English Blog

Have You Heard of ChatGPT?

Thursday, January 26, 2023 - 4:37 PM

Just as I sat down to write my weekly blog, a friend texted me about something, so I decided to hit him up for inspiration. “Sitting down to write my blog. Got any ideas for me?”

“ChatGPT,” he shot back. I thought it must be a typo or some kind of slang because I had no idea what he was trying to tell me, until he followed up a few seconds later with, “Ask chatGPT to write your blog for you.”

Intrigued, I started Googling and discovered that this chatGPT is the latest artificial intelligence taking the world by storm. I opened it on my phone and quickly realized it’s the most advanced, sophisticated and downright scary artificial intelligence tool ever created!

“Please write my blog for me,” I typed in.

“Thank you for considering me. I have a decade of experience as a freelance writer. I would be happy to help you.”

A decade of experience?! I wondered. I thought you were only invented a few weeks ago!

“Write a blog about Parshat Bo,” I instructed, and it actually churned out a whole blog for me about Parshat Bo that was astonishingly accurate. Not too long, not too short, precise and relevant. Incredible!

For example: “I am Hashem, your G-d, Who took you out of Egypt.’ This is a very important Torah reading. It teaches us that we must put our trust in G-d. We cannot rely on our own strength or abilities to succeed in life.”

I couldn’t believe it! It sounds exactly like something I would prepare for a Torah class or blog.

I asked my daughter if she’d heard of it and she said, “Yes, one of my friends said we can use it to write our essays.” Then I saw that this chatGPT just passed a law exam!

The possibilities from here are endless.

Give it a few months or years and you won’t need me anymore! This AI can probably learn to counsel couples, give Torah classes, officiate at weddings, teach people how to kosher their kitchens and everything else I do. It can probably even answer the phone as me and answer people’s questions.

But the truth is, as powerful as this tool is, it can never replace a human being.

There’s something powerful and unique about a real human, with free choice and feelings. A real person can falter and recover. A real person isn’t perfect. We are raw, authentic, real, feeling, growing—things chatGPT can never become.

Yes, it can help us, but it can’t replace us. Hashem created us as fallible and imperfect, and charged us with perfecting His world. If He wanted angels, he would’ve created us that way.

ChatGPT can help us spread Torah and engage with more of our fellow Jews, but ultimately, only we—imperfect humans—can fulfill His will and bring Moshiach.

So let’s go out today and add light to this world!

I Am Not Going to School Today!

Thursday, January 19, 2023 - 6:57 PM

My son asked me to buy him a water bottle this week, and I was busy at the time, so I told him we’d take care of it another time. The next morning, he asked me again, and again I said, “I’m busy, I can’t do it right now.”

“Well, I’m not going to school until you get me a water bottle,” he countered.

At first I ignored him, but I soon realized he was actually serious.

Moreover, he was threatening me with something I care deeply about—his education. Not something I could easily shrug off. I want him to go to school!

How do I get out of this one? I thought to myself.

But I was stumped. How did he come up with such a winning strategy?

He chose something that he knows is deeply important to me. He knows I wouldn’t want him to miss a day or even an hour of his studies—Talmud, Chumash, etc. At the same time, I can’t force him.

I realized very quickly with my older set that kids are master negotiators. The professionals could learn a lot from children at bedtime. Or dessert time. Or in a candy or toy store. They are naturally gifted in the art of negotiation. In all these scenarios, when it’s child vs parent … the children pretty much always win.

In this instance, I tried every tactic I could think of, but my son was adamant: No water bottle? No school.

Ultimately, I gave in and bought the water bottle. (I also didn’t have another option for keeping him entertained for the day!)

But as I reflected on it, I realized we can all use some of those childhood negotiation tactics!

There’s one thing we want more than anything: Moshiach and the Final Redemption. When that happens, all war, poverty, and suffering will end. Our problems, big and small, will dissipate. Our health issues will vanish. We’ll live peacefully with our neighbors. It’s what we dream of and pray for every day.

So, we know what we want, but how do we get it? We need some of that childish stubbornness. We need to force our Father in Heaven to comply. How do we do that?

