Dennis Prager Biography

Dennis Prager was born on 2 August 1948, in Brooklyn, New York, to Max and Hilda Prager. He was born in a Modern Orthodox Jewish household. His father, Max, was an accountant and his mother, Hilda, was an administrator at a nursing home.

He did his schooling at a Jewish day school named Yeshiva of Flatbush located in Brooklyn. Here he befriended the famous American rabbi and lecturer, Joseph Telushkin. Though Dennis detested schools and exams, he never indulged himself with unscrupulous means to bag academic scores.

After passing out from school, he joined Brooklyn College, where he earned his B.A degree. He is also known to have gotten an opportunity to study at the University of Leeds. While he was in the Brooklyn College, he won an essay contest that enabled him to get a scholarship to study in England.

Dennis Prager was a Fellow at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affair; he holds an honorary doctorate of laws from the prestigious Pepperdine University.

Dennis Prager’s career was launched in 1969 while studying in England when he was recruited to travel to the Soviet Union to interview the Soviet Jews.

Upon returning, he landed up with a garland of praises from the Jewish group—Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry—that recruited him. Soon after this, he got appointed as the spokesperson of the group.

Dennis Prager, along with Telushkin, published his first book, The Nine Questions People Ask about Judaism, in 1975, which built his reputation in the Jewish community.

In 1976, he was appointed as the director of the Brandeis-Bardin Institute – a Jewish retreat located in the Simi Valley. During his tenure from 1976-83, the institute enjoyed unparalleled success. He launched groups for bringing interfaith couples closer to Judaism.

Dennis Prager’s attack on narcissism and secularism earned him a reputation of a moral critic and a title of Jewish Billy Graham.

The year 1982 was crucial for Dennis Prager as he was hired by a commercial radio station of Los Angeles, KABC, to host Religion on the Line, a religious talk show airing on Sunday nights.

His quarterly journal, Ultimate Issues, which he began, writing in 1985, was developed into a bi-weekly, The Prager Perspective, in 1995.

Being an eloquent speaker, Dennis Prager speaks to the worldwide Jewish communities almost 50 times a year. Besides this, he interacts with Christian groups with whom he shares a familiar ideology.

Dennis Prager has earned a good reputation by teaching Bible at the University of Judaism. He has actively participated in this process since 1992. Besides this, he has also conducted a weekly Sabbath service for a small congregation called Hassidic Reform.

The documentary, Israel in a Time of Terror, was produced by Prager Productions in the year 2002; it narrates the story of the Intifada from the perspective of Israelis who faced the danger of terrorist attacks every day.

In 2009, Dennis Pager started a website called PragerU, along with his producer Allen Estrin. It creates five-minute-long videos from an American conservative perspective on various sociological, political, and economic topics.

Dennis Prager’s most notable work is his first book, Nine Questions People Ask about Judaism. This representation of Judaism in the book has gained him a special place in the Jewish community.

Think a Second Time, published in 1996 is one of his most important works that combine education and original thinking of current events.

Dennis Prager has won significant awards like the American Jewish Press Association's Excellence in Commentary Award and the Amy Foundation First Prize for his columns in Moment Magazine.

In 1980, Dennis Prager met Janice Adelstein, who was a nurse at the Brandeis-Bardin Institute. They married each other on the 15th of January 1981 and were blessed with a son a couple of years later. Their marriage ended in the year 1986.

Dennis Prager tied the knot with Francine Stone in the year 1988. They separated on 30 December 2005.

He married his current wife Susan Reed in 2008.

Dennis Prager is known to have switched political parties in 1988; from Democrat to Republican. Since then, he has always remained vocal in his support for the Republican Party.