Simi Rotary

At the age of 25, Dennis Prager moved from New York City to California to work at a Jewish retreat center. He joined the Simi Valley Rotary Club.

"To the best of my memory, I was the only Jew in that Rotary chapter. What struck me was that my being a Jew meant essentially nothing to the other members. No one cared. Not even a little."

It meant a lot to Dennis that no one in his rotary club cared. He knew that in other parts of the world (like Europe) his primary identity would be "Dennis the Jew." It's part of what makes America exceptional for him, that being American trumps being a minority.

"To this day, a German whose grandparents immigrated to Germany from Turkey is likely to be regarded as a Turk, even if he speaks no Turkish and speaks German exactly as other Germans do. And this monumental difference goes in both directions. This third-generation Turk in Germany is not likely to regard himself as a German.

"But a Turk who immigrates to America is regarded as American the moment he becomes an American citizen (if not sooner) — even if he has a Turkish name and speaks halting, accented English."

"Only in America."