July 10, 2026 Categories: Letters To The Editor
Letters To The Editor - March 13, 2026
AI Is a Spider’s Web in the Modern Orthodox World Too
I read with interest Joshua Freundel’s article “Grappling with the AI Golem” (February 26). While he raises many points that should be pondered, I feel that the article erred in drawing conclusions about the issues with AI from stories about the Golem of the Maharal. The overwhelming majority of historians believe that the Golem stories were a fabrication by Rav Yudel Rosenberg who published his forgery in 1909. As such, it is not a source from which we should be deriving halachic or hashkafic conclusions and, indeed, AI would be a preferable source.
While the author mentions that there has been concern about AI in the chareidi world, he neglects to mention some of the most pressing concerns. These include the fact that many chareidi youth are turning to AI (available on their phones) to resolve their hashkafic conundrums, as well as to receive advice on personal issues, such as shidduchim. These are very real issues and it would seem that they should concern those in the Modern Orthodox world as well, so it surprises me that they were not mentioned in the article. Do they not concern the Modern Orthodox community?
It appears to me that if chareidi youth are turning to AI for guidance in these areas, it demonstrates that they are finding a lack of mentors within the chareidi world with whom they feel safe trusting the issues that deeply trouble them. I am told that Rav Dovid Breslauer mentioned this in his speech at the anti-AI asifa. Are there better and safer mentors in YU than in Lakewood? I don’t know. What I do know is that people will always turn towards a non-judgmental source to help them make decisions, and nothing will be resolved about AI until there are human alternatives to what it is offering.
Chayim Lando Baltimore, Md.
Waiting for the Word Last week’s “Word Prompt” was about the word Vort (March 6). Just seeing it made me laugh as I remembered my first experience with that word. I knew that vort was Yiddish for “word.” So, when I was invited to the engagement party of a friend’s daughter, I happily went early so I wouldn’t miss “the word.” Lots of people came, the young couple was glowing, the food was delicious, the hosts were very happy to greet everyone, and I waited. The evening wore on and I waited. My sister, who was also there, came over to me after and said she was leaving and did I want a ride. Oh no, I wasn’t going anyplace yet. Finally, I was the last person there and the mother came over to me and said that the party was over. I asked her, “But what about the vort?” Thinking that I had lost my senses, she patiently explained that the vort meant that the couple was engaged. I apologized and quickly left. Fortunately, that didn’t ruin the friendship. But just seeing that word made me laugh again.Naomi Klass Mauer Jerusalem Co-publisher of The Jewish Press
Mind Your Business, Mayor Mamdani! Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s reaction to the military action against Iran: “A catastrophic escalation in an illegal war of aggression.” Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the clerical regime in Tehran and its proxies have committed a range of attacks against Americans. We haven’t heard Mamdani complain about those aggressions. Surely Mamdani studied some history. And Iran’s constant threat of annihilating Israel, aside from killing millions of innocent people, would have destabilized the entire Middle East. Do such events mean nothing to Mamdani? It’s interesting how phony concern often begins with criticizing those who react to aggression, not those who commit the aggression in the first place. Mamdani should stick to what he does best – not a clue what that is!Josh Greenberger Brooklyn, N.Y.
