20 | JANUARY 11 • 2024 J
N

OUR COMMUNITY

T

hey may seem like an 
unlikely duo, but an 
Orthodox rabbi and a 
former atheist offer the perfect 
complement to one another 
in a new Metro Detroit-based 
Jewish podcast.
Together, Rabbi Alon Tolwin 
of Aish Detroit and financial 
planner Gary Rosenberg of 
Huntington Woods, a self-
proclaimed “skeptic,
” blend 
thoughts, ideas and perspectives 
in “
A Rabbi and a Skeptic Walk 
Into a Podcast.
”
Available on Spotify and 
other streaming platforms, the 
podcast released its first episode 
in August of this year and has 
since released 13 episodes, one 
a week.
While the duo may come 
from different worlds, Tolwin 
and Rosenberg are an unlikely 
pair that cover the ins and outs 
of timeless Jewish wisdom 
and knowledge with grace and 
humor.

THE PERFECT FIT
As decades-long friends, Tolwin 
and Rosenberg go way back. 
Rosenberg was a longtime 
participant in Tolwin’s former 
weekly lunch-and-learn 
program at the Detroit Jewish 
News, and the pair previously 
traveled to Israel for a nine-day 
study trip.
“He’s so dynamic and I 
learned so much,
” Rosenberg 
says of his friend and podcast 
co-host. “I got so much out of 
it.
” 
While no longer an atheist, 
Rosenberg still calls himself 
skeptical, though he says he’s 
“not the biggest skeptic in the 

world.
”
He notes Tolwin, meanwhile, 
is flexible and understanding, 
and holds diverse viewpoints on 
ancient Jewish wisdom. 
Tolwin says the same about 
Rosenberg, explaining that the 
duo both “believe in the power 
of ideas.
” In addition, they share 
a deep love for music.
While they still tend to 
disagree, Tolwin says the reason 
“
A Rabbi and a Skeptic Walk 
Into a Podcast” works as well 
as it does (and has generated 
hundreds of listeners in its 
short time on the internet) is 
because of its “three pillars” 
— Rosenberg, himself and the 
listener.
“Someone once told me if 
you ask a policeman why they 
have three antennas on their 
car, it’s because of triangulation,
” 
Tolwin explains. “You have 
three points, and you can’t 
figure anything out location-
wise unless you have three.
”
“I look at the podcast as 
triangulation between the 
listener, Gary and myself,
” 
Tolwin continues. “You listen to 
the ideas and make a decision, 
otherwise you’re stuck.
”
The moment there’s a third-
party, he says, it creates “more 
dynamic tension.
” That healthy 
tension can be felt throughout 
the podcast’s 13 episodes, which 
cover a wide range of topics that 
include intermarriage, death, 
antisemitism and the meaning 
of life.
“I don’t want it to get 
political,
” Rosenberg says of 
the podcast, which is ad-hoc 
and off-the-cuff — a true 
conversation between two 

individuals. “I don’t want to talk 
about current events. I want 
Tolwin’s great-grandchildren to 
listen to this 20 years from now 
and have it still be relevant.
”

SHARING WISDOM
With topics that stand the test 
of time, Rosenberg explains 
that the podcast is meant to be 
mostly philosophical. “I hope 
that other people hear it and 
find it enjoyable to listen to, and 
at the end of it learn something 
new,
” he says.
In future episodes, Tolwin 
hopes to discuss education, a 
topic near and dear to his heart 
as a scholar and teacher.
Rosenberg, meanwhile, wants 
to dive further into the basics 
that he says “aren’t restricted 
to this moment,
” such as the 
nature of the existence of God 
and other talking points that 
aren’t temporal.
“We talk about some intense 
issues,
” admits Rosenberg, 
who recommends the episode 
about death to new listeners as 
one that’s particularly moving. 
Tolwin also enjoyed the episode 
about intermarriage and plans 
to revisit antisemitism in the 

near future.
Tolwin says the podcast 
works because of two factors: 
its content, and hearing 
perspectives from two people 
with what he calls “such 
disparate backgrounds.
”
“We have to find some 
things we disagree on more,
” 
he jokes of his friendship 
with Rosenberg. “It’s an 
ever-evolving conversation. 
Sometimes we go off-topic 
and start laughing, and we can 
have a good time [despite the 
seriousness of the topic].
”
At the end of the day, it’s all 
about having fun for the fast 
friends and podcast duo.
“We have a really neat 
relationship,
” Tolwin says. 
“We’ve gotten really good 
feedback.
” 

An Orthodox rabbi and a former atheist 
host a new podcast on Judaism.
Unlikely Pair

ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Gary Rosenberg and Rabbi Alon
Tolwin in Israel about 10 years ago

To listen to A Rabbi and a Skeptic 

Walk into a Podcast, go to www.

buzzsprout.com/2236704/share.

Email Rabbi Alon Tolwin at 

Rabbi2skeptic@gmail.com.

