In April 1992, Dennis Prager began teaching the Torah verse-by-verse at what was then the University of Judaism (now known as American Jewish University). On February 9, 2010, he was due to finish.

A check of DennisPrager.com on Jan. 22, 2010, revealed that the price to buy all of the CDs for Prager’s commentary on Genesis was $544 (if you download the content, it costs but $442). The price for Exodus on CD was $952. The price for the first half of Leviticus on CD was $320. The price for Numbers on CD was $476. The price for Deuteronomy on CD was $690.

I can only imagine the savings if you call the Prager Store and get all five books of the Torah. I expect it would be in the neighborhood of $3,000.

I’m unaware of other commentaries on the Torah that cost so much.

Here’s a quote from Dennis on the AJU website: “I have been teaching the Torah verse by verse at the American Jewish University since April 1992. Why have I devoted so much time and effort to teaching the Torah? Because I believe that the Torah is the most relevant guide to life available to us. I believe that the most esoteric and even “boring” sections have secrets of wisdom that when unlocked give any of us a happier, deeper, wiser life. The Torah is not merely an ancient holy book. It is life-changing in every one of its chapters. I invite you to take time out from the intensity of daily life and spend four nights with me in one of the most intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually exciting journeys any of us can make. No background or previous study is necessary.”

Anybody got a copy of this extravaganza that they could lend me? I don’t have a spare $3,000 right now.

Joe emails: I took the class early on – A client of mine was into Prager and I went up the hill to the UJ. Now, mind you, I studied in Yeshiva in Israel so I know quality transmission of G-d’s word. This class was not about deep analysis of the text. Rather, it was Prager’s attempt (actually, he did it quite well) to project his personality of self importance on the Torah. It was terribly boring and essentially useless. It was a guy reading from the text and telling you how it proves he was right about things. I really do not get Prager – I mean he is not intellectually satisfying for me, he seems to do well for lost souls. He could be great for Baal Teshuvas, but his hypocrisy of not following Orthodox Judaism is a giveaway that he just likes to hear himself be heard but not actually bind himself to a religion.

This is my favorite song.

Here’s a rambling late night conversation with my date.

I discuss about my dreams of playing running back for Bill Walsh and the San Francisco 49ers during the 1980s.

I talk about my favorite movie of 2009 — “An Education.” It’s about a 16yo British schoolgirl who’s courted by a Jewish playboy twice her age and distracts her from her preparations for Oxford.

The Torah does not recognize a difference between a 14-year old girl and a 16-year old girl and an 18-year old girl. They are all adults.

But the Jew in this movie is rather naughty, picking up this innocent girl and flying her to Paris, oy vey!

I get into an argument about whether or not Nietzsche hated Jews.

I bet my beard that Nietzsche was more philo-Semitic than anti-Semitic. If I win, she has to spend the Sabbath with me, going to shul three times (Friday night, Shabbos morning, Shabbos afternoon).

Here’s a blog post on Nietszsche and the Jews:

Nietzsche wrote rather plainly of his opinions on the Jews—plain enough for even those of limited education to understand. His thoughts amount to a great lesson about national politics—that no one group should be damned for the ills of society. Christian Europe had done it for centuries to the Jews, but Nietzsche recognized these people were not plague rats scurrying through society. They were, and still are, regular hard-working people, trying to make a living like everyone else. Going further, Nietzsche celebrates the mindset the Jews have of themselves. He recognized their uplifting value system, their mentality of being “the chosen,” and sees in it something the Jewish people will use to hoist their achievements—their overcomings. I am actually curious if his observations of the Jews contributed to the development of the “will to power.”

I want my beard to grow down to the ground so I can clean the rabbi’s shtender with it and sweep out the shul and clean the Aron HaKodesh (Holy Ark).

Singer-actor Rick Moses was an inspiration for my beard.

More

From Hirhurim:

• Hold the presses: newspapers are competing for Orthodox readers: link
• Renewing the siddur: link
• Prediction that Mashiach will come this year (mark your calendars to see if it comes true): link
• R. Asher Meir on ethics and tax policy: link
• New issue of Hakirah: link 1, link 2
• R. Natan Slifkin’s upcoming NY lecture tour: link
• How we hacked the JC hacker: link
  
• Orthodox forum hosts program on sexual abuse: link
• R. Yair Hoffman on Modnrowitz case: link
• Cold shoulders and cheeseburgers: link
• A message to parents of coed college-bound students: link
• Rabbinic text or call to terror?: link
• Tefillin causes plane diversion: link

Jerry emails: I stumbled accross your website and wanted to ask you about synagogues. I grew up in LA, but just moved back after living 13 years in New York. Do any of the Reform or other synagogues still use organ/chior on Friday night/Sat am. I know that Sinai temple does on most saturday mornings. I identify with my Hungarian/Central European traditions (my late grandfather was a Neologue/Conservative rabbi in Hungary). In New York, there were places to go, but in LA, most of the Reform synagogues replaced their service with the new contempary type, which is not to my liking.

