The Eric Metaxas Show - Dennis Prager (Encore Continued)

Episode Date: July 11, 2024

Eric sits down with Dennis Prager for a special Socrates in the City conversation. (Continued)

Folks, welcome to the Eric Mattaxas show, sponsored by Legacy Precious Metals. There's never been a better time to invest in precious metals. Visit legacy p.m.investments.com. That's legacy p.m. Investments.com. Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready to listen to a man of grace, sophistication, integrity, and whimsy? Well, so are we. But until such a man shows up, please welcome Eric Mattaxas. I want to explore the idea, which I do on my radio program and when I give speeches. But it seems to me that what happened on October 7th is only the most recent and the most brutal of a series of horrible things that we have seen in public life in, let's say, the last three or so years. In other words, we seem to be witnessing manifestations of various kinds of evil

on a level that we haven't seen in our lifetimes in America. This is why I'm angry at liberals. Liberals know this is nonsense, and they vote for the left. The left votes its values. Conservatives vote their values, but the liberals don't vote their values. If liberals voted their values, they'd vote Republican, and the country would have no problems comparable to what we have. but they vote for people.

So if you tell any of your liberal, not leftist, relatives or friends, any of this stuff, you know, the Oregon Education Department said that one right answer in math is racist, is white supremacist. Or if you say men, you know, they say men menstruate, I know exactly what they will say to you. That is, it's a crackpot extreme. It does, you know, nobody really takes that seriously. And that's how they don't confront the evil that the left. is. Nobody takes that seriously.

And that's the end of the issue for them, and they'll continue to vote for them. That is why I don't think anything will change even among Jewish liberals. They will still vote Democrat. I know these people, I mean, they're in my extended family. I thank

God, my wife and my kids are on board with my values. A word about that, if I may, because this is one of my passions is the infinitely greater importance of values and love than blood. So this is a passion of mine. That's why I'm talking about this.

So I have two sons. One is biologic. One is adopted. So it's sort of a joke if people ever ask me. So which one of your sons is adopted, which is biological? I always have an answer. See, I'm sorry I forgot. That's my standard answer, because it means nothing to me.

Absolutely nothing. And I'll prove it to you. So what I have done on my radio show, having a radio show is a gift that I never knew what a gift it would be. I get to talk to more people of more backgrounds doing a talk show than anyone not doing a talk show is ever capable of having as a gift in their life. So I hear things that I would never have heard. So when I talk about the insignificance of blood, I got a call from a guy and he said, Dennis, I agree with you on virtually everything.

I got to explain to you why I don't agree with you on this. My parents are Holocaust survivors, and they lost all of their Nazis killed their entire family, their grandparents, their parents, their siblings. I am the only blood relative they have. have, do you understand why blood might be important to some people? Sounds pretty compelling, right? So I said to him, so I'd like you to do a test. After you hang up with me, call your parents and say, mom and dad, I'm just curious. What would you prefer? A blood child who didn't give a damn

about Judaism or being a Jew or an adopted child who continued the Jewish tradition and identified as a Jew. Then there was silence. My favorite time on radio is when there was silence. I never interrupt it. I don't care if people tune out, but I will wait for some reaction and finally goes, you're right. I am not interested, this is the way I put it, I have no interest in whether or not I perpetuate my seed. I'm only interested in perpetuating my values. That is why my heart breaks for people with good Judeo-Christian conservative values who have a kid who has contempt for those values. My heart breaks for these people, and they are the norm in conservative life. Very few parents, all their kids have kept their values because the parents sent their kids to college.

And that's when they got back a worse human being than they sent to college. I know you were born in Brooklyn, but I want you to answer briefly because I don't want to get into it. But just briefly, how did you come to have the values that you do? Were you raised by parents with those values? How did that? My parents were as perplexed as how I showed up as you are. Okay. My father, my father, who was an Orthodox Jew, mother in Orthodox Jew,

they were remarkable human beings. So just let me tell you. I'll give you one story about, you'll now know my father with this one story. My apologies to my wife who was heard this more than 207 times. But it is precious. I love telling it. So my dad, this is really powerful.

