Signals of the Week(s): Aug 20, 2026
I usually don't focus my signal scanning practices on technology and AI. There's a couple of reasons why: technological innovation sometimes feels like low-hanging fruit when we talk about futurism and I prefer to use this space to lift up additional, perhaps less immediately visible questions about the future(s) of American Jewish life. Plus my colleague, DZ Kalman, already writes one of the sharpest Substacks on this topic––highly recommend you give him a follow!
But this morning, eJP's Jay Deitcher published the exclusive update that Meta's Alex Luxenberg, who previously was the strategic partner manager of wearables (yup, including those infamous Meta Ray-Ban glasses) will be the CEO of Sefaria beginning September 1. For those of you who haven't yet encountered it, Sefaria is the free library of Jewish texts and open source commentary and has more than 1 million monthly users. This, taken alongside a few technology-related signals that have been crossing my desk in the past few weeks, gives me pause. Let's think through it together.
LLMs have been largely welcomed in Torah study, "leapfrogging" women
Rabbanit Sara Wolkenfeld's guest post on Jello Menorah (see aforementioned "sharpest Substacks on this topic") describes how Orthodox Judaism has embraced AI chatbots as legitimate participants in Torah study far more readily and enthusiastically than it has embraced women's Torah scholarship and leadership. This distinction raises important questions about what qualifies (or better put, disqualifies) someone for Torah study: expertise or embodiment?
If disembodiment is what makes AI acceptable to religious gatekeepers, what happens to that acceptance once AI stops being disembodied? As AI avatars evolve to speak with human-like voices, or given human-like gender identities, how might that impact the inclusion of AI in Torah study? What insights and critiques might that reveal?
How religion is scaffolding Texas data center policies
This article describes how theological ideas––from the Garden of Eden to the apocalypse, rhetoric on spiritual warfare and bal tashchit––are being utilized by both opponents and supporters of the construction of data centers in Texas, which is on its way to being one of the leading states in data center development. This is manifesting in unusual interfaith bedfellows. One Texas Republican described how he has found himself in a "surprising alliance" with "liberal white women" in opposition to data centers. The issue is depicted as a cross-ideological fight that eschews traditional US political binaries.
Will the integration of religious language around data centers strengthen or limit the movement for environmental justice? If data centers keep proliferating and this kind of cross-partisan, interfaith resistance becomes a recurring pattern rather than a one-off, how could this shape the future of partisan identities? What new political and religious coalitions might emerge?
A Jewish Case for AI work exemptions
I kept the title as is because it really does say it all. After Pope Leo published his encyclical on the use of AI, Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg put together her analysis for using Title VII of the Civil Rights Act as grounds for religious exemption from AI usage in the workplace. R'Ruttenberg goes into detail as to why using generative AI violates core Jewish laws and principles, but for the purposes of my signal scanning, what interests me most is the potential for religious exemption. In the fight for reproductive justice, we've seen how claiming the right to exercise religious freedom is utilized by different interest groups to ensure access to abortion (see here) and block that access (obviously, the latter happens disproportionately more than the former). Last summer, for example, SCOTUS ruled that parents in Maryland who have religious objections can pull their children from public school lessons that include content that violates their religious beliefs––in the case of this particular suit, LGBTQ+ content. The absolute batshit politics of the case aside, I would be curious what precedent this might set for what Ruttenberg is proposing. What might happen when our religious identities become legal tools to avoid engaging with AI? As we learn more about the harmful long-term implications of AI on students' critical thinking abilities, could a parent exempt their child from AI usage in their education on religious grounds? How might this shape our understandings of exercising civil and religious liberties and the separation of church and state within American democracy?
On the surface, each of these signals might seem random and distinct. Taken together, however, they paint the contours of a larger conversation around who gets to determine the conditions under which AI enters Jewish life: those welcoming it into the Beit Midrash, those using religious framings to resist or encourage its encroachment, and those who might legally exempt themselves from it. Judaism is not just expressive, it is functional as an educational, political, and legal lever. The question is less of "will AI be part of the future of American Jewish life?" and more "who and what will determine what part it will play?"
Let me know what you think. See you here soon.
L'shalom,
Becca
About Signal Scanning
A quick refresher: signal scanning, in strategic foresight terms, refers to a systematic process of identifying, tracking, and analyzing early indicators of change (often referred to as "signals") to anticipate future trends or societal shifts. In the words of Marina Gorbis, Executive Director of the Institute for the Future, "A signal is a specific example of the future in the present."
As part of my work leading the Judeofuturism Project, I spend time scanning for signals that might cue various plausible, alternative futures to help me examine and anticipate major trends, shifts and possibilities for American Judaism. This scanning practice––alongside my ongoing research into various frameworks (liturgical, theological, sociological, artistic, embodied)––helps inform my evolving understanding of Judeofuturism. Every few weeks (or in this case, few months I'M SORRY I'M SORRY!), I informally share some of the more interesting and anomalous signals I encounter, with some questions they have provoked for me in the hopes that they will invite the same in you.
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