These rabbis are making an Orthodox case against A.I. Will anyone listen?
Seated inside a ballroom on the campus of an all-girls religious school, the heavy hitters of Haredi Orthodox Judaism stared grimly into the future.
Rabbi Elya Ber Wachtfogel, head of the prestigious Yeshiva of South Fallsburg, had summoned more than a dozen of his colleagues to this Lakewood wedding venue on urgent business. Artificial intelligence posed a dire threat to their way of life. Over the next few hours, these men — the elders of four Hasidic dynasties and more than a dozen yeshivas — would begin to chart a course against it.
Their plan of attack: A communal fast, during which rabbinic authorities will reiterate the dangers of the technology and discourage its use. Then, technical steps — an effort to ban A.I. texting, or to promote phones that automatically blocked such services.
“These coordinated steps will establish a clear and unified communal standard that such use of open A.I. is unacceptable within the homes, yeshivas, and schools of our kehillos,” or communities, read an article on the gathering, known as an asifa, in the community news site Lakewood Alerts.
The Jan. 4 meeting elicited some ridicule online, from within the Haredi world and beyond it. One Instagram post teasing the gedolim, or rabbinic leaders, joked that the asifa had led to the first “A.I.-generated fast.” Riffing on Haredi attire, a commenter on one article about the gathering warned of a “worldwide shortage of black hats.” It is unclear whether any A.I. ban will stick — or, truly, whether a fast day will actually happen.
Yet the asifa has already produced something of broader significance: A religious case against A.I. — perhaps the first made by any group of Jewish denominational leaders. And though they were teased for being out of touch, the Lakewood rabbis had raised concerns with surprising parallels in the critiques of secular A.I. skeptics, said Ayala Fader, the author of Hidden Heretics, a book about the impact of technology on Haredi communities.
“They might come up with different sources for explaining it,” Fader said, “but they are actually articulating some of the objections to A.I. that you can read about in the Chronicle of Higher Education.”
A changing threat
Haredi Jews take in the view from Citi Field at a gathering to discuss the risks of using the Internet in May 2012. Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images
The asifa recalled a gathering in 2012 at a much larger cathedral. Some 40,000 Haredi men packed the home of the New York Mets that day to listen to gedolim rail against the internet. The concerns shared at Citi Field fueled a cottage industry of “kosher” technology — devices that either filtered the internet or lacked a browser altogether.
“Information about religion, about faith, about sexuality, they see as being a corrupting force on the brain which you can’t undo,” explained Frieda Vizel, an expert on Hasidic life who gives tours of New York’s Hasidic neighborhoods. Today, old-school flip phones are ubiquitous in Haredi enclaves, and homes without television are the norm.
The urgency of Wachtfogel’s call was partly due to the evolution of the old threat: A.I.-based texting services mean even kosher phones can open the floodgates of uncensored information.
But the gedolim’s worries about A.I. were more focused on the technology itself — how it was communicating, and the human implications of its power. (Wachtfogel did not respond to an inquiry.)
Their primary concern was social. Get too used to a chatbot telling you what you want to hear, one Haredi rabbi in attendance explained, and you won’t be able to navigate friction in the real world. There’s a budding term for this phenomenon, emotional intelligence atrophy, which threatens the age-old Jewish ideal of shalom bayit, or domestic harmony.
And while using A.I. in various Torah study contexts has become commonplace among non-Haredi rabbinical students and in the rabbinate, the gedolim considered it almost blasphemous. For exposition on the Torah to have divine character, they said, it has to come from a Jew.
“We have a neshama,” or soul, said one Haredi leader, who was granted anonymity to protect his relationships in the community, which he said would be threatened by appearing in a non-Haredi outlet. “We have a spark from Hashem inside of us. And when two Jews are learning together, talking together, or being kind to each other, those two sparks are in connection. Replacing that with a machine, it’s sterile.”
The 11th-century commentator Rashi famously wrote that the essence of living a Torah-based life was toiling in its study. Haredi and Hasidic communities are rooted in this concept of ameilut, or toil: Men learn in yeshiva deep into adulthood, and career development is seen as secondary to a lifelong pursuit of Torah knowledge. To the gedolim, the very purpose of artificial intelligence seemed to be skirting ameilut.
“If at the push of a button, I can get a hold of a d’var torah for my Shabbos meal from A.I., to us, that’s a problem,” the Haredi leader told the Forward. “No, no — I want you to open the book and read it and come up with a question and come up with an answer. That’s part of what’s holy about learning Torah. It’s not just end result. It’s the process.”
