Podcast Summary: Unexplainable — "A rabbi and the Lorax walk into a bar..."

Date: September 10, 2025
Host(s): Noam Hassenfeld (B), Meredith Hodnot (C)
Podcast: Unexplainable (Vox Media Podcast Network)

Overview

This episode explores the deep influence of stories—both ancient and modern—on how we understand the world, science, and meaning itself. Meredith and Noam begin with memories of Dr. Seuss’s "The Lorax" and segue into reflections on a Talmudic tale about rabbinic debate and collective interpretation. Their conversation blends environmental parables, Jewish wisdom, and cutting-edge scientific discoveries to illustrate how the stories we carry shape our sense of history, knowledge, and our place in the universe.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Power of Childhood Stories

• Meredith recalls reading "The Lorax" to a friend’s child and reflects on the story’s enduring personal and cultural significance.
  • "[...] when you have a kid's attention like that, it's like you're casting a spell." (01:39)
• The book's narrative—of a once-beautiful world devastated by industrialization—serves as both a storytelling template and a cautionary environmental tale.
  • Meredith used "The Lorax" as inspiration for a previous Unexplainable episode about ancient trees. (03:09)
  • She reads the opening of "The Lorax" to Noam, illustrating its evocative imagery. (03:55–04:53)

Using Stories as Narrative Frameworks

• Meredith shares how she structures her own storytelling around elements from "The Lorax," highlighting the importance of setting the present-day scene before traveling back in time.
  • "It felt like that was an important part of the story to tell. Getting to that space, understanding what it is now and then being transported back such a long, long way back." (06:03)
• The conversation touches on the parallels between the surreal past depicted in children’s books and the realities uncovered by paleobotanists.
  • "Scientists... recreate the image of these Seussian worlds. There were like broccoli topped trees and... trees that looked like fuzzy telephone poles." (07:12)

Stories That Shape Worldviews

• Noam considers formative stories from his own childhood, centering on a favorite tale from the Talmud involving Rabbi Eliezer and mystical demonstrations.
• He recounts in detail the debate among rabbis, Eliezer’s supernatural proofs, and the climactic declaration:
  • "'It is not in heaven.' Or, you know, it is not in the sky... It's not up to a voice from the sky to just to tell us what the law is. It's the people that come together." (09:37-10:34)
• The story’s lesson: knowledge and meaning arise through communal interpretation, not miracles or authority.

Magic, Disputes, and Interpretive Collectives

• Noam describes further colorful episodes involving Rabbi Eliezer, underscoring both the magical elements and the human politics of religious debate. (11:12)
• The Talmudic tale emphasizes the value of shared judgment and disagreement:
  • "[T]he rabbi is basically saying, we are an interpretive collective. We interpret things together." (15:48)

Finding Meaning in Science and Uncertainty

• Noam connects the Talmudic story to his reporting on scientific mysteries, particularly around dark energy:
  • "There's a sense in which science is sort of a similar thing... a relationship between ourselves and deciding on the best, clearest way to tell a story about the cosmos." (18:42)
• He recounts physicist Adam Riess’s realization on dark energy:
  • "'You reach a point where you have to believe that the sky wants to tell us something. Wow. This is not a mistake. This is what the sky says.'" (17:24)
• Science is depicted as an evolving collective narrative, much like the rabbinic debates of the Talmud.

Living with Uncertainty

• The hosts reflect on comfort in the face of the unknowable:
  • "Like max 5% of the entire universe is everything that we can see and understand... the vast majority of everything is stuff that we understand even less." (20:09)
  • "No matter what is out there, we can find meaning in interpretation. We can make our lives meaningful ourselves." (20:54)
• The idea that meaning is made—not merely received—ties together the episode’s central stories.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the magic of storytelling:
  • "It's just like when you have a kid's attention like that, it's like you're casting a spell." — Meredith (01:39)
• On the past as a fantastical place:
  • "Scientists... recreate the image of these Seussian worlds. There were like broccoli topped trees and... trees that looked like fuzzy telephone poles." — Meredith (07:12)
• On authority vs. interpretation:
  • "'It is not in heaven.'... It's not up to a voice from the sky to just to tell us what the law is. It's the people that come together." — Noam (10:34)
• On collective meaning-making:
  • "[T]he rabbi is basically saying, we are an interpretive collective. We interpret things together." — Noam (15:48)
• On the mystery of the universe and science:
  • "This guy says something. This guy wants us to know something... Science is a relationship between ourselves and deciding on the best, clearest way to tell a story about the cosmos." — Noam (18:26, 18:42)
• On living with cosmic uncertainty:
  • "No matter what is out there, we can find meaning in interpretation. We can make our lives meaningful ourselves." — Noam (20:54)

Key Timestamps

• 01:39 – Meredith on the "spell" of reading "The Lorax" to children
• 03:09 – Meredith discusses using "The Lorax" as a narrative structure for her episode
• 07:12 – Science and the fantastical worlds of the ancient past
• 09:37–10:34 – Noam recounts the Talmudic tale of Rabbi Eliezer
• 15:48 – The interpretive moral from the Talmudic story
• 17:24 – Adam Riess: "You reach a point where you have to believe that the sky wants to tell us something."
• 18:42 – Noam parallels science and communal storytelling
• 20:09 – Breakdown of what is and isn’t known in the universe
• 20:54 – On making meaning despite cosmic uncertainty

Conclusion

The episode draws a vibrant line between myth, scripture, science, and personal meaning. Whether through the Lorax’s environmental parable, the rabbinic debates of the Talmud, or the mysteries of dark energy, the hosts celebrate the power of collective stories—anchored in both doubt and dialogue—to help us interpret the enormous unknowns of both our world and the universe.