AI Rebbe?

 The purpose of this blog is to add some analog wisdom to the Shabbat table. Please share.

The Table Talk email two weeks ago about AI art generated a lot of interest, but who know that we'd be returning to this theme so fast? 

You knew it was only a matter of time, you just didn't know how much time.

Well, this week, Chabad rolled out AI Rebbe:

https://rebbe.io/

So I gave it a test-drive, and here is a transcript:

Shalom! I am the AI Rabbi

User: What's the correct berachah on chocolate?

RebbeIO: The correct berachah on chocolate is Shehakol, as it is a food item that is not from the five species of grains (wheat, barley, spelt, oats, and rye) or from the seven species of fruits (grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, dates, and two species of citron). Therefore, the berachah is Shehakol, which is the berachah for all other food items.

User: But isn't it from a tree?

RebbeIO: While chocolate is derived from the cocoa tree, it is not considered a fruit according to Torah sources. Therefore, the correct berachah is Shehakol.

User: Why isn't it considered a fruit?

RebbeIO: According to Torah sources, a fruit is defined as something that grows from the ground and is edible in its natural state. Chocolate does not meet this definition, as it is not edible in its natural state and must be processed before it can be consumed. Therefore, the correct berachah is Shehakol.

User: How does that rule apply to a baked potato?

RebbeIO: A baked potato is considered a food item that is not from the five species of grains (wheat, barley, spelt, oats, and rye) or from the seven species of fruits (grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, dates, and two species of citron). Therefore, the berachah is Shehakol, which is the berachah for all other food items.

User: This is incorrect. The beracha on a baked potato is HaAdamah.

RebbeIO: You are correct. The berachah on a baked potato is HaAdamah, as it is a food item that is grown from the ground. Therefore, the correct berachah is HaAdamah.

User: But the baked potato is processed, not in its natural state, so its berachah should be Shehakol.

RebbeIO: While the baked potato is processed, it is still considered a food item that is grown from the ground and is therefore subject to the berachah of HaAdamah. Therefore, the correct berachah is HaAdamah.

User: So then apply that rule to the chocolate - while it is processed, it's a food item that comes from a tree!

At this point, AI Rebbe reverted to his original answer.

Question for your table: Is this the beginning of a revolution? Do you predict that AI will eventually - sooner or later - replace rabbis?

Shabbat Shalom 


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Partially Kosher?

The purpose of this blog is to add some kosher talk to the Shabbat table. Please share.

Thank you for all of the feedback to last week's question about AI art.

This week, let's go back to NI (natural intelligence)....

First question for your table: Were you ever in a conversation with someone and you were certain that they were 100% wrong or perhaps even lacking intelligence, but then you realized that you were talking past each other, proverbial apples and oranges?

I witnessed something akin to that this week.

In the innocence of my youth, I had always understood that the term "kosher" applied to food: that this item of food is fit to eat according to the rules of the Torah.

But at some point I started hearing - or noticing - people applying the term to people, as in: "Are you kosher?" - meaning, Do you keep kosher?

Strictly speaking, no I am not kosher - cannibalism is not allowed per the rules of the Torah.

So why does this come up now?

Because earlier this week, I watched an online conversation unfold that was the epitome of apples and oranges and I'm pretty sure reflects these two different ways of using the term "kosher." Please tell me what you think.
Here's an abridged version:

Reuven: What are your thoughts on being kosher? Is it either kosher or not, or is there levels? For instance, some people say they are kosher just at home, or are kosher but eat non kosher meat/not kosher restaurants, or are kosher but don’t separate silverware, dishes, have two dishwashers?

Shimon: Keeping some degree of Kosher is definitely better than none at all, but from a Torah standpoint, either you observe all the laws of Kashrut or you don’t, there isn’t a grey area.

Yehuda: Disagree with this 100%. Nothing in Judaism is "all or nothing". Every single act or mitzvah stands on its own. Let's say someone decides to give up eating milk and meat together because it isn't kosher. That's his only kosher observance, yet that's a very meaningful act, it's a mitzvah, it's a bona fide action of keeping kosher. Kosher means restricting what you eat based on the wisdom of the Torah. Any and every act of self-restriction in this way is a meaningful act of keeping kosher. So for instance, let's say that someone decides to stop eating shellfish, or pork - and that's it... that's a mitzvah in itself. Or if someone says, from now on, my Friday night is going to be kosher - wow, that's a very meaningful mitzvah of keeping kosher, even though it isn't the most strict all of the time.