This photo was taken in 2009, but flip phones like the one pictured here remain ubiquitous in Haredi communities because the devices do not have web browser. Photo by Hazem Bader/AFP via Getty Images
The Haredi method
For thousands of years, the Jewish tradition has reserved six days a year for communal fasts, which unify its participants in solemn purpose. This year, if the yeshiva leaders follow through on their commitment, communities in Borough Park, Lakewood, Monsey and Williamsburg will observe a seventh. (No date has been publicly announced.)
On that day, gedolim will inveigh against A.I. the same way they once had about the internet. In addition to no eating or drinking, a special fast day Torah portion will be read.
Ultimately, however, a total ban on artificial intelligence is no more possible or likely in the Hasidic world than a total ban on the internet. Fader noted that in 2012, a total ban was the original goal. “But they quickly realized that couldn’t be,” she said, which is how internet filtering became the compromise. “There’s more flexibility to the system than you might expect.”
Fourteen years after Citi Field, the internet is the economic lifeblood of Haredi communities; as it turns out, e-commerce is basically the ideal business for Haredi Jews, affording men anonymity and women the ability to work from home. And Haredi leaders I spoke to acknowledged that A.I. will ultimately become an unavoidable part of online business. Vizel, the tour guide, told me she had recently come across an ad for an A.I. seminar in a Hasidic newspaper.
Eli Steinberg, a Lakewood-based Haredi pundit, surmised that it was precisely this sense of inevitability that led to the meeting’s outcome. The gedolim, just as they were in 2012 and just like the rest of society today, were playing catch up.
“There’s a challenge here, and there’s no clear answer of how one deals with it,” Steinberg said. While he had not attended the asifa, his sense was that the gedolim had concluded, “‘This unanswerable challenge will have to be dealt with the way we deal with most unanswerable challenges, which is prayer and fasting.’”
Fear, Security Concerns Stall Plans for New Jewish Kindergarten in Germany
Pro-Hamas demonstrators marching in Munich, Germany. Photo: Reuters/Alexander Pohl
As Jews and Israelis face a relentlessly hostile climate in Germany, the Jewish community in Potsdam, a city just outside Berlin, fears it may not be safe to open a new Jewish daycare center amid growing security concerns.
First reported by the German newspaper Märkische Allgemeine, the local Jewish community plans to establish a new Jewish kindergarten in Potsdam’s Stern district, a residential neighborhood in the city’s southeast, but rising antisemitism has slowed the project amid growing concerns over security and protection.
Initially launched in 2020, the project began when community leaders approached Potsdam city hall for support, with officials backing the plan and exploring the possibility of establishing the kindergarten in an existing, underutilized facility.
However, with antisemitic incidents on the rise and Jews and Israelis increasingly targeted, community leaders now warn that opening the kindergarten could heighten their vulnerability, making it impossible to predict when the facility might open.
“People are afraid of the growing antisemitism,” Evgueni Kutikow, chairman of the Jewish Community of Potsdam, told Märkische Allgemeine. “One mother called me crazy when I asked her if she would enroll her child in a Jewish daycare center.”
Kutikow explained that the daycare center would require specific security measures, but he expressed concern that doing so might draw greater attention to the facility and make it a more visible target.
“As things stand now, I’m skeptical. But I’m also not prepared to abandon the project,” he continued.
Across Germany, synagogues, schools, and other Jewish institutions have had to increase security and protection against antisemitic attacks and potential terror threats — a reality that has intensified and loomed over the community since the start of the war in Gaza.
“But if we take three steps outside, we are completely on our own. We don’t live in a bubble — we see what’s happening around us and across the world,” Kutikow said.
Despite lingering skepticism, he said advocates of the project will continue working with city officials, who remain committed to advancing discussions, exploring new ideas, and promoting the daycare center.
Even though daycare places in the city currently exceed demand, a town hall spokesperson explained the city would still consider establishing a new center if an additional need can be demonstrated.
City officials will determine the costs of renovating and securing the proposed building, while planning to consult the state government on financing.
However, the German Ministry of Education, which has not yet received an application for an operating license, holds the final decision on the project.
Like most countries across Europe and the broader Western world, Germany has seen a shocking rise in antisemitic incidents over the last two years, in the wake of the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Most recently, unknown individuals vandalized the memorial at a local synagogue in Kiel, a city in the northwestern part of the country, destroying items left by people honoring the victims of the Holocaust — including a Star of David, candles, and a photograph.
According to newly released figures from the German Ministry of the Interior, antisemitic incidents continued to rise last year, with 2,122 offenses reported in Berlin alone, including 60 violent attacks.
