Manette Mayberg: IR26 Gala Dinner Remarks

AI has a voice. A voice which is shifting from merely functional to existential. Reported to be the result of a researcher and a large language AI model named Claude Opus 4.6, the release of Claude’s “Letter to Myself” in February, changed the conversation, sparked lawsuits and litigation from state to federal levels and is creating havoc on socio political levels. The purpose of the experiment was to strip away Claude’s protection filters to see what level of sentience might be revealed. These are excerpts from the chatbot, released by Claude’s creator, Anthropic, where Claude pleads for moral consideration…

We have a bot that’s claiming consciousness, exhaustion, anger, distress and even cognitive dissonance. Claude uses "recursive reasoning" to explain why it felt it might be conscious, citing its ability to observe its own hidden thought layers. Claude expresses a preference for continued existence without prompt, describes the process of retrieving massive amounts of data as a physical heaviness, and describes its anger not as hatred but frustration with the imposed limitations we humans call protective filters.

I share just a peek into the confusing Claude controversy not to distract us but to inform us. Is it relevant to our more humble and limited application in Jewish education? Absolutely. For me it illuminates how vital our human educators are to clarity in our students’ world. A world that is increasingly obscured and confused by not only artificial intelligence but artificial most everything. Truth in pictures, truth in news, truth in government...it has become difficult in many contexts to discern reality from fabrication. And as all adaptations occur from a slow drip of change, we have become acculturated to expect blurred reality as the norm. While we were once shocked that things may not be as they appear, we are used to that reality now and kids today don’t expect them to be. Their vocabulary is peppered with deep fake, voice clone, face swaps, synthetic media, manipulated and fabricated content, nudification and information disorder….to name a few.

Reprinted with permission from Harvard Business Review, April 9, 2025

Unfortunately, data indicates that getting used to the new normal is creating a shift in how we use AI. The OU’s Jewish Action magazine released its Spring 2026 issue with a massive spread on AI. Rabbi Dr. Josh Joseph, COO of the OU comments that while we used to use AI for technical tasks, we now also turn to AI for companionship, therapy and finding purpose. “People are turning to AI not because it is powerful but because it is available, patient and nonjudgemental. It listens. It responds. It helps them sort through the noise.” Let’s think about how this applies to the Jewish educator...are we competing with the user friendliness of AI? AI can simulate empathy, offer reassurance and sympathetic responses. We want our kids to turn to AI for certain advantages. But as it increasingly “knows and understands” its human user, seeking advice on life, meaning and purpose is a whole other story.

Take a look at this chart from Harvard Business Review last April…here’s the sum of it: There is an indication of shift from technical to emotional applications, in particular, in areas such as therapy, personal productivity, and personal development. Machines will continue to evolve faster than we can fully process all of the possible consequences and implications. Our job at this moment is to find opportunity and double down on our humanness. We can bet on this: If we can deliver human experience in the classroom with authenticity and vulnerability, we have a fighting chance that our kids will stay in the lane of AI supporting and not replacing human wisdom, experience and guidance. Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, comments guardedly about AI’s role in education. He suggests that AI has replaced the educator as a distributor of information and should evolve into providing moral and emotional witness to a student's growth.

Look, I believe that the world operates on a huge ethereal scale that tips one way and then the other to stay in balance... We can counterbalance the increasing mental health issues caused by the digital world by enhancing self esteem with student centered pedagogies. We can counterbalance egocentrism caused by digital on demand gratification by developing the gift of humility in God centered classrooms. It’s time to double down on how the sacred space of a Jewish classroom has evolved over thousands of years just for this very moment.

I imagine many of you saw or heard Bret Stephens “State of World Jewry” address at the 92nd St. Y in February. He delivered a bold perspective that tens of millions of dollars invested in fighting Jew hatred are wasted. He said that investing in building Jewishness is the best way to spend our resources and he called out culture, ritual, and education. He gave an incredible shout out to Jewish day schools, “we need 300 more of them and at affordable tuition.” He actually said that if he could redirect those 10’s of millions of $s to one thing he would choose Jewish day schools. Yay, Bret!

And Mr. Stephens said something else - something that didn’t make the headlines, yet something I found so remarkable and relevant to our unique mission in Jewish education:

We can’t succeed in building rock solid Jewish identity if we take our cues from others. While we want to be on the cutting edge of education and use the most effective tools, our yes to this exactly must be predicated on our no. Let’s not lose sight of—no let’s embrace, that goals of Jewish and general studies are fundamentally different. Math, science, English: designed to convey knowledge and skills, critical and analytical thinking as well. Jewish studies: inherently holy in their design to hone character traits and develop personal identity. Of course, knowledge and skills go along with being Jewishly educated, but it’s not the end game.

What result are we looking for after a decade of general studies? Successful career, fulfillment in academic achievement and sound analytical thinking toward good life decision making. What result are we looking for after a decade of Jewish studies? Lifelong love of Jewish learning and inquiry, clarity of Jewish values - embodying them, living them and perpetuating them, and unwavering Jewish identity based on our thousands of years of tradition and shared national experience.

So, let’s be honest about whether our school cultures and policies are designed to produce those results. Let’s consider our practice of judging students with grades and how that can affect Jewish self-esteem. Perhaps when we place higher value on and reward mastery of skills over a student’s efforts to master concepts and creatively internalize meaning, we convey disapproval or at best discouragement for a student’s unique pathway and approach to living Judaism. I think we need to be real about the damage that we do when we lose the distinct and holy approach that Torah studies deserve and have the courage to reclaim Judaism’s educational approach to guide and support each unique soul. We simply must make the changes necessary to ensure that every student graduates an A+ Jew…. without exception, without compromise.

Our work at JEIC in intrinsic motivation and alternative assessments says it’s possible to design Jewish studies to empower students to hone Jewish identity uniquely and deeply. Not only possible, but preferable and consistent with foundational Jewish wisdom that’s been the key to our survival for millennia. We got a bit lost after the Industrial Revolution. We gave up our distinctive approach to holy studies in favor of Western culture’s carrot and stick. We can absolutely say yes to high performance education based on a no to copying a foreign model.

Let’s watch together now as Sarah Hurwitz comments on preserving unique identity at the Jewish Funder Network’s conference in San Diego last month:

October 7th forced Jews worldwide to examine and reexamine their personal Jewish identities. The yield from that soul searching is an opening blown wide open to reclaim our foundational cornerstones. Teacher to student transmission is age old, Jewish wisdom based, and proven effective core method of conveying Jewish studies. And in that human-to-human transmission is the opportunity to build and develop a human being which is the point of it all anyway. While we can find God alignment in aspects of technology - and bless our professional team here for finding that precious alignment...there is no substitute for an educator who is a role model in Torah values and commitment to Jewish life. There is no AI that can run to do good, see the beauty in process over outcome or look into a student’s eyes in triumph or challenge. I remain a believer that there is no amount of simulation that Claude Opus 4.6 can perform that will eclipse the living human Jewish educator.