And it's a part of the way of answer. And then there's a part that I give another answer. So my father was all raised. a married man with a child and was therefore not draftable, given his age and those two statuses. But he enlisted in the Navy for World War II, and he told everyone why. Some kid, some Gentile kid in Idaho is going to fight Hitler, and this Jew is going to stay home with his wife and baby, and that's why he enlisted. Wow. That's that, yes, he is a remarkable man.

And now the character. I am the son of a character. I have a son who's a character and a grandson who's a character. It does go in the family. So anyway, so my father, Orthodox Jew, checks with his rabbis. What can he violate in Jewish law serving in the armed forces? And the guy says, whatever you have to do in time of war, like kosher and the Sabbath are suspended.

You have to fight. You have to save your life, the life of your comrades. So the first day on ship, he's an officer on a ship, they served bacon. My father had not eaten bacon in his life. Not once, not tasted at nothing. And he falls in love with it. And my father has bacon for two and a half years. Every morning. The bombs are dropped on Japan, the war ends, the Navy and the whole country are going crazy, celebrating the end of the war, and this is my father to me.

Dennis, they're all celebrating, and all I could think is no more bacon. That you now know my father. Truly, you truly do. And anyway, the answer, I don't know how I showed up, and I'm not kidding. I don't know how anyone does. I ask people that I consider exceptional, and I think I'm exceptional, and there was no arrogance in that at all.

If you disagree with me, then I'm a fool or an arrogant fool. But it doesn't matter. I have a completely objective view of myself to the best of my knowledge, both good and bad. If you want my bad habits, I can tell you those two. I'm the laziest person. I live the life of a sloth.

if I could. So I've taken on a million projects to undo my slothness. But anyway, it doesn't matter. So my father, so I have come out to realize there was no explaining. Can you, I read your magnificent book. Is Bonhofer explainable by his parents? They were wonderful people, but I don't know if he was. And you, my father actually, because I did no homework through high school,

which in a Jewish home is equivalent to robbing a bank. And my father said to me that my father talked to God every night. He loved God. I have trouble loving God, but my father loved God. And he would say, God, what did you give me? I don't understand him. And there is, ultimately, I don't know, Are you the product of your parents fully?

I'm very, you've got to be humble about parenting. For 10 years, Patriot Mobile has been America's only Christian conservative wireless provider. And when I say only, trust me, they're the only one. Glenn and the team have been great supporters of this show, which is why I am proud to partner with them. Patriot Mobile offers dependable nationwide coverage, giving you the ability to access all three major networks, which means you get the same coverage you've been accustomed to without four. funding the left. When you switch to Patriot Mobile, you're sending the message that you support free speech, religious freedom, the sanctity of life, Second Amendment, and our military,

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There are terrific people with crappy kids, crappy people with terrific kids. Don't take too much credit if your kid is terrific and don't take too much blame if your kid is an in a hole. That is the way it works in life. I don't know. where I'm the product of. I thought differently.

I wrote in my journal. I kept a journal in high school. My junior year, and I'll end, but it was a big question. I wrote, I know exactly what I want to do with my life. This is a junior in high school. I want to influence people

to the good. And I have not wavered since my third year in high school. Most juniors in high school don't write that. I mean, that is, Actually, that is amazing. And the reason I asked you the question, I really was not looking for such a long-winded philosophical answer.

I simply wanted to know whether your parents attempted to inculcate in you some of the values that you have now. Is it your sense that they did? Oh, yeah. Well, yes. They were, the sense that you had to do the right thing. Yeah. Dennis, you got to leave a big tip.

and yes my father drummed it into me and he said the reason was very simple that money means a lot more to them than to you and it has never left me I mean there's just there are so many examples my mother treated the electrician and the plumber who came into the house no differently than if they were royalty from London she made them meals you understand the same The plumber got a meal when he came to the house. And I remember saying to my mother once, bah, why don't you treat me as well as you treat the plumber? Well, you, okay.