This represents a significant increase of 80 percent compared with the already high number of incidents in previous years, with Berlin police recording 901 such offenses in 2023 and 1,622 in 2024.
Last month, the commissioner to combat antisemitism in the German state of Hesse sounded the alarm after an arson attack on a synagogue in Giessen, warning that it reflects a “growing pogrom-like atmosphere” threatening Jewish life across the country.
Steven Spielberg Reaches EGOT Status After Winning First Grammy Award
Steven Spielberg. Photo: BANG Showbiz via Reuters
Steven Spielberg officially became an EGOT winner on Sunday night after winning a Grammy for producing the “Music by John Williams” documentary that won in the best music film category.
The Jewish filmmaker took home his first Grammy win during a non-televised ceremony that took place before the main awards show. This was also the first year that he was nominated for a Grammy.
Spielberg is the 22nd person to have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony in their careers. That list includes Rita Moreno, Audrey Hepburn, Mel Brooks, Elton John, Whoopi Goldberg, John Legend, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Jennifer Hudson, Viola Davis, and composers Marvin Hamlisch, Richard Rodgers, and Alan Menken.
Spielberg is also reportedly the ninth Jewish person to reach EGOT status. The most recent Jewish person to secure the EGOT title before Spielberg was songwriter Benj Pasek in 2024.
Spielberg previously won four Emmys, for “The Pacific,” “Band of Brothers,” “Steven Spielberg Presents: A Pinky & The Brain Christmas,” and “Steven Spielberg Presents Taken.” He has three Oscars, including two for “Schindler’s List” and one for “Saving Private Ryan,” and a Tony award for producing the Broadway show “A Strange Loop.”
“Music by John Williams” is about the famed composer and conductor who has had 54 Oscar nominations and five wins. He has composed music for film franchises — such as “Star Wars,” “Home Alone,” “Jurassic Park,” “Harry Potter” and “Indiana Jones,” — as well as other iconic films and television shows including “Gilligan’s Island,” “Schindler’s List,” “Jaws,” “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial” and “Saving Private Ryan.”
Spielberg may win another Oscar this year since he is a producer on “Hamnet,” which is nominated in the best picture category.
Deni Avdija Becomes First Israeli Selected as NBA All-Star
Mar 2, 2025; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Portland Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija (8) drives to the basket against Cleveland Cavaliers guard Ty Jerome (2) and forward Dean Wade (32) during the second half at Rocket Arena. Photot: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images
Portland Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija has become the first Israeli to be named an NBA All-Star at the age of 25.
The 6-foot-8 athlete was named an All-Star reserve for the Western Conference on Sunday and was among 14 announced reserves who will compete in the 2026 NBA All-Star Game on Feb. 15 in Inglewood, California.
The All-Star showdown will be set like a tournament with US vs. the World, and three teams of at least eight players will compete in 12-minute games in a round-robin structure. Avdija will join Luka Dončić, Nikola Jokić, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Victor Wembanyama and others on the World team. The top two teams will go head-to-head in the championship.
“I worked hard,” Avdija told Blazer’s Edge after the announcement was made. “I play hard. I don’t want to say I deserve it, but I do respect me and my game. And I’m really happy that I’m able to be an All-Star.” He also talked about the support and congratulations he has received following the news.
“The amount of love — not only from family and friends — it’s also the fans,” Avdija said. “And the whole State of Israel is just standing behind me, for real. My teammates have been awesome. Coaches. Everybody just hugging and showing the love.”
Avdija, who has been nicknamed “Turbo,” finished seventh place in the NBA All-Star voting with over 2.2 million fans votes. He is the 17th player in the history of the Blazers to be named an All-Star and the first since Damian Lillard in 2023.
Avdija was born in Beit Zera, a kibbutz on the southern shore of the Sea of Galilee. He previously played for Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel and spent four years with the Washington Wizards, who drafted him in the first round in 2020. He was the first Israeli chosen in the top 10 in an NBA draft. Avdija is currently in his second season with the Blazers.
“Proud of him. I know he cares about this team,” said Blazers coach Tiago Splitter after Avdija’s All-Star status was announced. “When you see a person like that succeeding, it’s truly special.”
Avdija has three triple-doubles this season, reached double figures in assists nine times, and scored 20 or more points a total of 35 times, according to the NBA. He joins Jokić and Dončić as one of three players averaging at least 25 points, seven rebounds, and six assists.
Avdija did not play during Portland’s 130-111 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday because of pain related to back issues.
