A Rabbi And A Skeptic Walk Into A Podcast

Is Heaven like the Judaism Hall of Fame? A rocket alarm in Israel goes off in Rabbi’s phone at the 7 minute mark…why does he want to move to Israel, again?Zion, eternity, Rabbi is fired up to live where the war is. I say, he wants to live where the war is. Let that sink in.

Featuring Rabbi Alon Tolwin,This one gets a little hairy... Now with more current events than ever before! 1000 more sheets .thanks for listening

Finally! What took so long?  We give Chat GPT a deep question, and look over its homework.The Devil may be in the details a la Shakespeare, or the Devil may be learning from AI.

Rabbi Alon Tolwin on....Jesus the Rabbi...Jews fighting Jews... a 2 state solution?... what about Gaza? Check points, living in Israel.

Featuring Rabbi Alon Tolwin.A don't miss episode... tighten up your chumetz and check it out. 

Rabbi Alon Tolwin talks with us about Mo, the man, the main guy. I have my usual slightly off-kilter questionsfor him.Hope you enjoy.

See what I did there? Rabbi Alon Tolwin is back from Israel. This episode goes deeper into the feelings about Gaza and Israel. Recorded 1.26.2025. 

introducing Season three, with the addition of *SON OF* episodes featuring Rabbi Simcha Tolwin of Aish Detroit.Let's meet the Rabbi in this episode and dive right in to talk about judgment and other mistakes I make every day.

Back to basics. Fins but no scales...Linen and wool? what about Corelle dishes?Is this business deal Kosher?Slaughtering animals one at a time.

The moral high ground... "it takes both the left wing and the right wing to fly the plane," says noted moralist and political philosopher Red Skelton in 1964. Rabbi Tolwin discusses the two state solution,aid to Gaza, education of Gazan youth. I give my answer to "The Outrage."

Rabbi Tolwin is fresh back from 6 weeks overseas. Does a visit like that change a person? is it ridiculous for a person to be certain? What about tattoos? Wouldn't you rather have a king? Table manners of Jews.

Rabbi Tolwin turns the tables on the interviewer...Torah and constitution..."there's no such thing as free speech."... The golden calf= sexual freedom. Hat tip to Nathan for his role in this story.

2.16 The Future of Judaism?Ortho, Con and Reform... Is perfect parenting possible?  The exotic  lure of the cheeseburger. The tragedy of the demise of conservative Judaism.  What about "spiritual but not religious?"

History as a spiral... "everything is measured by wisdom"....GUILT...Devil's Advocate...Shabbos squared equals Yom Kippur? And a night's sleep equals 1/60th of death?  The maths of Torah. What does I'm a Little Teapot have to do with it?

Solid episode If i say so myself. Maybe a bit too much Gare, but then again, that is always a danger. Dinner with Springsteen story, God's forgiveness is not automatic! Crunchers vs Doritos, and more. Thanks for listening. Please tell one other person if you enjoy this pod.

Steve H from macomb County asks the Rabbi about the f word. Rabbi Tolwin tells his first spicy story about room service... Have you ever been flim-flammed? is it ever ok to be get flimmed OR, for that matter,  flammed in the first place?

Woke up... feelin' weird/Dragged a comb across my beard.Rabbi Tolwin gives us a glimpse inside the many traditions and rituals and  tasks that liven up his day, including Shabbos.

Does a rabbi put on his pants one leg at a time?Gary wants to know how different Rabbi Tolwin's day is than his (mine). So we talk it through. We discuss the kiss of death, and answer the question, "if sleep is 1/60th of death, what happens after two months?...

Rabbi introduces an existential dilemma. We discuss looking for meaning and why that may be a mistake; is being a Rabbi enough? The nature of good; looking over your shoulder at honor, and changing the world from a room, no hat tip to Leonard Cohen.

2.9. Why are there 48 ways, anyhoo? Part b is about sleepwalking, which I suffer from. and when I say suffer...Was I careful with the cosmic balance? Is proof absolute? The stakes are your life! Keep your wisdom in large bills.... and, binge watching the Sopranos with the Rabbi.

Weighty subject. "Kill me!" No, kill me!" Now that's friendship.  From Charles Schultz's Linus all the way to Constantinople, what is a half a friend? A pig in a sack? Rabbi Tolwin elucidates the levels of friendship for us. 

Rabbi Tolwin, inspired this day by George Harrison, wants to tackle this question.The song led us from God the celebrity, God's ego, is it better to be authentic or moral, the push-pull between ignorance and innocence, finally ending up where so many disagreements do: "It is, so!" "It is not!"

We touch on Fleetwood Mac, the Key to Misery, controlling our thoughts and emotions, and jumping off a bridge. All that and more as we explore number 4 of the 48 Ways To Wisdom, from the teachings of Rabbi Noah Weinberg, founder of Aish HaTorah, the world's largest Jewish adult education organization.

What was it like at the beginning of Aish? GTo have a world-changing teacher must have been enthralling. Let's find out, shall we?Why did Noah Weinberg start Aish haTorah, which he grew into the world's largest Jewish adult-education organization?  Tell us about strategic rage, funding his competition...getting kicked out of class...The beginnings of a movement.

I wanted to explore Rabbi Tolwin's upbringing, since I know it's wa-a-ay different than mine. More Jewish, frankly. And we do think differently.  From Milwaukee to Aish HaTorah.

Morality, ethics, where do they come from? God? And what of moral relativism, William F. Buckley, right and wrong?  Stay tuned!

Here is a Torah take on music and art from Rabbi Alon Tolwin.  The Torah instructs us that we should live with joy, and there is a  part that music plays as we kick off season two.