In the interest of time, I just want to, I don't want to leave the question of Israel and anti-Semitism, but let's attack it from a different angle. It seems to me that some presidential administrations are openly pro-Israel and others, Obama and the current administration, seem not to be. What is your sense of the current administration? And of course, that's always difficult to answer, because we actually don't know who is running the country. We don't know that Biden. I don't have any actual sense that Biden is running the country or what's going on.

but they have had a difficult time because they've been attacked by the anti-Semitic left for being slightly pro-Israel. So we have a pincer movement against the West and against the Jews, and therefore against Israel, the left, the worldwide left, and much of the Islamic world. It's a very big chunk of humanity, those two. and who makes up these demonstrations to obliterate Israel, the left and the Islamist. Not every Muslim, that's why I say Islamist, but that's who.

And all these liberals who, as usual, felt good about themselves saying, oh, let's bring in millions to Europe and the United States from the Middle East. I wrote, it's on the Internet. My column that week was people bring their values with them. They may not bring their clothing. They may not bring any money, but they do bring their values. And a lot of them hate our civilization. And I was right.

And it wasn't even hard to be right. I don't know why it wasn't hard to be wrong. You think they're the same as us? Is that what you think? But do you know how many people are fools? And fools do the damage in the world. Fools are, there are so many more fools than there are pure, evil people. There are very few purely evil people.

But fools are just as dangerous. Thank you for not mentioning the president. Okay, the president is a fool, and I think he's somewhat bad. But it doesn't matter. Who is running the country, interest people interested in politics? I have no interest in politics. I have to be because I care about my country. But it's the last area of my passion.

Who is going to win the Virginia 6th District? I just don't know, I don't think about it. It's important. I don't claim that as a virtue. I'm just telling you, I don't care. But the answer with regard to Biden is it's irrelevant. Whether it's Obama behind the scenes or it is somebody else, it's the left. If God forbid, I don't wish it upon him, if he dropped dead tomorrow, nothing would change.

Nothing. Every leftist is bad for America. End of issue. And therefore, the Democratic Party is bad. for America because the left owns that party. That's it. That's all you need to know. It strikes me as fortuitous that not Netanyahu is back and that he is the head of Israel

for such a time as this. Do you think that he will carry on with what he said in wiping out Hamas, which seems absolutely necessary? or do you think that he is listening to some of the voices in the Biden administration and from others around the world that they need not to do that or somehow to broker some kind of a ceasefire? I'm not sure what people are saying, but what's your sense of where he stands?

Well, it's a very big dilemma because if they don't get weaponry from the United States, they run out of weapons. It's just the way it is. It's a tragedy, and I have no answer to that question. With regard to Netanyahu, I think any Israeli leader would want to wipe out Hamas, even the leaders in the liberal opposition. I don't have... So the liberals in Israel have some common sense?

Totally. There's almost no comparison. Yeah. The far left in Israel is analogous to the far left here, but they're so minimal in influence that it is a non-issue. They just dislike Netanyahu personally, but their values are virtually identical. The patriotism of the Israeli liberal

who will cry while singing Hatikva, the Israeli National Anthem, and will, if you've ever been to Israel on its Memorial Day, I have. Which day? It's the day, I believe it's the day before Independence Day. And so it's Memorial Day.

And Yomazika on the Day of Remembrance. And what happens, I think, at noon, but I don't remember the hour, maybe a different hour of the day. Sirens go off all through Israel, all traffic stops. On the busiest freeways and highways, I have the chance. as I tell you this, because it's something to see. Everyone gets out of their car. I could cry. It is so powerful.

And stands by their car for a minute or whatever, the length of time. The country comes to a standstill. Israel is a nation of Israel lovers. You have to be almost so far left as to be inconsequential. You will get out of your car and you will stand and the next day you will sing the Israeli National Anthem and you will send your kid there may be conscientious objectives in Israel

I never heard of one. It is a matter of course my child will serve in the IDF. There are no Israeli Quakers? That's right to the best of my knowledge that's correct. Okay. Are you familiar Ben Stein wrote a book that came out recently about Nixon. I interviewed him on my program about it, and he talks about something I hadn't heard about.

