They don't hide, just like Barack, they don't hide it. It's such, it's so, it always amazes me. They will, they go to the homes of people they don't agree with and they scream and shout obscenities in front of those homes. Ben Shapiro went to Berkeley, 600,000 $100,000 in security. A yarmulke-wearing Orthodox Jew is called a Nazi at Berkeley. Now, is the word sick fair? University of Wyoming, I spoke out last year, and somebody wrote in their— the University of Wyoming newspaper, you know, the usual sexist, intolerant, xenophobic, homophobic, Islamophobic, racist, bigoted, and an anti-Semite. You know how many anti-Semites are writing Torah commentaries? It's like the new thing among anti-Semites. I'm going to combine these two for Neil and for Mylene. And they ask, what do you think Trump's impact will be on the young vote, and how do you get more young people to vote for What, what was the first one? What do you think Trump's impact— oh, Trump's impact? I have no idea. That's not— it's not knowable. Trump is filtered through the, the left, calls him a Nazi every day, calls him a white supremacist. I mean, and they believe it. That's the— I went on CNN, it was— this was just fascinating. So you may not even recall because the lies of the left, they, they run a, between a 4-week and 6-month time period, and then they go to the next lie. So this lie was he has massively increased anti-Semitism, he has unleashed anti-Semitism in America. Do you even remember that? This was in— this was the New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN, massive. They used as the example a lot of calls to Jewish community centers that were to say that there was a bomb there, the death threat that calls to Jewish community centers. So it turned out, it was discovered just a couple of months later, that 90% of the calls were made by an American Jewish kid who had mental problems living in Israel. The other 10% were made by a black radical who wanted to frame his ex-girlfriend. Not one was made by an anti-Semite, let alone because Donald Trump was elected president. So I went on CNN. You could watch it. You should watch it. It's amazing. On Don Lemon's show, and I— wait, are you booing me or him? I'm joking, I'm joking. Okay, by the way, I'm used to getting booed, don't even worry about it. So, so I just— I get on there and it was, it was, it was mind-blowing. I, I did— none of this stuff bothers me, I have very thick skin. But I, I sit there half the time whenever I'm on these programs, it's sort of like entering the Twilight Zone. I just said, I said, Don, I, you know, CNN and others, it wasn't you alone, not even you, Don, just it wasn't your network alone. The New York Times, Washington Post, the whole mainstream media. I didn't even call them left-wing media. I was polite. All the whole mainstream media said that Donald Trump brought antisemitism to the fore as a result of being elected. But it turns out none of this had anything to do with him. And, and every other person on the panel said that I was, I was making this up. What do you say to that? There's nothing. I gave the evidence. I said, I'm telling you who called in. It's, it's a make-believe world. So you ask, how will young people react? How will they react to the real Donald Trump, or how will they react to the filtered Donald Trump, the racist bigot misogynist, women groper. And by the way, there's another thing. All the Jewish women who went on these women's marches and then write for the Jewish journal, it was the greatest day of their life. They cried and they loved it, and they brought their daughter with them while they wore a pussy hat. I always— no, no, I always wondered, how did they explain the hat to their daughter? No, I'm not joking. I really, I don't have an answer to it. It's what, you know, it's like those of you who study Talmud, it's teiku. Tishbe yator et kushios and boyos. When Elijah the prophet comes, he will give us an answer. But until then, I don't have an answer to that. But here's the very serious part. The feminist movement is saturated with anti-Israel hate. Saturated. The feminist movement is coextensive with Israel hatred, with Linda Sarsour and the whole gang. And women go, and Jewish women attend these marches. Okay, okay, last question from Mitch. Hi Mitch. Hi, what is your question about tonight's event and the Jewish Republican Alliance? Just checking, just checking. Detective Prager at work. It really was written and even signed by Mitch. A man who signs his own question is my kind of guy. All right, let me tell you something. Here's my view on the Jewish Republican Alliance and on the places that do good work. I say it on the show every day. There, there are two types of people who do good: the ones who do the good and the ones who help the ones who do the good. Not everybody's a fighter, but everybody can help the fighters. These guys are fighters. So if it means joining them, if it means sending them money— does that answer you? Does that answer your question? So listen, folks, uh, I'll, I'll end with this. This, again, I want to thank VBS for making this possible. Uh, it is a very important thing. This gave— 90% of this is not— was not joyful. I, I, I'm— my disappointment in many of my fellow American Jews is very deep. And if I didn't care for them, I wouldn't be disappointed. I'm not disappointed in left-wing Protestants. I'm not disappointed in left-wing Catholics. I'm disappointed in left-wing Jews. I expected better. Not perfect, not great, but not to support the bad guys. That's not Jewish. Thanks for having me. 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.