I was asked by a friend to help their daughter write her bat mitzvah drash, I gave her some instructions to make some notes about things that struck her as interesting and to send me the verses so I could get prepped for a great conversation. The parents sent me a ChatGPT sermon and immediately asked if we could just run with it as a starter. Reader, I killed myself.
How about we go back to the tradition where Rabbis give a sermon only twice a year?
As a former congregate, high school, teacher and Jewish educator and as of six months ago, a congregational rabbi I think there is over emphasis on sermons.
It’s a passive form of learning that is becoming obsolete by a social media and educational culture of differentiation and interactivity.
I think rabbis should give sermons only when they have a very clear and immediate call for action. The sermon then becomes the sharing of a narrative that explains and motivates the listeners.
This is basically where I’ve landed for essay-writing too - I sometimes use AI for research, but then read the actual sources it brings up, and write the essay by hand. I think this provides sufficient assurance to the reader that *I actually understand and endorse what I’m saying*
Doesn't the issue of whether sermons should be written by AI beg the question of whether we even need sermons in the first place? I'm not trying to be disrespectful here; I'm just stating what jumps out at me prima facie.
I was asked by a friend to help their daughter write her bat mitzvah drash, I gave her some instructions to make some notes about things that struck her as interesting and to send me the verses so I could get prepped for a great conversation. The parents sent me a ChatGPT sermon and immediately asked if we could just run with it as a starter. Reader, I killed myself.
Thank you for writing this.
How about we go back to the tradition where Rabbis give a sermon only twice a year?
As a former congregate, high school, teacher and Jewish educator and as of six months ago, a congregational rabbi I think there is over emphasis on sermons.
It’s a passive form of learning that is becoming obsolete by a social media and educational culture of differentiation and interactivity.
I think rabbis should give sermons only when they have a very clear and immediate call for action. The sermon then becomes the sharing of a narrative that explains and motivates the listeners.
That is rarely the case in my experience.
Have you heard of Writers Against AI? Paul Kingsnorth created it: https://paulkingsnorth.substack.com/p/writers-against-ai
He might be more against its use than you are, like using it for research, but perhaps there's a network of agreement here.
This is basically where I’ve landed for essay-writing too - I sometimes use AI for research, but then read the actual sources it brings up, and write the essay by hand. I think this provides sufficient assurance to the reader that *I actually understand and endorse what I’m saying*
Doesn't the issue of whether sermons should be written by AI beg the question of whether we even need sermons in the first place? I'm not trying to be disrespectful here; I'm just stating what jumps out at me prima facie.
If you're asking whether AI's sermon writing ability will lead to an evolution of the format, the answer is: maybe!
Thank you for your prompt reply.
I didn't think that that was what I was asking. But neither can I rule it out completely. :-)