David Bashevkin & Malka Simkovich: Can Judaism Survive the AI Revolution? (Fifth Year Anniversary)

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In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, David Bashevkin and historian Malka Simkovich discuss the future of technology, AI, and the Jewish People. This episode was recorded live at the Moise Safra Center as 18Forty celebrated its Fifth Anniversary with our community.

We begin with words from Sruli Fruchter and Mitch Eichen delivered at the program, as well as questions from the audience to conclude. In this episode we discuss:

• What is the point of academia and asking questions?
• Will AI replace rabbinic authority or the conversations we have on 18Forty?
• Is there any topic that 18Forty will never take on?

Tune in to hear a conversation about what we’ve learned through the seismic shifts we’ve experienced over the past half-decade.


Introduction from Sruli Fruchter begins at 9:05.
Introduction from Mitch Eichen begins at 12:50.
Interview begins at 17:26.

Dr. Malka Simkovich is the director and editor-in-chief of the Jewish Publication Society and previously served as the Crown-Ryan Chair of Jewish Studies and Director of the Catholic-Jewish Studies program at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. She earned a doctoral degree in Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism from Brandeis University and a Master’s degree in Hebrew Bible from Harvard University. She is the author of The Making of Jewish Universalism: From Exile to Alexandria (2016), Discovering Second Temple Literature: The Scriptures and Stories That Shaped Early Judaism (2018), and Letters From Home: The Creation of Diaspora in Jewish Antiquity, (2024). She has been a three-time guest on the 18Forty Podcast and led our Book Journey on the essence of antisemitism.

David Bashevkin is the founder and host of 18Forty. He is also the director of education for NCSY, the youth movement of the Orthodox Union, and the Clinical Assistant Professor of Jewish Values at the Sy Syms School of Business at Yeshiva University. He completed rabbinic ordination at Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, as well as a master’s degree at the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies focusing on the thought of Rabbi Zadok of Lublin under the guidance of Dr. Yaakov Elman. He completed his doctorate in Public Policy and Management at The New School’s Milano School of International Affairs, focusing on crisis management. He has published four books: Sin·a·gogue: Sin and Failure in Jewish Thought, a Hebrew work B’Rogez Rachem Tizkor (trans. In Anger, Remember Mercy), Top 5: Lists of Jewish Character and Character, and Just One: The NCSY Haggadah. David has been rejected from several prestigious fellowships and awards.

References:

“18Forty: Exploring Big Questions (An Introduction)”

18Forty Podcast: “Philo Judaeus: Is There a Room for Dialogue?”

18Forty Podcast: “Daniel Hagler and Aryeh Englander: Can Jews Who Stay Talk With Jews Who Left?”

The Nineties: A Book by by Chuck Klosterman

Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman

Time Must Have a Stop by Aldous Huxley

“Laughing with Kafka” by David Foster Wallace

The Most Human Human: What Talking with Computers Teaches Us About What It Means to Be Alive by Brian Christian

Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R. Hofstadter

"Failure Comes To Yeshivah" by David Bashevkin

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