Today: Roger Waters invokes Anne Frank, the kibbutznik now coaching the Cincinnati Reds, a very Jewish Disney musical, a very Yiddish Bob Dylan birthday, and a very strange Woody Allen story. |
Opinion | Can religion save us from artificial intelligence robots? Rabbis have used artificial intelligence tools to write sermons; television writers are currently on strike, in part to prevent chatbots from taking their jobs. There’s been warnings and fears that one day, a sentient army of AI robots could kill us all. But it’s only 8 a.m. and you’re likely on your first cup of coffee. The end of humanity can wait till at least after lunch. How about starting the day with a new OpEd by Micah Ezekiel, a graduate student who has a Jewish take on how to prevent our worst imaginable future. A framework of faith: Ezekiel posits that if the people developing these AI tools “were properly spiritual, properly religious — not necessarily observant, but had a religious mindset,” it would lay the foundation for a safer future. ‘God creates creators’: “Creating history-altering technologies, or anything at all, is a God-like behavior,” he argues. “In Genesis, we see the first humans work the land as agriculturalists, then later build towers and cities, iterating upon and changing God’s initial creation.” The search for meaning: Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik’s classic book, The Lonely Man of Faith, takes this idea one step further, arguing that a religious mindset should counterbalance creative impulses. Both are “integral to the Jewish conception of what humans are put on Earth to do,” Ezekiel writes. “To not only create but make meaning out of our creations.” |
Related… FrumGPT is a text-messaging chatbot loaded up with centuries’ worth of Orthodox rabbinic tradition. Our Louis Keene took it for a spin.
A small Hasidic sect has banned the use of artificial intelligence programs like ChatGPT, saying the technology poses a “terrible danger.”
We asked an AI robot to write several Hanukkah-themed romantic comedies for the Hallmark Channel. The ideas were pretty good. |
Corrie ten Boom, flanked by Pat Boone (left) and Billy Graham at the 1975 premiere of 'The Hiding Place.' (Getty) |
Spurred by religious faith, an angelic evangelist became a savior to Jews: The new book The Watchmaker’s Daughter tells the story of Corrie ten Boom, who harbored Jews and members of the Dutch Resistance during Nazi occupation. Ten Boom was guided by an unwavering Christian faith. Bolstered by primary sources like Anne Frank’s diary and the recollections of Audrey Hepburn, the book is “stirring” and “cinematic,” according to our reviewer. Read her take ➤ Opinion | Traveling to Florida while wearing a skullcap? You could end up on death row: When the NAACP issued a travel advisory warning Black people about the dangers of visiting Florida, it didn’t come as a surprise to our editor-at-large, Robin Washington. His friend Delbert Tibbs was wrongly convicted of rape and murder after hitchhiking through the state in 1974. Read his essay ➤ And speaking of Florida: Gov. Ron DeSantis is set to officially declare his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination on Twitter tonight, in a virtual event with Elon Musk moderated by an eclectic Jewish businessman named David Sacks. Here’s what you need to know about Sacks. Plus… Alon Leichman grew up on a kibbutz. Now he’s coaching the Cincinnati Reds.
Police in the heavily-Haredi city of Lakewood, New Jersey, are investigating after an explosive device was thrown at two residents on Saturday night.
Senior Democrats rallied top Jewish supporters on Tuesday as the presidential campaign kicked into high gear. Our senior political reporter, Jacob Kornbluh, was in the room.
Think those cheese blintzes are too sweet? For Shavuot, which starts Thursday night, why not make them savory. Here’s how. |
WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY |
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Knesset. (Getty)
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🇮🇱 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will restart the push to radically change Israel’s judiciary after his government successfully passed the state budget early this morning. Benny Gantz, the National Unity party chairman, said Netanyahu is “once again drunk with power.” (Haaretz) 🇷🇺 A Russian court extended by three months the detention of Jewish journalist Evan Gershkovich, who is being held on espionage charges. The U.S. government is calling for his immediate release. (JTA) 🤷 None of this was on my Bingo card for today: Woody Allen saved a friend with the Heimlich maneuver while out to dinner with Alan Dershowitz. The friend, former Manhattan Borough President Andrew Stein, was choking on a piece of pork. (JTA) 🎤 Roger Waters, the former Pink Floyd frontman known for his anti-Israel views, is facing criticism after images from a concert he performed last week in Berlin emerged online. During the show, the names Anne Frank and Shireen Abu Akleh were projected side by side, apparently drawing an equivalence between the teenage Holocaust victim and the Palestinian journalist who was killed while covering an Israeli operation last year in the occupied West Bank. (i24 News) 🛻 A teenager who reportedly had a Nazi flag in his truck has been charged with multiple crimes, including allegedly threatening to harm President Joe Biden, after he crashed a pick-up truck into a security barrier near the White House Monday. (JTA) 🐁 A Minneapolis stage production of the 1986 animated film An American Tail delves deeper into the characters’ Jewishness than the original, with Hebrew prayers and talk of a “bar mouse-vah.” (New York Times) ⚾ Helen Kahan survived multiple concentration camps. On her 100th birthday this month, she threw out the first pitch at a Yankees-Rays game. (JTA) Mazel tov ➤ To Alicia Svigals on receiving an honorary doctorate in klezmer from the Jewish Theological Seminary.
What else we’re reading ➤ Intel wins 2023’s most faith-friendly company as Fortune 500 warms to religious diversity … Unsettled by Jewish history, a California lawmaker takes on his state’s housing woes … An Orthodox rabbi opines on freedom of religion – and Disney.
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June 5 at 7:30 p.m. ET: Join award-winning authors Michael Oren, the former Israeli ambassador to Washington, and Yossi Klein Halevi in conversation with our editor-in-chief, Jodi Rudoren, about what’s next for Israel. The event will take place at the 92Y in Manhattan, and you can also attend virtually. Buy tickets here ➤ |
On this day in history (1964): Hello, Dolly! won the Tony Award for Best Musical. Jewish composer-lyricist Jerry Herman infused the surprisingly goyish story about a meddling matchmaker with songs like “Put On Your Sunday Clothes” and “Before the Parade Passes By.” Many Broadway divas have played Dolly Levi, including Carol Channing and Bette Middler, but at least one Forward contributor, Jenny Singer, believes the role belongs to Barbra Streisand.
Last year on this day, Amb. Deborah Lipstadt was sworn in as the State Department’s special envoy to combat antisemitism.
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In honor of Bob Dylan’s birthday, we’re sharing this video of Daniel Kahn singing “I Shall Be Released” in Yiddish. Dylan is turning 82, and we have a lot more to help you celebrate… That time Bob Dylan went to shul incognitoBob Dylan’s 10 most Jewish songs Is Bob Dylan still the voice of his generation?Watch: Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan, a ballad for two friends We traveled to the opening of the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa --- Thanks to Jaclyn De Bonis, PJ Grisar, Rebecca Salzhauer and Talya Zax for contributing to today’s newsletter. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at editorial@forward.com. |
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