Here is another AI vs human intelligence contrast.
I started to write an article and although it was starting to take form and develop into a nice article, time constraints are not going to allow me to finish it.
AI wouldn’t have let me down, it would have ‘produced something’.
I am human.
This week my efforts did not bear fruit in the timeframe I intended.
So, I turned to my Shabbat Shalom from Bangkok archives to find an article that would be appropriate to share.
I found this miracle story I shared fifteen years ago and really connected to the lesson.
Enjoy the below.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Yosef Kantor
Dear Friend,
For the bad news that goes on in this world, you don’t need me to point it out. Just go to any news service and unfortunately you will be pelted by an avalanche of not very exciting pieces of information. But when it comes to the GOOD news, this is where I feel I have a ‘niche’ to ‘harp on it’, to highlight it (with a figurative bright yellow neon marker) and bring it to the forefront of our awareness.
Less than one month ago on a Monday morning as I was driving through the traffic filled streets of Bangkok an urgent call came through to my phone. It was not anything that concerned me or my immediate family, but it was something that affected me as a member of the Jewish people. ‘There is an El AL plane that has problems in its landing gear and is dumping its fuel as it prepares for a landing without functioning landing gear’. The person who called me ended with one short word, Rabbi, Pray! This was the reaction of tens if not hundreds of thousands of Jews around the world who all began doing the only thing they could do to help a planeful of people circling over the Mediterranean. A short while later emails and sms messages starting arriving informing of the most welcome news that the 777 Jet landed safely. Of course in my mind it was a miracle. Yet, it was difficult to announce conclusively that it was a miracle as there was some suspicion that perhaps the landing gear was never faulty rather the signal that alerted the pilots may have been lighted up in error, caused by a short circuit or something similar. In other words, maybe the scare was misplaced.
Below I bring you quotes from one of the main Israeli news sites that clarifies in ‘black on white’ what a miracle we were blessed to receive three weeks ago.
May 26, 2011 – Ynet (Hebrew News from the Israeli Newspaper Yideot Achronot) The headline reads, “Fracture in -777: Boeing engineers had never seen such a thing.” The article continues, “Aviation accident investigators from Boeing in Seattle and from Israel’s Ministry of Transport dismantled the Boeing aircraft landing gear of the plane that carried out an emergency landing earlier this week and were surprised to find a big break in it. ‘It was a great miracle,’ said a senior source in the aviation industry. Boeing engineers were stunned. They had never seen anything like this . . . ‘The plane was hanging by a thread, and it is clear to everyone that this is a big miracle,’ explained a senior aviation official. ‘Technically, the landing gear was destroyed.’ . . . Boeing engineers were no less amazed.”
One of the most important attributes that one needs to inculcate into ones personality is the concept of ‘hakarat hatov’ which means recognizing, acknowledging and thanking someone who has been kind to you. In the reverse, there is nothing as disturbing as an ingrate. It is therefore my distinct pleasure and I actually consider it one of the most enjoyable parts of my job to point out the happy, good and openly miraculous things that G-d provides for us in this world. Take a moment and think about it. Miracles happened back then, they are happening right now and G-d willing they will continue to ‘appear’ whenever needed.
I would like to use this forum to say a public ‘thank You to G-d’ for his great miracle. I cannot and do not even want to think of what could have happened in the absence of the miracle... Thank You Hashem for the great gift of life.
In summation: Say a prayer for a loved one who may be in a situation that seems hopeless. G-d will definitely listen and He may just grant you that miracle that you are praying for.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Yosef Kantor