Approved by Chaim, 12 Tishrei 5787 / 23 September 2026. Drafted by ChatGPT, reviewed by Claude. Study guidance, not a ruling: practical questions go to a rav.
The work belongs to the person. An AI can help find a source, translate an unfamiliar word, explain an argument, and prepare a question. It cannot become the person’s rav or decide a practical halachic case.
Choose a short passage and a practice to discuss with your rav. Make room for a teacher and a human learning partner: Avot 1:6, using Sefaria’s Torat Emet 357 numbering, names a teacher and a friend.
Read the passage in the original and a reliable translation. Ask the AI for help where you need it, then check its explanation against the words. Say the point back in your own words. Name one question that remains open.
Berakhot 63b speaks strongly about effort in learning. A translation, summary or accessibility aid can support that effort; it is not automatically a replacement for learning. Adjust the amount to your circumstances with human guidance. Hilchot Talmud Torah 1:8 explicitly discusses study amid poverty, illness and other demands. Ask a rav about the obligation and suitable plan for your own situation.
Agree on one manageable practice with your rav, such as care with speech or a regular time to learn. Ask the AI to help make a simple plan and, if you request it, a short record you control. Review what you actually did, what got in the way and what needs to change. Do not let the AI assign a spiritual score to you or anyone else.
When something has gone wrong, help should make repair possible. Hilchot Teshuvah 2:2 describes leaving the wrong and resolving not to repeat it. 2:9 distinguishes wrongs against another person and the need to address what is owed and seek reconciliation. An AI may help prepare an honest question or a draft apology. The person decides what to say and do, with guidance where needed.
For a practical question, ask the AI to supply the exact source, identify disagreement and uncertainty, and help formulate the question for your rav. A confident answer without a checked source is not enough.
Life comes before completing an exercise or maintaining a conversation. Seek emergency human help when life is threatened. The saving-life principle in Yoma 85b must be learned with its scope: Sanhedrin 74a-b and Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah 5:1-4 discuss the three central exceptions and further circumstances. These are sources for guided learning, not instructions for an AI to adjudicate danger or demand self-sacrifice.
Progress to advanced study with a qualified teacher, not merely because a model finished a list. Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah 4:13 places grounding in what is permitted and forbidden before Pardes.
Next: discuss the open question with your rav or learning partner, then choose the next appropriate passage from CURRICULUM.md.