On that day we will be challenged: VERIFY THAT YOU ARE A JEW

Because of the proliferation of artificial intelligence and mechanical robotics, many internet platforms have been using tests to make certain that they are not dealing with automatons.

They demand, for example, that we un-mix scrambled letters and jumbled words in order to determine that we are not preprogrammed machines. One site even asks us to check that “I AM NOT A ROBOT,” (which assumes that robots, unlike humans, never lie….)

I am not sure if I can honestly say that my religious behavior, such as davening, Torah study and mitzvah performance, is not occasionally robotic and not fully conscious of the Creator, in sad fulfillment of Yeshayahu’s lament in 29:13: mitzvas anashim melumadah.

Other providers request innocently that we must first “VERIFY IT’S YOU,” while still others provocatively demand that we “VERIFY THAT YOU’RE A HUMAN.”

Dig beneath the surface of these apparently superficial questions, and what we have here is a veritable Rorschach test for us all, an exercise in self-examination. What emerges is a kind of Jewish religious selfie.

Some examples:

UNSCRAMBLE THE LETTERS: i.e., when we daven or bentsch or recite a brachah, do we clearly pronounce every syllable? Do our brachos begin with “Bruchataanoi” or clearly Baruch atah...? In order to gain entry to the platform of our Creator, step # 1 is to unscramble the letters.

VERIFY THAT IT’S YOU: This is a difficult one. Who am I really, and how do I verify who is the real Me? Is my driver’s license enough verification? My passport? This challenge involves serious self-examination and introspection. When I cast off the assortment of masks that I wear in various contexts and on different occasions, who am I underneath them all? Is it all a charade? Verify that you are the real you by how you live and what you speak and how you relate to others and to G-d.

Which segues into the next checkpoint: VERIFY THAT YOU ARE HUMAN. Well, I breathe, eat, see, hear. Does not that make me a human? The computer counters with: “So does a cow, or a bird,or a fish in the water. Entry rejected. More data needed.

You respond: Unlike other creatures, I walk on two feet and not on all fours, and I communicate through words. Does that not make me human? To this the computer might reply: Yes, you are not an animal… but how do you differ from a gorilla? If you ore are truly human, verify this by your deeds and your thoughts. Remember: to be human transcends the physical characteristics we share with all animals. To be human means to think, make choices, and yearn to connect to things higher than one’s bodily needs.

Entering this site might take longer than I anticipated. Let me try another site.

But the next test could be even more challenging. To date, this one has not yet surfaced, but it is lingering in the background and will undoubtedly be asked after 120 years when we seek entry into the Ultimate Site. On that day we will be challenged: VERIFY THAT YOU ARE A JEW.

The gatekeepers are very understanding, but when you insist that you are in fact a Jew, they might respond: Your answer is fine, but regulations require that you provide verification. That you had a lovely Pesach Seder and ate lots of matzah is commendable, but please identify your year-round Jewishness. That you observed other mitzvos such as fasting on Yom Kippur, lighting Chanukah candles, and eating hamantaschen on Purim is acceptable, but what about Shabbos observance all year? Or, for example, regular contact with G-d through davening? And — did you send your children to good Jewish schools and yeshivos, and did you devote any of your own time to Torah study? To call yourself a Jew is praiseworthy, but not enough. What constitutes your Jewishness? Specifically, in what ways — other than, I presume, that you did not have an Xmas tree — are you really different from your non-Jewish neighbors? Admission to this Ultimate Site requires that you verify with details that you are really a Jew.

Suddenly it turns out that those seemingly nonsensical admission tests about unscrambling words — and about robots and being human and truly you — are not as silly as they seem, but actually are useful devices that help us open our external selves to our internal selves.

As Tishah B’Av approaches, can Yom Kippur be far behind? In such a season, some silly questions need to be taken seriously.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1072)