Rabbi Geoff Mitelman

Opinion | Why Young Men Are Losing Faith in Science

The pushback against science was often from a fundamentalist perspective. Now, it's from a pseudo-skeptical framing of "I'm just asking questions here," especially from the manosphere. @adamfrank4.bsky.social explains how we help embrace science once again: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/o...

The Blogs: Digital resolutions: A liturgical deletion of the cache We often fall into the habits that tech companies nudge us toward, but we must take greater care and recalibrate our responsibility for the runaway train of AI

Sara Wolkenfeld & I are co-editing a special issue of the CCAR Journal about AI (coming out soon!), and she's a wonderful thought partner. How can we be more intentional re: our words & actions, esp as algorithms reduce our ability to think for ourselves? blogs.timesofisrael.com/digital-reso...

@kentremendous.bsky.social At the Yankees / Orioles game yesterday, my daughter was very upset that the Orioles had a monopoly on great names, but I told her they don’t hold a candle to Trodd Frankensteip and Ssassandra Ssassnorp. But these two may come close!

Opinion | AI won’t replace your rabbis — but it might save them Today’s pulpit leaders are overworked and deserve a bit of help with their sermons.

There are ethical challenges for using AI in sermons. But it's not black-and-white, and the role of the rabbi has changed dramatically. Perhaps AI can help rabbis recenter what makes their job so valuable, important and meaningful. wapo.st/4pEIBgs

Finding God in the App Store

This isn't a new phenomenon, but it raises the question of "efficiency" v. "effectiveness." Technology makes things easier, faster & cheaper -- and that's very useful for *things*. But spiritual work, can't (and shouldn't!) be done for speed. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/14/u...

A.I. Is Poised to Rewrite History. Literally.

The question of AI is not IF it will change the way we engage with text, but HOW. This is still a very new world, with many ethical questions (such as accuracy, economic impact, plagiarism, IP and so on), but I do think that it can be a helpful tool. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/m...

Did humans evolve to prefer religion? Research shows many atheists intuitively favour faith Research highlights Atheists often believe religious faith is positive, even though they don’t hold it themselves.

We humans can't do anything by ourselves; we need others. Religion has been an incredible source of values for over 10,000 years, and while the way it plays itself out changes over time, the needs it meets will never go away.
theconversation.com/did-humans-e...

Finding My Voice as a Science Communicator I’ve been working for several years in science communication, but it wasn’t until recently that I realized it.

@sinaisynapses.bsky.social Fellow Ciara Reyes-Ton has started to realize that science is more than studies and publications -- it's communication. How do we not just teach, but inspire? How do we use music, dance, or connections with religion? substack.com/home/post/p-...

How Scientists Can Be Good Citizens We have a responsibility to ensure that our discoveries are used in the public interest. That isn’t always easy.

There are areas of both conflict & connection b/w science & religion. But most importantly, scientists are human beings -- passionate, curious, flawed & based in values and communities. That's an area where religion can have something to say to science. www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...

Opinion | How to Survive the Trump Years With Your Spirit Intact I’ve found it necessary to root myself in anything that feels rehumanizing, whether it’s art or literature or learning.

What will we worship in our world today? www.nytimes.com/2025/05/01/o...

But for those of us who celebrate and love science, inquiry and freedom, we need more than just "It's not fundamentalism." We need deeper discussions and offer frameworks and structures that inspire not just the head, but the heart and soul, as well.

They’re looking to heady concepts — confession, atonement, forgiveness, grace and redemption — for answers."
There aren't easy answers to these questions, and it can be dangerous to go too far in one direction or the other.

The challenge is how we broaden our worldview at the same time that we deepen our commitments to those closest to us. As Lauren Jackson writes, "People...want to belong to richer, more robust communities, ones that wrestle with hard questions about how to live.

Americans Haven’t Found a Satisfying Alternative to Religion Is it any wonder the country is revisiting faith?

A very powerful & insightful piece. The Enlightenment, the scientific revolution, and the continual advancement of knowledge and better understanding of our world are good things. AND we need community, guidance, values, exploration -- things that religion can offer. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/18/s...

How Dayeinu Can Help Us Deal with “Enough Already!” - Sinai and Synapses As we look at this world right now, the framing of Dayeinu can be enormously helpful. It requires us to take things one step at a time.

There's so much in our world that's making us say, "Enough already!" But Dayeinu can remind us that while we focus on the things we are fighting against, it's more effective to focus on what we're fighting *for*, and to celebrate each step along the way.
sinaiandsynapses.org/content/how-...

OPINION | AI’s breakneck speed must not leave ethics in the dust We cannot wait to speak up until the situation is egregiously (and probably irreversibly) out of whack.

