I listened to the podcast. Eilam Gross is a complete dilettante. When a committed secular person like me hears him "challenge" Michi on why, in light of his remarks about the necessity of assuming God's existence, he keeps the Sabbath, it awakens in me a tremendous urge to keep the Sabbath myself. Out of spite!

Indeed, a discussion in which one side was exposed as completely deaf. Too bad—I like Eilam מאוד and enjoy listening to what he says in the scientific context. He is a perfectly pleasant guy, but in this discussion a total lack of listening on his part was revealed, along with countless attacks that had nothing to do with the actual issue. And I completely agree that the discussion (to the extent one can call it that) is proof of Michi's claims that there are quite a few experts who make emphatic assertions that are not at all within their area of expertise, and in addition are not interested in listening.

I listened to the "discussion." Simply embarrassing. Very embarrassing. With supreme honesty, Michi could be heard asking, "the past is not important," and "don't label me, deal with the arguments," "you don't accept the argument—explain why." And there was no listening. Listening—none. But there was condescension, arrogance, and lack of basic decency. A disgrace.

Your extraordinary patience with all his outbursts in the middle while you were speaking was amazing. I would have left the podcast long ago. Some would say, left and butted heads.

By the way, he complained that you were philosophizing and not asking the "real questions." He is probably looking for scientific rather than philosophical proof of God's existence, and you, Rabbi, taught us that this is not a scientific question. Is there any point at all to part 2?

Tell me, Rabbi. Aren't you embarrassed to give a platform to this belligerence and even cooperate with it?

שלום לרב!

Beyond Gross's obtuseness (my brother, by the way, who is a doctoral student at the Weizmann Institute, says he is a terrific physicist), I am no less troubled by the religious shallowness of Bekenstein and of Shmuel Elitzur (I took courses with both of them—general relativity and supersymmetry). I never even tried to speak with them about this, although I spoke with them quite a bit about physics. I always suspected that they were just ordinary run-of-the-mill religious people (I was actually surprised to discover that Bekenstein is religious), and now my fears have been confirmed. How can it be that a person who won the Wolf Prize (which is almost like a Nobel Prize) has religious depth like that of an average religious high-schooler?

Rabbi? Is that a rabbi? Is that someone who deserves respect from us? Ugh.