Nixon's very, very decisive, bold move in 1973 in helping Israel. I hadn't heard about that. Against Kissinger. Against Kissinger. I met Kissinger, not a big fan, but the point is that it really is, it was, fascinating to me to hear of Nixon taking that, speaking

of Quakers in Israel, of taking such a bold stand against the advice, not just of Gissinger, but of others, fascinating to hear about that, but then also fascinating to think that I'd never heard about this before, that the story of Nixon being, you know, like a Cyrus. I mean, we hear about

Truman, but we don't hear... Well, it's funny. Jews know it as it happens. The story. I don't think it's because I have extraordinary knowledge of the events, but it is fairly widely known, maybe not to the

next generation. The next generation Jews and non-Jews know almost nothing about anything. They know preferred pronouns. That's what they know. It's pathetic. But certainly middle age and older generation of Jews know

it was a very famous comment. I think of Moshe Dayaan, the famous minister of defense, the one with the patch, because one of his eyes had been shot out in a previous war. And he said the weapons we get from America in the morning we use in the evening. And those were sent by Nixon and Kissinger. So you have here the Jew Kissinger saying don't send because

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You are listening to a special Socrates in the city presentation with my friend Dennis Prager. This deep rot is very old. We now have hundreds of CIA and others and State Department people writing letters against supporting Israel. that depresses me because you have to understand I've had a lifelong love affair with America so it's very hard for me to get disappointed in human beings because I don't think much of the human race I don't that's why I love great people

wonderful people because they're so lovable they're so exceptional but I don't expect much from humans and that's why personally I've not been disappointed almost ever because it's really it's hard to disappoint me. I have to really love you to get disappointed. I've really loved America, which means Americans, not just America, the idea. And then to see the rot that fills the CIA and FBI that 51 liars wrote from all of our intelligence agencies, that the Biden laptop was Russian disinformation. And I think,

I think, I really do, and I believe it's a rare moment of my being naive, but I do ask, how did such a great country produce so many miserable human beings? Doesn't it take an effort to be a schmuck as an American? I mean, and I think that way. Well, now, Dennis, you know and I know that it is not most Americans, it is the elites. It's the folks that are in the Ivy League. It's the folks that don't foggy bottom. It's the folks that are the cultural elites in D.C.

Those people, I mean, to get back to, you remember the famous Buckley quote where he said, you know, I'd rather be governed by the first 300 names in the Boston phone book than by the faculty of Harvard College, right? Right. And the reason he said that is because he knew, as we know, that your average Joe is forced to have common sense, forced to pay bills, forced to raise kids, forced to live in what we call reality and force to deal with reality and have common sense values. But if you're in an ideological bubble, as the cultural elites can afford to be, if you're a community organizer, if you're on the faculty of some college, you can live in that bubble. And most of the people that do things like, you know, sign letters saying the Hunter Biden laptop, you know, is Russian disinformation. They're not your average mensch from Brooklyn or Queens, since you and I are from Brooklyn and Queens. that's not who that is. And so we're really at war with these ideologues

who are the cultural elites. And of course, I think that's the, that's been the great appeal of Trump for working people, is that he's not of that ilk, you know, even though he went to Wharton. No, you're 100% right. The problem is... I'm just trying to cheer you up.

Well, it's... Most Americans... Most Americans are not like Anthony Blinken. You're right. That's a very, very... a valid response to what I said. The only thing I would add is not counter it. I accept what you said. It's a very important thing that I

have to remember. The problem, and this is not going back to what I said earlier. This is a new statement. The problem is since I'm preoccupied with good and evil and always have been, evil is not committed generally by the rank and file Joe from Brooklyn or Joe from Moscow. It's committed by the elites. A very tiny percentage of Russians were in the Communist Party. Most Germans

were not in the Nazi Party. It doesn't take everybody to be bad for a country to turn evil. That's the problem. Right. Well, we've just got maybe ten minutes left here. So I just want to ask you, you seem to say, and I agree with you, that the existence of Israel, the existence of Jews in the world, is God's design.

This is not just some, you know, it's not some story, it's not some part of history. God's hand in history led to the creation of the Jews originally as a people, to their preservation through the century,

to the creation of national Israel. So you have to have some sense that it's not a crapshoot, that somehow God's hand is involved in the future of Israel and the Jews. So how do you see that? What's your eschatology? Yes, I see that, I wrote that in a column a few weeks ago. It confirms my belief, which I didn't need confirmation. I do believe in Jewish chosenness.