A very special treat today! Rabbi Simcha Tolwin joins me... to coax me to leap into Judaism 2.0--- kicking and screaming.  Me, not him.  Why does tragedy bring religion? Knowledge isn't the same as faith. Neil DeGrasse Tyson is name-checked. Why we go gray, and why that's a good thing. Thanks, Rabbi! Let's do this again.

When does a ritual become a mitzvah? We discuss the Dixie Cup effect-- featuring a story about Rabbi YomTov Glazer, then Rabbi Tolwin nails down a piece of consciousness. Danny Kahneman and Amos Tverski are name-checked, along with cartoonist Dave Berg from Mad Magazine  on how to honor your father and mother.... and more!  This may be the end of season one. Time will tell. Thanks for listening. No, really! Thank you. It would be wonderful if more people enjoyed the easy to swallow, easy to follow wisdom of my friend, Rabbi Alon Tolwin. So please share this with your friends.Gary

I know, i know... it's pretty cheesy to name-check such a wonderful song from Fiddler. But, Hey, if I can't do that now, then when will I ever get such an opportunity?  Why, it's like a... whopper-tunity!  Mmmm, ...whopper....An especially delightful chat with Rabbi Alon Tolwin of Aish Detroit about the three ages of miracles, and why they don't really impress anyone.I can't say why, but I had a really good time editing this one. Possibly because I am elated whenever I can edit out my lame jokes. Thanks for listening.

This week Rabbi Alon Tolwin helps your host see how the Torah should be considered. Is it a history book, a story book?  We discuss the bread of shame and free clothing. Can we take Torah literally?

Ok, i had no idea the famous "magic words" are from hebrew!  Wait, what? As we scratch the surface of mysticism, Rabbi Alon Tolwin tells us that "while science can tell us how things work, Kaballah tells us why."  Whoa-a-a-a. Mind blown.      A few minutes hence came this little atom bomb: "Everything we do lasts forever... leaves an indelible impact on the world we're living in."Gulp.   The Rabbi cranks it up to 11 for just a moment.

This time it's personal. We take a break from the  high-flying  philosophy stuff to look at my relation to  Judaism.  I ask Rabbi Tolwin to discuss my effort to be a better person. Fer instance, why do I sometimes feel like I need to bonk myself on the head with a rubber mallet? 

The Jewish method of mourning, either orthodox or other than orthodox. Also in this episode, when the soul freaks out (so to speak), what does that mean?Rabbi Alon Tolwin of Aish Detroit sets me straight on a few things. Thanks for listening. If you are getting something out of this live, barely edited convo, please share it with a friend! Questions for the rabbi? Send them to [email protected]. Theme song is titled "Under My Skin," written by me and performed by The Mercator Project.

Episode 21. Sin-talk... morphs into a discussion of parenting, then the rabbinic rules about the charging of interest. Thanks for listening, and I played the theme music longer than usual this week, cause... I felt like it. What, is that a sin? Them music excerpted from my song "Under My Skin" performed by A Herring And A Half, formerly known as A Volley of Salvoes (hat tip to the great Dan Logan). It's just me, so I can call the band whatever I want.

Fish, Springsteen,  gratitude, dixie cups, the limits of metaphor, breathing, mercy, and "constant amazement."  Enjoy.

Pod gets a little bit personal this week, boys and girls. What kind of path leads to becoming a Rabbi with Aish HaTorah? Whatever you do, "Keep off the Grass!"

What if someone could prove to you there is a God? Would you change your mind? What does proof mean anyway?

Cue the scary music. Rabbi Tolwin and I discuss the nature of evil and how we might learn to think of it in a Torah-centric light.The pod's new email is [email protected]. Please get in touch with questions or subjects with which we can tango. Let's start a dialogue. Thanks for listening. Please share with friends if you get a kick out of it.

Somehow this discussion of education sailed from business and retail ethical behavior and fairness to phishing and gullibility. Good clean fun!

Rabbi Tolwin goes deep this week. This discussion really ranges, from slavery to Jimmy Carter to stolen candy bars. 

This week, Rabbi Tolwin and I discuss the relationship of the Torah to science.  We touch on the writings of Gerald Schroeder such as his brilliant and helpful books The Science of God and Genesis and The Big Bang. There's your homework assignment for the week. And it will be on the test! 

Special guest Patrick Amar joins Rabbi Tolwin and me to discuss the war and related issues. Patrick, an Israeli citizen born in Canada, has been living in Israel with his family since 2005, working as a tour guide. 

Goethe said, "To have doubt is uncomfortable, but to be certain is ridiculous."I once met a rabbinic student in Jerusalem, 19 years old. He had never -- in his life!- met anyone with any doubt about God or the Torah or nuthin!Blew each others' minds. Enjoy.

The horrendous events of the past few days are our topic today,  with an emphasis on some on "how we got here." So much unknowable right now. So much sadness and carnage. Thanks for listening.

Let's learn about Zionism, shall we?

Two things. A. This is a topic with which I am intimately familiar, and 2. Why did this topic make the Rabbi nervous?

Talking about other religions can be fraught. Can be dicey. Can be spiky. Even  prickly sometimes. Stop me before I google a thesaurus. 

Judaism's treatment of women in general goes under scrutiny from our skeptical host. Side note--The host loved the Barbie movie, BTW, recommends it heartily, and was quoted as saying it was "the most important film in 30 years" and "girls (and the the women they become) will quote this movie the rest of their lives."

Isn't gossiping just harmless little fun sharing of juicy tidbits?  "Not so fast!" says Judaism. This is no small matter. Some tall ethical fences to climb here.