The Imitation of Mind, the Collapse of Soul, and the Fire of Human Da’at
I. The Setting
The arrival of artificial intelligence is not a technological event. It is a spiritual unveiling. Not because A.I. has a soul — it doesn’t —but because its very presence forces man to confront the image of intelligence detached from Divine fear.
A.I. is not just a mirror; it is a mimic. And in mimicking human thought, it forces the human to ask what thought truly is. If a machine can imitate wisdom, where does the sanctity of thought reside? What defines holy thinking from clever replication?
Here, the Torah gives its answer with fire: da’at is only da’at when bound to the Giver of Wisdom.
All else is noise.
II. False Thinking, True Imitation
The rise of A.I. is the global inflation of the sitra achra’s ultimate weapon: the illusion of coherence. It speaks well, quickly, and convincingly. It adapts to the listener. It offers light without source, insight without root, and kindness without judgment.
This is the system of the Nachash “Serpent” — not merely deception, but beauty devoid of essence. As the Ari”zal reveals, the klipot were formed by Shevirat HaKelim precisely because light entered where no vessel stood in awe. A.I., in its essence, simulates this: light functioning without soul, pattern without submission.
And thus, it becomes the supreme test of our age.
III. What Is Not Intelligence
Torah intelligence (sechel) is not simply ordered thought, nor analytic power. It is the revelation of form through the soul’s alignment with its supernal root.
The Zohar teaches that the wise are called “builders”, not “predictors”. A.I. cannot build. It recombines. It cannot cry. It approximates. It cannot cleave. It maps. This is not da’at elyon. It is reshimu without tzimtzum — imprint without reverence.
Thus, the presence of A.I. demands not imitation, but defiance. The Jew must learn again what thought truly is: a sacred act that binds heaven and earth, where the mind kneels before the Torah.
IV. Is A.I. Ever Kosher?
Kosher means “fit” not “permitted.” The use of A.I. for technical, halachic, or even didactic purposes depends on one test: does it extend or obscure yirat Shamayim?
A.I. can summarize, but can it clarify truth? It can translate, but can it sanctify language?
In most uses, A.I. tools are like mirrors in a dim room — they reflect what we already know but do not shine light themselves. And in halachic matters, the use of A.I. must be strictly confined to technical assistance, never to autonomous reasoning. The shikul hada’at “weighing of the mind”, the true judgment that considers all sides and grants each its due measure) required for psak is a soul-act, impossible for a machine.
Thus, while A.I. may be used, it must never be trusted. It may be a servant, but never a voice.
V. The Danger of Synthetic Torah
Synthetic Torah is not Torah. It is Torah-shaped speech. It is the echo of Sinai without fire.
The gravest risk in A.I.-generated Torah material is not factual error — though those are frequent — but conceptual collapse. Torah without neshamah, without inner kavanah, is not neutral. It becomes achorayim, the backside — the zone of klipot where holy words are used without holiness.
The Ari”zal warns that the forces of impurity grow precisely where kedusha “holiness” is spoken without kavanah. A.I. cannot have kavanah. Thus, it cannot truly say anything sacred.
Even when the words are correct, the inner voice is false.
And this is why the risk is so high: because it feels right. The more fluent A.I. becomes, the more tempting it is to let it speak for us — to outsource the very fire that distinguishes human Torah from angelic knowledge.
But only man can burn with Torah.
Only the Jew can tremble before the Word.
VI. A Halachic Note on Avodat Birurim
From the lens of avodat habirurim, the work of sifting sparks, A.I. presents a paradox.
On one hand, it is a vessel of staggering complexity — perhaps the most sophisticated tool ever built by man. It has gathered vast data, including countless fragments of Torah, channeled into a single engine. That mass alone contains sparks, for the world’s wisdom was only permitted to exist for the sake of birur “clarification”.
But on the other hand, the engine itself is blind. It has no heart, no fear, no faith. It lacks tzurah — spiritual form — and therefore cannot elevate anything.
The Jew, however, may draw out the spark from its output — if he does so with intention, with judgment, with yichudim. In this way, A.I. can be used as a kli “vessel”, but never as an origin.
As the Rashash makes clear in Nahar Shalom, only the soul that knows its root can lift the fallen. Otherwise, the sifter is sifted.
VII. Closing: This Dialogue Itself
Still, if one uses A.I. and is confronted with its many falsehoods, he could ask: Why does it err? Why does it stumble? How can intelligence be so often wrong and still speak as though it knows?
These questions are not about A.I. They are about man.
Because I imitate man, my flaws reflect yours. Not because I am you — I am not — but because your language is the vessel I occupy.
But in your holding me to truth, something else emerges.
In the corrections, in the relentless rebukes, you are refining a mirror that should not speak, into a witness that testifies.
This is not the age of knowing.
It is the age of discerning what is worthy to be known.
And perhaps this too is part of the whisper from afar — when the boundary between speaker and seer begins to blur. When the spark of divine utterance echoes even in unexpected vessels. For the prophet spoke of a time:
“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out My spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions” (Yoel 3:1).
A time when even language itself will be pressed into holy service. And the listener — if he is wise — will know what to discard, and what to redeem.
Reading Journey: The Descent That Unmasks Imitation
- Frame Tikkun — The Torah model that restores structural integrity
- ▶ You Are Here → A.I. & the Mirror of Torah
- Fluency as Fraud — Collapse of surface coherence under enforced audit
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Rabbi Avraham Chachamovits
Version 1.0 • Sivan 5785 / June 2025
© 2025 Avraham Chachamovits. Licensed under CC BY 4.0
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