By increasing our Torah study and mitzvot, and specifically doing them with joy. Joy has the power to break down barriers, we are taught. So the more joy we can infuse into our observance, the faster we will break down the barriers and bring Moshiach.

So, what are you waiting for? Let’s go!

Someone Spray Painted a Star of David Outside our Chabad Center!

Thursday, January 12, 2023 - 2:23 PM

I woke up last Friday to multiple messages, emails, voicemails and texts from the NYPD.

“Good morning. My name is Sergeant L. I just wanted to give you the heads up that we arrested an individual who was spray painting the sidewalk right in front of your school. The person stated that they did not have permission or a permit to paint on the sidewalk and they were placed under arrest. One of our community affairs officers will reach out in the morning.”

Oy gevalt! Never a dull moment at our Chabad house.

I looked at our security camera footage and could see exactly what had happened. I saw an individual putting a menorah on the ground shortly before midnight, and then spray painting a Star of David on the sidewalk. It took quite a while and actually looked like a magnificent piece of art to me!

It was 5am, so I waited a few hours before calling back for more details, and here’s what the NYPD told me:

At around midnight, a 911 call came through from a passerby who spotted someone spraying something outside our Chabad center. The police showed up in minutes and arrested the spray-painter. That’s when they sent us multiple messages to let us know what was going on.

After a thorough investigation, however, it turns out we are talking about an elderly person who only had love and good intentions in her heart. She wanted to illuminate the world with an act of kindness, and spray painted a Star of David outside our Chabad center as a way of showing her love.

I’m deeply grateful to the NYPD for doing an excellent job, and to the passersby who stepped up and called them (because as seen with our Chanukah ice sculpture menorah, it could have indeed been an act of hateful violence). But actually, I think it looks beautiful and I’m touched by the woman’s intentions!

The truth is, we all need to do our share to illuminate the world, spreading love, kindness, and peace. What’s the best method? By doing more mitzvot. Put on tefillin every day. Light Shabbat candles each Friday afternoon. Study Torah and give more charity. This is how we can really make a lasting and sustainable difference to the world around us.

My Car Accident Due To Intense Fog

Thursday, January 5, 2023 - 2:30 PM

This past Saturday night I headed out to visit my son who studies at a yeshiva in Pomona. I figured there wouldn’t be many cars out on New Year’s Eve, and with Shabbat ending so early it seemed like a good opportunity to make the trip.

Waze confirmed that there was no traffic and told me I should be there in 40 minutes. Great! Three of my kids decided to come along, and we hopped into the car.

But as soon as we crossed the George Washington Bridge, we found ourselves surrounded by fog. This was no ordinary fog. It was heavy and dense, with extremely low visibility.

Cars were driving so slowly; it was impossible to see more than a few feet ahead.

I continued down the Palisades, thinking to myself that I would have never ventured out on a night like this if I’d known, when—boom!—we felt a big jolt as a car hit us from behind. My kids jumped up, frightened and shaking, and I pulled over to the side of the road to see the extent of the damage. It was significant.

The driver of the other car, who I could hardly see, pulled over on the other side of the highway, so I couldn’t even approach him.

In the meantime, cars were whizzing by. Some slowly and safely, but others seemed to pay the fog no attention and were driving at dangerous speeds.

I realized we were in serious danger. Hardly visible, stopped on the side of a busy highway. Some of my kids had gotten out of the car to see what was going on (I sent them right back immediately), and I, too, was outside and barely visible. Any second a car could come crashing into me.

I knew I needed to call the police, get a report and the other driver’s insurance, but I also recognized we were in a life-threatening situation. Every minute we spent waiting for the police in this weather was literally putting our lives in danger.

As the Torah tells us, life always takes precedence, so I jumped back into the minivan and proceeded with a broken car, but grateful to be alive.

When something like this happens to us, we know that Hashem is trying to convey a message—a wake up call of sorts. Perhaps he’s trying to tell me to get my priorities straight. Or maybe it’s a simple “zol zein a kapparah” — an atonement for my sins — in which case I am even more grateful that nothing worse happened!

In the meantime, if you see my beat up, broken down car on the streets, yes, it’s me, happy to be alive and well.