Last week, a new subscriber to my weekly email sent me the following note:
Dear Rabbi Yosef,
I read the above from top to bottom. Very excellent writing that feels authentic (not AI generated) a skill that is quickly going away.
I specifically liked the comparison between taking care of the body versus taking care of the soul. That alone can change a person’s attitude to life. Yashar Coach:)!
Shabbat Shalom,
B.
This email came just after I spent time catching up with a long time local Jewish community member. During our conversation he told me that he had taken a long walk during which he had a dialogue with an AI program about the meaningful things of life. "It was incredible," he told me. "The AI generated so much sensible content that I found helpful to the issues going on in my life."
It was also on the very day that I visited a local community member to offer condolences on the loss of a parent. The person I visited is very active AI start-up companies. During our conversation he showed me the incredible feats that AI can produce. It was mind blowing to see the creativity and sheer computing power generated by AI.
Clearly AI is powerful.
Admired and feared at the same time.
Yet, as that email indicated and as I have heard from many people, there is something special about reading an article that is written and presented by classic (G-d given) human intelligence.
Believe it or not, many decades ago, people would show off imports like furniture that was made in China. Until ‘made in China’ meant mass production by factory lines. Hand crafted imports then regained their place in the hierarchy of what people consider valuable.
I am guessing that while people who can generate AI material are today ‘ahead of the curve’ and many look up enviously to them, ultimately the value of personal human interaction will not go away. On the contrary, against the backdrop of ‘mass-produced’ artificial intelligence, the personal touch will be even more valued for the authenticity of interacting with a fellow human who was created in the image of G-d.
Do you want a color copy of a famous piece of art on your wall, or would you rather an authentic hand original?
Think about it objectively. If cost was not an issue, and you had a choice to converse with an AI who is created in the image of man, or a human who is created in the image of G-d, who would you choose?
Yet, if you are looking for information like how to get from point a to point b, if you are engaging in transactional and functional matters, AI is the way to go. It is more economical, faster and does the job better than many humans.
I would sum it up as follows.
AI is here to stay. The world was created by Hashem. Hashem is the source of everything – AI included. There is a synergy to be struck between human input and the Divine soul of the created universe.
The balance between progress and immovable bedrocks of life is where the important discussion needs to take place.
This week’s Parsha, Parshat Shemot, is exactly about that.
The children and progeny of Yaakov who have only started to be identified – informally – as a nation as they proliferate in Egypt, are faced with this very challenge of modernity vs tradition.
On the one hand they are living a cushy, comfortable and protected life in the land of Goshen. They are permitted to keep up their traditions and unique un-Egyptian customs. Yet, as the years go by, they adapt more and more to the prevailing culture.
Our Sages tell us that while they ‘modernized’ and adapted to the Egyptian lifestyle, there were several key items which they considered holy and inviolable.
During that pre-Sinai period of our history, their key fundamentals were keeping their Jewish names, dress, language and food-diets.
This enabled them to remain distinctively separated from the pervading culture that was seeping into their lifestyle.
In this merit, say our Sages, our forefathers were redeemed from Egypt.
Many things are negotiable.
Progress is not an enemy of tradition.
On the contrary. The Rebbe was unequivocal in his opinion that
the reason that technology was created in our times is to deepen
and enhance our relationship with Hashem.
Just as the Midrash teaches that gold was created for the Bet
Hamikdash, technology was created for serving Hashem. Click here to see how satellite hookup was used to connect the world for a Chanuka celebration. Today we do this on our phones… then it was a huge innovation.
Torah is the ultimate truth. The Torah cannot be changed. It is the Divine word of G-d. Eternally true.
Using modern technology, you can get so much valuable help and access to sources of knowledge to advance your Torah study.
But it can only be safe to adapt to modernity after you ensure that the foundational principles of divine-based morality, and the Torah’s bedrock principles of faith and conduct are the base and the center around which every decision is made.
The life of a Jew is created around the guardrails and instructions of the Torah.
For example.
Kosher food.
The laws of kosher were given by G-d to Moshe at Mount Sinai. Moshe transmitted them through the ‘Five books of Moses’ that he wrote before his passing. The Oral Law was later transcribed in the Talmud.
Divine laws cannot change.
Kosher food means food that is ‘fitting’ for being eaten by Jews according to the G-dly mandated diet as prescribed in the Torah.
This is unchangeable.
Pork, shellfish, mixtures of meat and milk, all of these (and many other detailed laws) are simply not kosher. A Jew many not eat them. It has been that way since the Torah was given more than three thousand years ago. it will stay that way forever.
Not to be confused with what people call ‘kosher style’ which is open to evolving and changing.
For Ashkenazi Jews above a certain age, things like kneidelach. Kasha knishes, chopped liver remind them of what their grandmothers used to make. For Sephardic Jews there are other foods.
The definition of ‘kosher style’ can and does change based on the times. Gefilte fish for example which traditionally starts off the first course on Shabbat (it is a halacha and custom to eat fish on Shabbat) can be replaced with sashimi or sushi. There is no divinely mandated mitzvah tradition to eat fish in the recipe of Gefilte fish or other foods that create nostalgic memories.
