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.


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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.

Feedback Loupe

The purpose of this blog is to foster philosophical debate at the Friday night dinner table. Please print and share. 
In memory of M. Leo Storch on his 47th yahrzeit.

A true story followed by a question for your table.

A couple days ago, I met with a certain world-famous rabbi to request his wisdom on (and possible endorsement of) our new Jewish Health and Fitness program.

He first apologized that he hadn't had time to read the book, but had only skimmed through it.

But then he went on to mention a few things that he either didn't like or thought were wrong.

Finally, after discussing these substantial items, he said, "And there's a typo on page 280."

"Only one typo? That's pretty good."

And he laughed.

And then he apologized again, several times, in case he had hurt my feelings by pointing out these errors.

He was so warm and so generous with his precious time. I'm the one who should have been apologizing.

Now, I never explicitly committed to making changes to the book according to this rabbi's feedback.

But I think it makes an excellent question for the table: Should I anyway?

And if you say yes, is it because I have a moral obligation to, or an ethical one, or for some other reason?

And if you say no, are there any circumstances when you would say that I have a moral or ethical obligation?


Shabbat Shalom

"The average person's goal in life is to make the world conform to his mind, to impose their own judgments on the world, and even fight for those judgments.
The enlightened person's goal is to make his mind conform to the world - to observe nature, people, and Wisdom itself with such clarity that he grows appreciative, sympathetic and wise."

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Learn It Again, Sam

The goal of this blog is to create an epic Shabbat table ...  Please share.
  
This week, a brief story and seven questions for your table.

Last week's Soul of a Strawberry inspired some happy responses.

Some people sent pictures of their favorite fruit. Someone thanked me for the limerick about resurrection.

But the biggest surprise was when someone said that the email made him more conscious about healthy eating.

Five questions:

1. How long can that last? How do you keep an inspiration going for more than a few days?

2. Did you ever know someone who for years has tried - and failed - to change a single habit? (I see one every time I look in the mirror.)

3. What's worse - to keep trying to turn over a new leaf yet to fail, or never to try at all?

4. Is there such a thing as a personal habit that is impossible to change?

5. If you knew you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

For me, these questions became more focused this week when I was in San Francisco for a very, very special event, a very big simcha.

For six years, a group of women have made the habit of attending a class Friday morning where the teacher doesn't even bother to come - get this - he shows up via Skype.

Why would busy people show up week-in-week-out, year-in-year-out, for so long?

(Certainly not for the teacher. I know him personally and know he won't mind my saying so.)

The main answer I think is very simple: the class is called "The Wisdom and Beauty of the Chumash" (AKA the 5 Books of Moses, AKA the Torah).

But I think the secret to that group is three things:

1. They are learning Torah, the world's greatest book of wisdom;
2. They are learning together. Some people learn best in a group, and this group are all deep thinkers;
3. They take turns bringing breakfast.

Question #6 for your table: Which of those three reasons do you think is the most important?

So this week we celebrated completing the entire Torah together. Yes, it's a "mazal tov".

Yes, I flew across the country for less than 24 hours just to celebrate that siyum. Yes, it is that big of a deal.

It's a big mazal tov for those who came every week and it's a big mazal tov for those who came even once and it's a big mazal tov for those who never came. It's a mazal tov for all of us.

I asked the women to share one special thing that they have learned from the Torah. Their answers were all inspiring and too much to quote here. But here's one that I think resonates universally:

"Everything in life is a test to make you a better person."

Wow. If you could hold onto that idea every day, you would never worry.

So today the class resumes. After all, warns the Talmud, the second question they ask you in the next world is, "Did you schedule regular times to learn Torah?"

And there is an obvious question - which I'll leave for discussion at your table....

Question #7: What should the group do next? Continue through Tanach, or go back to the beginning?

Mazal tov and

Shabbat Shalom

PS - If you'd like to test your own Chumash-knowledge with the 26-question "Final Exam" I gave them, shoot me an email.

Like this email? How about putting your gelt where your gab is: Like it, tweet it, or just forward it.

You're a 10

The purpose of this blog is to get the kids and folks talking. Please print and share.



Today's question for your table is something that I know has been bothering you for a long time.

You've probably laid awake at night wondering this.

Maybe you've googled it a few times. Google doesn't know.

Psychologists have discovered that we're wired for the number 7.

But for some reason when listing the "top" of any category, we love 10.

Why is this?

Similarly, when we do a countdown, it's always from ten; we never start at nine or eleven.

Why????

Why do weight-lifters do sets of ten?

[pause for discussion around your table]

So here's an experiment I've done numerous times.

Practically everyone in the world has heard of the Ten Commandments.

Some people (anyone at your table?) can actually name them.

There are even a few who can name them in order.

Even some who saw the movie.

Here's the problem - when you look at the text of the Torah - in any language - is it clear that there are exactly ten?

Try it yourself. Here's the text - print it out and pass it around the table - don't tell everyone there are ten - just ask them, how many commandments are there?

(Exodus Ch. 20:1-14)
1 And God spoke all these words, saying, 2  I am the Lord your God, who have brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 You shall have no other gods before me. 4 You shall not make for you any engraved image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 You shall not bow down yourself to them, nor serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6 And showing mercy to thousands of those who love me, and keep my commandments. 7 You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. 8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days shall you labor, and do all your work; 10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger that is within your gates; 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and made it holy. 12 Honor your father and your mother; that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God gives you. 13 You shall not kill. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 14 You shall not covet your neighbor’s house, you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is your neighbor’s.

And what's even more interesting is that although we seem to agree that there are supposed to be ten, others count them differently than we do.

Hmm....

Now I'm assuming by now I've convinced you that there could easily be eleven or twelve commandments on that list.

So here's the question:

Does that sit OK with you - "The 12 Commandments" - ??

If not, why not?

And finally - aren't there supposed to be 613 commandments? (proof that we're not addicted to round numbers?)

So what's up with these ten?

Let me know what you and your table-mates come up with, would you please?


Shabbat Shalom 

PS - Parenting is a lot harder than a simple to-do list, great parenting needs great coaching.

Simi Yellen is one of the best out there. Here's the info on her new phone-class starting next week.

If you have a 2-15-year-old, this is for you. If you know someone who does, please let them know.

Great parents will benefit too.



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