I remember watching lesbian leftist Rachel Maddow say on MSNBC Tuesday night that it was super-weird of Scott Brown to say that his daughters were available.

Dennis Prager was asked about Brown’s remark and said on his show yesterday: “I didn’t hear that… That’s fine. He wants to get his daughters married. That’s what it means. I think it’s beautiful. If you saw the daughters, they’re not going to lack for suitors. That’s what parents want — for their children to marry. I think it’s terrific. Yes, they’ll kill him when he gets home. That’s a separate issue. You want your daughters to get married. That’s a healthy instinct. It’s amazing that one needs to defend that.”

I was born the son of a Christian evangelist with a taste for the psychedelic music of Texas-based rockers Bubble Puppy. My dad tried to instill a sense of discipline in me. Upon catching me stealing spoonfuls of brown sugar from a sack he kept on high shelf, he gave me a vicious rap on the noggin with a garden spade. I awoke to find myself chained in the dunny in back of our house. I could hear a monstrous saltwater crocodile — Salty, I called him — thrashing about in the muck below. Above me, I saw the web of a venomous red back spider. At the door, I heard the menacing hiss of a death adder. I was deadly scared, but I knew that I had to go on. I had some blogging to do. Dipping my hand into a pile of my own feces, I began scrawling on the outhouse wall: “I’m Luke Ford … and I’m a blogger, mate!”

I’m watching Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglorious Basterds” live on my cam.

I got the screener because I am a member of SAG.

I’ve had a long hard day filled with Alexander Technique, publicist drudgery, therapy, and a cold walk in the rain to the post office.

There’s one genre of movies that always turns me on — underdog sports dramas. I love them.

I watched The Rookie (about Jim Morris) tonight (about four years after I watched it the first time).

I was struck about how it plays on common movie themes — the need for the protagonist to be validated by his spouse and father.

This is a pathetic need if you give in to it. You don’t need others to validate you. You can validate yourself by making the right decisions (or making peace with paying the price for bad decisions).

Over the past 15 years, I’ve often had nobody to validate my most important decisions.

I can’t think of anybody close to me who told me the following were the valid decisions:

* To convert to Judaism. This came solely from within myself.
* To use singles ads in Jewish publications in 1992, 1993 to meet girls to help me recover from CFS
* To abandon shomer negiya (not touching the opposite sex) and start sleeping with women in 1993
* To move in with one woman in Orlando in August, 1993
* To move to Los Angeles in March 1994
* To write all of my books (my friends generally told me I was crazy)
* To write on the porn industry (fall of 1995)
* To write on Dennis Prager (December 1997)
* To break stories on a string of HIV infections in porn in 1997, 1998
* To daven every day in Orthodox shuls (August 2000)
* To return to writing on the porn industry in Sept. 2002 (after a 13-month break)
* To break the story of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s marriage disintegrating in January 2007
* To quit writing on porn in October of 2007
* To choose this blog over my shul and my rabbi in October 2008
* To enter therapy in Oct. 2008
* To start learning Alexander Technique in July of 2008
* To enter Alexander Technique teacher training in January 2009

It’s nice when people close to me validate my self-image, but it is not necessary to rely on others to prop myself up. I’ve learned to stand on my own two feet, to soothe my own anxieties when my babes don’t call me back, and to be cool when other people don’t see me the way I see myself.

Wikipedia says:

Morris made 16 major league appearances in 2000, during which his arm problems recurred. His final appearance came on May 9, 2000, at Yankee Stadium. He entered a tie game in the bottom of the 10th inning with the bases loaded, and issued a game-ending bases-loaded walk to his first batter, Paul O’Neill, after which the Rays released him. He attempted to catch on with the Dodgers the following spring but wasn’t able to overcome his injuries. At the end of his major league career he was 0-0 with an ERA of 4.80 and 13 strikeouts.

Morris has released an autobiography, The Oldest Rookie. He often appears as a motivational speaker, and currently receives $9000-$15000 for each appearance.^[1]

A feature film made by Disney called The Rookie was released in 2002 about Morris’s climb to the big leagues. He was portrayed in the film by veteran actor Dennis Quaid.

That’s what Drudge says.

That should stop Obamacare.

This is a massive rejection of the Democrats.

Joe emails: The brown election is divine providence. Just as Obama’s anti-Israel machinery was cranking up to force the Jewish state to stop settling around Jerusalem, the Democratic Party loses the Kennedy seat. No Democrat will support any anti-Israel positions (except for the true leftists), as the Jewish vote is precious given the precarious nature of the independent vote.

John emails: “There has been much discussion on Wonkette about the disparity between the current cup size as in the first picture you posted and the apparent size under the clam in the picture I sent to you. Your professional opinion?”