It is the laws of kosher food that cannot change. The recipes and taste nuances are constantly changing.
Another example. Wearing a head covering and tzitzit, this is Torah based and cannot change.
Wearing a ‘black hat’ is absolutely not a rigid rule that cannot be adapted or evolve into another form of head covering.
In my weekly YouTube videos the video that went viral is the ‘Why do Jews wear black hats.’
The ‘flight or fight’ question to ensuring Jewish continuity is what items are flexible and adaptable to fit the contours of modernity and what aspects are the very foundations and guardrails that protect the religion from melting and dissolving into assimilate G-d forbid.
What enhances our eternal path vs what threatens it.
Thank G-d we are luck to live many many generations after the Jewish People became a nation at the feet of Mount Sinai. A mere fifty days after emerging triumphantly from generations of slavery in Egypt.
I say we are lucky because ‘history repeats itself’ and by looking into history we can know in advance what works and what fails dismally.
Throughout history the (well intentioned) Jewish activists who thought to alter and tamper with halachic Jewish values, traditions and practice to ‘suit the modern times’ disappeared into the annals of history without leaving a trace.
The story of Chanuka is about the attempted Hellenization of Israel and the Jewish people. This was a movement championed by parts of the Jewish establishment.
Without the uprising of the Maccabees we would G-d forbid have lost our Jewish identity.
Till today the entire Jewish people celebrate the miracle of Chanuka which reminds us how critical it is to defend the principle of our faith from melting away and assimilating under the guise of modernizing the ‘archaic’ Judaism of the path.
Our Jewish identity, our nationhood, is because we are the ‘people of the Book’ – the Torah.
Any identity that we may try to form outside of the immutable Torah values is like a tree that is planted that has no roots.
At best it is like an AI generated essay.
Seems erudite. But not authentic.
It can last for a while. Sometimes even a few decades or longer. But we are a people who have survived thousands of years. As a people, a nation that is a direct continuation to the Jews who left Egypt and entered Israel.
In the long term we know that only Torah based Judaism lasts.
Because it is true. It is Divine.
Only G-d can guarantee that Am Yisrael is for ever.
Anything else built on human invention is temporary. Eventually it crumples under its own meaninglessness.
Just like true authentic human experience will never be replaced by AI.
At the core of every human is the quest for meaning and personal connection. AI cannot replace that.
It can create a lot of confusion along the way.
Like many isms, movements and fads. They come and they eventually go. Sometimes leaving a sad trail of destruction in their wake.
AI is great. After all, it comes (through human minds) from G-d who is the source of everything.
It can only be good though, when it is used based on the guidelines of Divine morality.
When it comes to the unique mission of the Jews only authenticity will survive. For at the core of every Jew is a divinely given ‘neshama’ Jewish soul. The neshama can taste the difference between ersatz and real.
The Jew who comes to a Passover seder can only nourish his neshama soul with kosher Matzah. The other cultural and familial Passover traditions are important for they create a vibe and an atmosphere. For example matza ball kneidlach can stimulate nostalgia. But it cannot be at the expense of the authentic Seder mitzvahs of telling about the redemption from Egypt and eating truly kosher matzah.
Your personal nostalgia is not transferable. Your children don’t have nostalgia for the grandmother you are nostalgic for.
Remember, you are the grandmother and grandfather of your grandchildren please G-d. Think about ways that you can create authentic Jewish memories for them.
Nostalgia is powerful. We should be mindfully building experiences in our family life that spark those feelings.
You can listen to Moshe Yess's song about this topic, My Zaidy.
Here is my call to mindful action.
You are in the driving seat of your future and that future of your family and ultimately the future of your community.
Take a few moments to ponder and research about the best way to transmit Judaism to the next generation and beyond.
Make an honest appraisal about what key values and foundations are critical to Jewish life. The ingredients that have allowed us to survive and even thrive in the various cultures and countries that we live in throughout the thousands of years of our tumultuous history.
Be objective, even if it may seem that you cannot live up to the objective standard you believe in. It is so shortsighted and self-centered to try to trim the truth to fit personal convenience.
Take one step closer towards the ideals that have survived our thousands of years of wandering.
And incorporate at least one more authentically Jewish action, one more mitzvah into your lifestyle.
And that one mitzvah will lead you to a second and third as a mitzvah pulls and contagiously elicits another mitzvah.
And brainstorm with the young people, the innovators, the inventors, the start-ups and the modern thinkers to see how to bring the most vibrant, advanced and exciting technology to upgrade and enhance the authentic Judaism that you practice.
This will ensure our continuity with the best balance possible.
A contemporary ‘with-it’ version of the same ‘good-ole’ time-immemorial traditional Torah based Judaism.
A winning blend.
The only blend that can ensure that Am Yisrael CHAI.
We the Jews are alive. Because G-d is alive. And we are His people, connected to Him via His Torah.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Yosef Kantor