If I didn't believe in it, I would not have raised my children to be Jews. Because raising, if you raise your children to be Jews, you are risking their or your grandchildren suffering because they're Jews. In that sense, Abraham and Isaac is reenacted in every Jewish generation. And so there is one huge problem in what you see. said, not with what you said. It's 100% accurate. And that evil focus on the Jews

reconfirms for me the divine role of the Jews in history, even though most Jews don't believe it. It doesn't matter. God operates with the Jews whether Jews won't be operated on or not. But the Jews are

Jonah. Jonah, I tell Jews all the time. We are living Jonah. Jonah was told, go to Ninveh by God. Go to Ninvee and tell them to repent. And he went on a ship to escape God's mission. Most Jews are Jonah. They want to escape God's mission.

Most Christians want to escape God's mission. This is not unique to Jews, but I'm speaking as a Jew about Jews. Church leaders don't seem to realize or understand that cultural Marxism has infiltrated. the American Church. I believe Marxism is satanic. It's everything that John 1010 tells us about, where it's the enemy has come to steal and destroy,

and Jesus has come to give life and life more abundantly. This is the hour of the American church. Most Jews are Jonah. They want to escape God's mission. The reason that that isn't the whole story for me, is the suffering that Jews have to endure because of their divine role. In Fiddler on the roof, the Jewish protagonist Tevi of the Milkman, looks up at God at one point, he goes,

why don't you choose somebody else for a change? Almost every Jew has thought that. You know, God, we've suffered for chosenness. really bad. There are some groups that are very bored. Give them a chance. It's really exciting to be a Jew

but we rather lead a boring life and not be put in gas chambers or have families burned alive by Hamas. So that's why I never am consoled by people who say well, you know, in the long run

good always trying. Yeah, the problem is people suffer in the short run. Right. So that's why it's not a consolation to me. What do you make of the fact that, at least my sense is that the most devout Christians, evangelical Christians in particular, but the most devout Christians seem to be the most pro-Jewish and pro-Israel. I'm sure that's not lost on you. What do you make of it?

Oh, I was the keynote speaker at many Kufi annual events. Christians United for Israel, the largest Christian group. I spoke at Pastor Hagey's Church in San Antonio on a number of occasions. I've been to knights to honor Israel at churches around the country. So I know of this, and it's really funny. You know, I was attacked by some lefty. I loved it. It was really awesome.

Prager, he's a Christian lover. which is true I am a Christian lover. I'm an American Christian lover. Europe's Christians are very mixed bad. But no, no, that's a very important thing, and I make that point to American Jews. Don't

saddle America's Christians with the sins of Europe's Christians. That's just it's a historical and it's immoral. So you know, they also, oh well, they only support

to Israel because it'll hasten Jesus' second coming. Which, they made this up? These people who know you know what I do with these people? I say, God, you know so much about Christian theology.

I'm really impressed. Name the four gospels. And that ends the discussion. They can't. They can't. So it's, but that's what they do. They go, oh, the only reason. So by the way, I say to Jews who say this, okay, let's say it's true. The only reason that Christians are supporting Israel and the Jews is to hasten

the second coming of Christ. Why are you troubled by that? You don't think he's coming again. That means they'll help us forever. That's hilarious. That's hilarious. Did we capture that? That's good. Yeah, it's insane. I think we're practically. out of time, Dennis, and it's really lamentable because you are so much fun to talk to, to listen to. And I'm not a big listener.

Ask my wife. It just means... Every wife thinks that. Yeah. A word about that. I want to say on behalf of every husband here, I do a male-female hour every week, so let me say, your husband

always listens. He never remembers. It's very important. So don't say you don't listen. Accurate is, you don't remember. Oh. That's correct.

Okay. Men remember batting averages. That's what men remember. Wow. Yeah. Isn't that true? It's amazing. Honest Wagner, 406.

Huh? That was great. Pretty good. Yeah. There isn't one woman here who heard of HOTUS Wagner. I know. There was in one man here who didn't hear of Honas Wagner. Honus Wagner, ladies and gentlemen.

