The Impact Of AI On The Future Of Jewish Day Schools And Yeshivas: A Judaic Studies Perspective

By: Dr. Chaim Y. Botwinick

In 1440, when Johannes Gutenberg invented the movable-type printing press, many rabbis and scholars were deeply skeptical, worried, and concerned. They felt that if anyone could print a book, what would happen to the scribe and to the careful mesorah of transmitting the Torah?

But within 50 years, the printing press gave us the first printed Shas, a Shulchan Aruch in every home, and a revolution in Jewish learning that led directly to the flourishing of the modern yeshiva. In a sense, artificial intelligence (AI) can be viewed as the “Gutenberg press” of our generation, a means of revolutionizing education.

Jewish day schools and yeshivas have a choice: They can be concerned about AI, ban it, or harness its powers to do what we have always dreamed of doing: educating each child as if he was an only child.

Here is what the future may be holding out, whether we’re ready for it or not.

The End of One-Size-Fits-All Judaic Studies

This is the most profound change. Today, in a typical 5th grade Chumash class, you’ll have 22 students. Three can lein beautifully, five struggle to decode, seven can translate but not understand Rashi, and seven are bored because they already learned this parashah in camp. The teacher teaches to the middle, and unfortunately almost no one gets what they need.

As envisioned, within three years, AI will make this model completely obsolete.

Imagine this instead:

Chumash with an AI chavruta. Each child opens his Chumash on a tablet. The AI knows his reading level, his past quizzes, and his interests. For the struggling reader, it reads the pasuk aloud and highlights the shorashim. For the advanced student, it immediately asks: “How does Rashi’s answer here contradict what he said in Parashat Bereishit?” It is infinitely patient, and never embarrassed to be asked the same question ten times.

A 9th grader hits the words “kal v’chomer.” Instead of waiting for the teacher or Rebbe to explain while 15 other kids lose focus, he asks his AI tutor “Explain kal v’chomer to me like I’m 12, and give me two examples from a Gemara.” In seconds he has it, with sources. The Rebbe is now free to do what only a Rebbe can do: teach lomdus, inspire, and ask the deep questions that AI cannot.

In an AI educational environment, the teacher is never replaced. In fact, the teacher is elevated. Not unlike other professions, the fear that many teachers think about is whether AI will replace them. But in reality, a teacher using AI will replace a teacher not using AI.

AI will take away 40% of what frustrates and exhausts teachers today such as writing lesson plans from scratch, making three versions of the same worksheet, grading spelling quizzes, writing first drafts of report cards, and answering “What did I miss yesterday?”

What will be left is the work that only a human can do.

Another use of AI can be seen through being a dugma ishit, which is a living example of a Torah observant Jew. AI can explain what chesed is, but only a teacher can show chesed by how he treats the sad, frustrated, or lonely child at recess.

As we know, a student doesn’t approach his Rebbe because the Rebbe knows Tosfos. He goes to his Rebbe because he is struggling with faith, with his parents’ divorce, or with anxiety. AI can give information. A Rebbe offers empathy and a kind heart.

Finally, no child ever falls in love with Torah through ahavat Torah because of a perfect worksheet. They fall in love with Torah because a teacher’s eyes light up when he learns.

The best day schools and yeshivas will eventually use AI to automate the paperwork so that teachers can focus on the core of their jobs, namely the centerpiece or neshama of their work.

What Becomes More Important, Not Less

In a world where any child can ask AI to write a beautiful comprehensive essay on the topic of Yetzias Mitzrayim, translate a page of Gemara, or summarize Ramban’s view, what is left to be taught? The answer is—everything AI cannot do.

Artificial intelligence can give you information from the internet; it cannot give you a mesorah. Who did your rebbe learn from? What does your community believe? Why does your family adhere to a particular minhag?

In a world of instant answers, who you learn from matters more than ever. Day schools and yeshivas will need to double down on connecting students to living rabbis and teachers, not just texts.

As we know, AI has no conscience, no yetzer hara, and no free will. It can write an essay about honesty, but it cannot choose to be honest when lying is easier. Our schools must move from grading only knowledge to also cultivating and measuring integrity, empathy, resilience, and yirat shamayim. Those are the un-automatable skills.

Another important AI manifestation is critical thinking and truth-seeking.

More often than not, AI hallucinates. As such, it can make up sources. It says things confidently that may be false. In a world of deepfakes and AI-generated midrashim, the most important skill we can teach a Jewish child is how they can determine if something is indeed true. How do you check a source and how do you ask a shaila to a real posek? The Gemara’s critical thinking—Mai nafka mina? (What is the difference?)—becomes a survival skill.

With regard to Israel, Jewish identity, and Jewish Peoplehood, it is important to note that AI can translate Hebrew into English and vice versa, but it cannot cause you to have goose bumps when you stand at the Kotel. It cannot explain why you are emotionally moved or tearful when you hear “Hatikvah” or when you reach the peak of Masada.

Jewish peoplehood, connections to Israel, and collective memory are the core curriculum because they are things we must experience together, as a community.

As you can imagine, when talking about the impact of AI, all is not rosy and the day schools that ignore the dangers and pitfalls of AI will eventually pay a very heavy price. Today, our society as a whole is experiencing a “cheating crisis” of monumental proportions. To be sure, if we give a take-home essay on what the Akedah can teach us about faith, AI can write a better essay than a 10th grader in 8 seconds. If we keep assessing the same way, we are teaching dishonesty. We must shift from assessing product to assessing process: oral exams, in-class writing, and chavruta learning, where the struggle is visible.

Struggle in learning is perhaps the greatest part of learning. Losing that struggle is a huge loss. Gemara is the struggle and the ameilus (determination): the hour you stare at a Tosafos until it suddenly clicks. If AI gives you an instantaneous answer, our students will be robbed of the joy of discovery and persistence. 

To counter this, excellent schools must create “AI-free zones” and times, just like we have phone-free times. Sometimes you need to wrestle with the text yourself in order to find its true sense and meaning. 

Is it lashon hara to ask AI to summarize what people say about someone? Can you use AI to write a dvar Torah and present it as your own? Is an AI-generated image of a rabbi disrespectful? In light of these challenges, our poskim will need to lead this conversation, and our schools will eventually need to teach digital halacha and ethics from 5th grade.

In the future, we will witness the evolution of smaller schools with deeper and more human characteristics. For example, we will be using fewer worksheets and more chavrusas. Fewer lectures and more Socratic discussions. AI will handle personalization, practice, and background knowledge at home, so class time can be used for what matters most, namely debate, inspiration, tefillah, and human connection.

The schools that thrive will not ban AI and pretend it’s 2025. Neither will they let AI do all the teaching and fire teachers. The schools that thrive will be the ones that say, “We’ve waited 2,000 years for a tool that can help us teach every child like they’re an only child. Now that Hashem has given it to us, we must use it wisely, not to replace Torah, chas v’shalom, but to bring each child deeper into Torah than ever before.”

Remember, the printing press did not replace our rabbis or master teachers. It did however make their Torah spread to every home and every community. AI can do the same if we have the willingness and wisdom to use it correctly. 

Dr. Chaim Botwinick is a senior executive coach and an organizational consultant. He served as president and CEO of the central agency for Jewish education in Baltimore and Miami, in addition to principal of several Jewish day schools and yeshivas. As an educator, influencer, and prolific writer, he has published and lectured extensively on topics related to education, school change, strategic planning and leadership. Dr. Botwinick is the cofounder of LEV Consulting Associates and host of the Chinuch Horizons podcast series. He is author of “Think Excellence: Harnessing Your Power to Succeed Beyond Greatness” by Brown Books, 2011.