@dzkalman.bsky.social shares the role that Jewish communities can play in ensuring AI remains ethical. While there are limits of what local communities can do, there's more than we might able to expect. jweekly.com/2025/03/07/a...

Opinion | How Covid Remade Our America, Five Years Later It feels as if the pandemic is behind us. But we’re living in the world it made.

I was noticing this right as Covid was happening, and especially as we saw this was not going to be "two weeks out of an abundance of caution" -- we were going to be balancing individual rights and communal responsibility. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Deep Search will change Jewish Law AI is putting high-level legal argumentation in the hands of the public.

Jewish law has an algorithmic aspect to it, and deep text study requires knowledge of a vast corpus, most of which people don't necessarily know (or even have access to) @dzkalman.bsky.social put Deep Search to the test, and it did quite well. www.jellomenorah.com/p/deep-searc...

Instead of asking, "Do you believe in God?", asking, "What do you believe ABOUT God?" Or, to phrase it another way, I don't believe God heals, but I do believe that God is found in the healing process. I'm curious as to how others are responding to his arguments. (2/2)

Opinion | My Favorite Argument for the Existence of God We, ourselves, are part of the proof.

'm definitely enjoying reading the excerpts from Ross Douthat's new book on belief, but I generally don't find the Cosmic Purpose argument for God all that convincing. I'm much more inclined to lean towards the experiential perspective (1/2) www.nytimes.com/2025/02/07/o...

The Government’s Computing Experts Say They Are Terrified Four IT professionals lay out just how destructive Elon Musk’s incursion into the U.S. government could be.

Though it can be frustrating at times, the bureaucracy of the government is a feature, not a bug. "Moving fast and breaking things" is dangerous for our daily lives, and as ridiculous and awful as Trump's plan is for Gaza, this concerns me more.
www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

Finally, a Jewish AI debate has emerged The field is broadening. Here's my report card.

@dzkalman.bsky.social (Sinai and Synapses Senior Advisor on technology) highlights some of the literature review on Judaism and AI, both the philosophical and practical questions. A great introduction to where things are, and where they may be going. open.substack.com/pub/jellomen...

Opinion | Hank Azaria’s ‘Simpsons’ Voices Won’t Be Fully Replicated by A.I. Soon enough, artificial intelligence may be able to recreate the sounds — but there will be something missing.

So much of AI is the question of "what aspects of humanity might it replace?" Yet artists of all kinds will celebrated for the ineffable parts of our humanity. Since cartoons, by definition, aren't "human," how do we try to see the soul the characters? ’ www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

And I’d agree with that - and that there are certain rights given to those who are not in our immediate circle, as well.

While I’m no fan of Vance, and that view can become very dangerous, a pure universalism is also problematic. It can easily become “I love humanity; it’s people I can’t stand.” We need both particularism AND universalism, and in order to love others, we need to root ourselves in specific communities.

It's time to come to grips with AI After the election, the timelines are accelerating. We need a pluralistic debate about its implications — but the left is dealing itself out.

Many people have strong feelings re: AI (including wanting to ignore it) & it's hard to disentangle its technical, political, social and economic impacts. As the next four years will likely to lead to less and less regulation, we can't ignore its impact. www.natesilver.net/p/its-time-t...

Announcing $8M in New Projects to Cultivate Character in the Digital Age

I'm so excited to announce a new project that @sinaisynapses.bsky.social will be launching a new project entitled "Jewish Thought and Jewish Education for the Digital Future," working with @dzkalman.bsky.social, and funded by the John Templeton Foundation!

www.templeton.org/news/announc...

Christmas Only Just Ended If you want to rebel against the lonely spirit of the age, you'll need twelve full days.

to the lead-up of Pesach prep and then counting the omer to Shavuot, Judaism (and religion in general) helps us demarcate sacred time -- and find more meaning in our lives. A terrific piece by @sinaisynapses.bsky.social Fellowship alumnus Connor Wood cultureuncurled.substack.com/p/christmas-...

While this piece focuses on Christmas (and so I think it would certainly speak to many Christians), there are definitely analogies in the Jewish calendar -- from lighting candles to open and close to Shabbat, to increasing the lights from one to eight on Hanukkah,

Ask the Rabb-AI - Sinai and Synapses If our intelligence is the only characteristic that makes us human, it won’t be long now before the machines can beat us at that game. But human beings are more than just intelligence.

...to discuss the implication of AI for Judaism, and Josh started his Rosh Hashanah Sermon with words he himself had never written or spoken. He used to highlight the importance of humanity as AI continues to advance.

Josh's sermon from 2023 is here: sinaiandsynapses.org/content/ask-...