Proceeds both of us by many years. We're going to get him into Socrates in the studio. Good. He's not as well known. We can't try that kind of a crowd for Hones. But, okay, so just closing thoughts, because we really, unfortunately, we do have to go. We will be up here to sign books. There are books there. And actually, let me mention this before we end, if you buy both of Dennis's books,

books, the bookseller has told me you will get a free hardcover copy of one of my two books that are there. So as an incentive, you get two hardcover, you get two paperbacks by Dennis, you get a signed hardcover for me as an incentive. So the books are there. By the way, what of my books are here? Is my Bible commentary here? I don't believe so. Oh, too bad. Okay, so just let me say, forgive me. I never push my books. but nobody writes a commentary on Deuteronomy to make money. So I, okay, but I want to tell you this incredibly difficult task of explaining virtually every verse of the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, is my legacy, because I believe the Torah is the antidote to evil.

and no Torah, no Old Testament, no Torah, no New Testament, no Torah, no Judaism, no Torah, no Christianity. The Torah is where it's at. From the Garden of Eden to the Ten Commandments to the Exodus, to loving God, to loving your neighbor. So I ask you to get my volumes of the, it's called the Rational Bible, because I use reason to explain everything. Okay. So then you're not a ranting penthouse. Pentecostal. I just want to be clear. I'm not a... You actually use reason.

Only, only... God gave us reason. It's the gift. You know... Well, I'm a rational Pentecostal, but we don't have time to get into that. No, no. That may be one of the many reasons were so close. Yeah. I'm sure it is. Are you still the same? Don't you realize the things we did we did? Oh, for real. Not a dream. I just can't believe.

Before we go, just some final thoughts on really, you know, what it means to be a Jew. That's really what I want you to... Well, different Jews will give you different answers, but I am a Jew who believes in divine chosenness. I believe in the traditional beliefs. I believe that the Torah is from God. I believe that God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, et cetera. I believe in the great stories of the Bible, I believe God split the sea, et cetera, et cetera. So for...

Look, you're not being cute. You know that that is historical, that that is true? I don't know it. I believe it. Oh, I'm very careful. Oh, you believe it? Yes. I don't know God split the sea.

I don't know God gave Moses the Ten Commandments. I would bet everything on it. but I don't know it. If God didn't give Moses the Ten Commandments, if God is not the ultimate author whenever it was written, then I have really led, in some ways, an utterly irrational life. Maybe a good life, but certainly not one filled with reason. So what does it mean to be a Jew?

It is tragically a reenactment of the truism at the Passover Seder, a 2,000-year-old, if not older phrases, said, in every generation someone arises to annihilate us. And it's unbelievable. One would have thought after the Holocaust, there will be a long time before that happens again. And now we have Iran and its vassals in Hezbollah and... and the left who supports these people.

So, in a sense, that could have been your first question, to be a Jew right now, to be a believing Jew right now, is to see Jewish history unfold once again, and it's often dark. I get great comfort from people like Eric, who's a fighter, for me, for the Jews, for America, for Christianity. I get great comfort from the individuals who are good. The motto of my life is not mine. It's taken from Viktor Frankl.

The Jew, a secular Jew, his whole family, or much of his family were wiped out by the Nazis. He was an Austrian psychoanalyst. He wrote the book that most influenced me after the Bible, man's search for meaning. He was asked after the war, that you hate the German race. That's the way they termed the question. And his answer was no. There were only two races, the decent and the indecent. That's the motto of my life.

I don't divide the world in any other way. I'm much closer to a decent non-Jew than to an indecent Jew. I assume everyone here is more close to an indecent non-Christian than to a decent non-Christian. To me, I know that. I'm the recipient of tremendous love from Christians. And yes, many are praying for me to come to Christ. And by the way, I know it comes from a good place. It's a non-issue to me that you do.

But that's not the reason you're here tonight. You're not here to have a communal prayer that I come to Christ. You're here because you like me. Because you think I have something important to say. And here I am a Jew. Just as I think the same thing about you. See, you do divide the world like I. do between the decent and the indecent. Why do I hate the left? Because they've taught three generations

of Americans not to divide people between the decent and the indecent, but between black and white, and between gay and straight, and between rich and poor, and between oppressed and oppressor, and between colonializer and colonialized. That's why they hate Israel. Not because it's indecent. It is infinitely more decent than its scummy enemies. They don't give a damn on the left about decency. It is of no consideration

any more than Beethoven's third. Thank you. Yeah.