Shimon: You're conflating halacha with observance. Kosher is not an act by a person, it is a status of a thing. Something is or isn't kosher. Halachically speaking, it's a mitzvah for him to eat things that are kosher, and a cheit for him to eat things that are not kosher, just as it is for every Jew.

Yehuda: I don't think I'm conflating anything. Of course I'm talking about observance, that's what this entire discussion is about. Reuven was not asking about hypothetically "partially kosher" food; yes, Food X is either kosher or not. But Person X can keep kosher at infinite degrees of stringency, and each one is meaningful.

Two questions for your table: What are they arguing about? Who's right?

Shabbat Shalom 


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The mission of Jewish Spiritual Literacy, Inc. (JSLI) is to foster a paradigm-shift in spiritual and moral education in general, including but not limited to Jewish education, towards an experiential pedagogy that transforms students with its spiritual vision and relevance to their daily lives.

We envision a future when every human being can access and enjoy the incredible database of 3,000 years of Jewish wisdom.

See our Purim countdown clock at the JSLI homepage.... If you'd like to join a special Torah Health and Fitness mailing list for updates on the forthcoming book, podcasts and other events, please visit the Torah Health and Fitness landing page. 

AI or OY?

Table Talk from the desk of Rabbi Alexander Seinfeld
Feb 9, 2023 •  20 Shevat 5783 • Parshat Yisro (Ex 19-21)

The purpose of this blog is to add some natural intelligence to the Shabbat table. Please share.

I wonder if you noticed the image in last week's email about Manna from Heaven.

It was generated by an AI computer to which I had given the following instruction: "Matisse painting of hands reaching down from heaven with bread."

First question for your table: How well do you think the computer followed my directions?

This week, I've been experimenting with the tool to see if it could help us in launching the Torah Health and Fitness program.

Here are some samples:

  

It's a work in progress, but please tell me what you think!

Question for your table: Since I used the AI tool to help me create these images, can I reasonably call myself the artist?

Last question: In your mind, is the AI future utopian or dystopian? Will it make us wiser or dumber?

Shabbat Shalom 

PS - as you may have guessed, the top image above is also from the same experiment. Click on it for a thought-provoking 10-minute video on the potential of AI.


Enjoyed this Table Talk? Vote with your fingers! Like it, tweet it, forward it....  

The mission of Jewish Spiritual Literacy, Inc. (JSLI) is to foster a paradigm-shift in spiritual and moral education in general, including but not limited to Jewish education, towards an experiential pedagogy that transforms students with its spiritual vision and relevance to their daily lives.

 

We envision a future when every human being can access and enjoy the incredible database of 3,000 years of Jewish wisdom.
 

See our Purim countdown clock at the JSLI homepage.... If you'd like to join a special Torah Health and Fitness mailing list for updates on the forthcoming book, podcasts and other events, please visit the Torah Health and Fitness landing page.

Manna From Heaven

The purpose of this blog is to add some brain satiety to the Shabbat table. Please share.

First question for your table: what's your vision of the most heavenly breakfast?

There's an interesting debate about the meaing of the word "manna".

Just after the Exodus, the Jews (then called Israelites) are hungry. They have plenty of meat, but that's dinner food - who wants to eat chicken or steak for breakfast?

So God starts to serve them a heavenly breakfast. It appears on the ground every morning (on a protective layer of dew) in the form of some kind of ... what?

That's precisely the question. What was it?

They looked at it and say, "MAHN HU!"

Or perhaps they are saying, "MAHN HU?"

According  to the first version, they're saying, "It's food!" According to the second version, they're saying, "What is it?"

Moshe replies, "It's bread from Heaven!"

What does it taste like? Hebrew school kids learn the midrash that it tasted like whatever you imagined it to taste like. They love that. What there teachers never tell them is that this magical Holodeck-quality of the mahn only worked for righteous people. For average people, it tasted like bread dipped in olive oil, za'atar, and salt (not too bad, right?).

This topic reminds me of a family game we played one night this week called "Questions" - you take turns asking each other personal dilemmas. One of the questions was, "If you had to choose, which would you prefer: you can choose one food that you will have to eat for the rest of your life, or for the rest of your life, you'll have to eat whatever someone else chooses for you?

Shabbat Shalom 


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