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Skver Hasidic movement bans use of artificial intelligence
(JTA) — In a declaration issued Thursday and stressing the danger of “the open internet without any filter,” more than a dozen rabbis from the Skver Hasidic movement prohibited the use of artificial intelligence, specifically citing the technology firm OpenAI.
The blanket ban on artificial intelligence is the latest instance of haredi Orthodox authorities forbidding or restricting their followers from using cutting-edge digital technology. For years, haredi rabbis have warned their communities of the moral dangers associated with internet usage, and some have instructed their followers to place filters on their phones and other devices that prevent users from accessing a wide range of the internet.
Now, the Skver community’s rabbis are taking a similar approach to OpenAI’s ChatGPT and other tools in the rapidly growing universe of AI chatbots and image generators. It is an especially sharp manifestation of the broader concern over the range of risks posed by the increasing capabilities of artificial intelligence and its potential to reshape society.
The signatories of the Hebrew-language letter wrote that AI is “open to all abominations, heresy, and infidelity without limits.” It citied Biblical texts and rulings from previous rabbis as supports for the prohibition.
“It is possible that at this point, not everyone knows the magnitude and scope of the danger, but it has become clear to us in our souls that this thing will be a trap for all of us, young and old,” the letter said. “Therefore, the use of ‘AI’ is strictly prohibited in any shape and form, even by phone.”
The Skver community is based in the village of New Square, New York, and is considered particularly traditionalist. Other Orthodox groups, particularly the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement, have embraced technology.
Many members of the Hasidic communities who do use the internet are expected to do so with so-called “kosher” filters that block content considered inappropriate, such as pornography, gambling sites or, in certain instances, a much broader range of content that could lead users away from their strict religious observance.
Last June, two massive rallies geared toward Hasidic women urged them to delete their social media profiles and give up their smartphones — and to access the internet through a filter only when totally necessary. Those rallies, which drew criticism for limiting women’s financial opportunities and access to information, came a decade after approximately 40,000 mostly haredi men attended a similar rally at Citi Field warning of the dangers of unfettered internet access.
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Israel’s Netanyahu Hopes to ‘Taper’ Israel Off US Military Aid in Next Decade
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to the press on Capitol Hill, Washington, DC, July 8, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview published on Friday that he hopes to “taper off” Israeli dependence on US military aid in the next decade.
Netanyahu has said Israel should not be reliant on foreign military aid but has stopped short of declaring a firm timeline for when Israel would be fully independent from Washington.
“I want to taper off the military within the next 10 years,” Netanyahu told The Economist. Asked if that meant a tapering “down to zero,” he said: “Yes.”
Netanyahu said he told President Donald Trump during a recent visit that Israel “very deeply” appreciates “the military aid that America has given us over the years, but here too we’ve come of age and we’ve developed incredible capacities.”
In December, Netanyahu said Israel would spend 350 billion shekels ($110 billion) on developing an independent arms industry to reduce dependency on other countries.
In 2016, the US and Israeli governments signed a memorandum of understanding for the 10 years through September 2028 that provides $38 billion in military aid, $33 billion in grants to buy military equipment and $5 billion for missile defense systems.
Israeli defense exports rose 13 percent last year, with major contracts signed for Israeli defense technology including its advanced multi-layered aerial defense systems.
US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a staunch Israel supporter and close ally of Trump, said on X that “we need not wait ten years” to begin scaling back military aid to Israel.
“The billions in taxpayer dollars that would be saved by expediting the termination of military aid to Israel will and should be plowed back into the US military,” Graham said. “I will be presenting a proposal to Israel and the Trump administration to dramatically expedite the timetable.”
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In Rare Messages from Iran, Protesters ask West for Help, Speak of ‘Very High’ Death Toll
Protests in Tehran. Photo: Iran Photo from social media used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law, via i24 News
i24 News – Speaking to Western media from beyond the nationwide internet blackout imposed by the Islamic regime, Iranian protesters said they needed support amid a brutal crackdown.
“We’re standing up for a revolution, but we need help. Snipers have been stationed behind the Tajrish Arg area [a neighborhood in Tehran],” said a protester in Tehran speaking to the Guardian on the condition of anonymity. He added that “We saw hundreds of bodies.”
Another activist in Tehran spoke of witnessing security forces firing live ammunition at protesters resulting in a “very high” number killed.
On Friday, TIME magazine cited a Tehran doctor speaking on condition of anonymity that just six hospitals in the capital recorded at least 217 killed protesters, “most by live ammunition.”
Speaking to Reuters on Saturday, Setare Ghorbani, a French-Iranian national living in the suburbs of Paris, said that she became ill from worry for her friends inside Iran. She read out one of her friends’ last messages before losing contact: “I saw two government agents and they grabbed people, they fought so much, and I don’t know if they died or not.”
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Report: US Increasingly Regards Iran Protests as Having Potential to Overthrow Regime
United States President Donald J Trump in White House in Washington, DC, USA, on Thursday, December 18, 2025. Photo: Aaron Schwartz via Reuters Connect.
i24 News – The assessment in Washington of the strength and scope of the Iran protests has shifted after Thursday’s turnout, with US officials now inclined to grant the possibility that this could be a game changer, Axios reported on Friday.
“The protests are serious, and we will continue to monitor them,” an unnamed senior US official was quoted as saying in the report.
Iran was largely cut off from the outside world on Friday after the Islamic regime blacked out the internet to curb growing unrest, as videos circulating on social media showed buildings ablaze in anti-government protests raging across the country.
US President Donald Trump warned the Ayatollahs of a strong response if security forces escalate violence against protesters.
“We’re watching it very closely. If they start killing people like they have in the past, I think they’re going to get hit very hard by the United States,” Trump told reporters when asked about the unrest in Iran.
The latest reported death toll is at 51 protesters, including nine children.