AI and The Future of Parshat Hashavua

I love reading the weekly Torah Portion, or the Parshat Hashavua.

I think I can trace my love of the weekly ritual to Rabbi Eliezer Rubin, who was my principal from 1st-12th grade and who also loves to teach the Parsha. (We’ve since both moved to the ‘burbs - I hope he still inspiring future parsha readers). I can remember Rabbi Rubin approaching each week with enthusiasm, curiosity and dad jokes. I even remember that he has a particular interest in the teachings of Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Yehuda Berlin (Netziv). But, even Rabbi Rubin couldn’t make the boring parts of Tanach engaging…like most teachers, he just skipped them all together.

This is where I think AI can change the game.

This week’s parsha, Chukat, has some iconic scenes: The red heifer, death of Miriam, Moses hitting the rock/losing access to Israel, and Aaron’s death. However, it also has some portions that are as hard to grasp as the early episodes of Game of Thrones. Kings and towns and roads and serpents and treatise and wars.

So where does AI come in?

One challenge I have when I encounter these “boring scenes” is visualizing the journeys described in Tanach… “and from Bamoth to the valley that is in the country of Moab, at the peak of Pisgah, overlooking the wasteland."

So this morning, I asked Claude.Ai “can you map of all the places the Israelites went to in parsha chukat?” And check this out

In a matter of minutes I had a clear visual. I then asked it to overlay a modern map so that I can better contextualize the journey in today’s terms. Now we can have an interactive companion to our study, unlocking endless verses (think family trees) that were otherwise hard to understand or visualize…imagine what Rabbi Rubin could do with this!

I think this is just the tip of the iceberg, but I was excited to share.