Steven Gotlib & Eli Rubin: What Does It Mean To Be Human? [AI 1/4]
18Forty Podcast
18Forty
4.7 • 704 Ratings
🗓️ 28 October 2025
⏱️ 70 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast—recorded at the 18Forty X ASFoundation AI Summit—we speak with Rabbi Eli Rubin and Rabbi Steven Gotlib about what differentiates human intelligence from artificial intelligence.
In this episode we discuss:
- What does AI teach us about what it means to be human?
- What is the soul, and how do we interact with it?
- Should we be frightened or encouraged by the development of AI?
Interview begins at 16:49.
Steven Gotlib is Associate Rabbi at Mekor Habracha/Center City Synagogue and Director of the Center City Beit Midrash in Philadelphia. Steven received rabbinic ordination from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, certificates in Mental Health Counseling and Spiritual Entrepreneurship, and a BA in Communication and Jewish Studies from Rutgers University.
Eli Rubin, a contributing editor at Chabad.org, is the author of Kabbalah and the Rupture of Modernity: An Existential History of Chabad Hasidism and a co-author of Social Vision: The Lubavitcher Rebbe’s Transformative Paradigm for the World. He studied Chassidic literature and Jewish Law at the Rabbinical College of America and at yeshivot in the UK, the US and Australia, and received his PhD from the Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies, University College London.
References:
“Basketball: The One And Only”
Genesis 7;23
Rashi on Genesis 7:23
“Remembering my chavruta: Rabbi Moshe Hauer, z”l” By Rabbi Rick Jacobs
“18Forty: Exploring Big Questions (An Introduction)”
18Forty Podcast: “The Cost of Jewish Education”
18Forty Podcast: “Steven Gotlib: Some Rabbi Grapples with His Faith”
18Forty Podcast: “Eli Rubin: How Do Mysticism and Social Action Intersect”
18Forty Podcast: “Eli Rubin: Is the Rebbe the Messiah?”
Torah Ohr by Shneur Zalman of Liadi
Tanya by Shneur Zalman of Liadi
Nefesh HaChayim by Chaim of Volozhin
Guide for the Perplexed by Maimonides
Halakhic Man by Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik
The Conscious Mind by David J. Chalmers“
Adam, The Speaking Creature: On Humanity and Language in the Era of AI” by Eli Rubin
“Toward a Jewish Theology of Consciousness” by Steven Gotlib
Ludwig Wittgenstein: Philosophy in the Age of Airplanes by Anthony Gottlieb
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You know what made Rabbi Sachs distinctive? |
| 0:03.0 | He created Torah commentary for this generation, people who want to engage thoughtfully with the world while staying rooted in tradition. |
| 0:11.0 | He didn't ask you to choose between serious Torah study and intellectual engagement with contemporary ideas. |
| 0:17.0 | Instead, he showed how Torah wisdom can engage with philosophy, science, ethics, the big questions |
| 0:23.2 | thoughtful people care about. Now his approach is available in complete Chumish format. It's called |
| 0:29.7 | the Rabbi Sachs Chimish, and his commentary is integrated right with the Torah text alongside |
| 0:35.5 | Rashi and Unkelis. If you're someone who wants Torah study that engages seriously with the intellectual currents of our time, this is the Torah commentary for our generation. Now available at koranpub.com. That's k-O-R-E-N-P-U-B-com or at your local bookstore. |
| 0:55.4 | And I'll just add, just on a personal note, I have seen the Rabbi Sacks-Klemish. |
| 0:59.7 | It is really incredible, and I think Rabbi Sacks as a translator, in the greatest sense of the word, when I say translator, I don't mean somebody who took a word from one language and rendered into another |
| 1:12.3 | language. What I mean is somebody who is able to translate ideas and values in a way that |
| 1:18.1 | preserves the timelessness and eternity of those ideas, yet is able to translate them in a way |
| 1:24.5 | that resonates for our generation. I have seen the Rabbi Sacks-Homish. |
| 1:29.2 | I have learned it. I have studied from it. And I could not recommend it more to our listeners. |
| 1:34.3 | This should be in every Jewish home. It's now available at corinpub.com or at your local bookstore. |
| 1:41.2 | Buy the Rabbi Sachs-Humish now. |
| 1:45.1 | Hi, friends. Before we get to today's episode, I wanted to share a few words, memories, |
| 1:51.2 | recollections on the passing of Rabbi Moshe Hauer, the executive vice president of the |
| 1:57.4 | Orthodox Union, who died quite suddenly over the final days of Yantif on Shmini At Ceres. |
| 2:04.1 | The Jewish world definitely lost one of its great leaders with the passing of Rabbi Hauer. |
| 2:09.5 | Rabbi Hauer really embodied a kind of rare rabbinic presence. |
| 2:14.4 | He was principled yet open. |
| 2:16.3 | He was deeply rooted in tradition in Yiddishkite |
... |
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