Avodah Mailing List

Volume 38: Number 13

Fri, 21 Feb 2020

• 1. Interesting Minhag (Cantor Wolberg)
• 2. Re: Interesting Minhag (Micha Berger)
• 3. Mistaken Minhagim (Sholom Simon)
• 4. AI/ML(Machine learning) (Rich, Joel)
• 5. donkeys by Yoseif and his brothers (Rich, Joel)
• 6. Re: AI/ML(Machine learning) (Micha Berger)
• 7. A Purim Twist (Cantor Wolberg)

I?m not sure if it is Tunisia and Algeria, but there
was definitely a minhag whereby the parsha Mishpatim
was divided into two parshiyot read separately on consecutive
weeks. The first parsha goes until ?Im kesef talve.? And the
second week is the second half. I don?t know which haftarah
they use for the second week.

On Sun, Feb 16, 2020 at 03:52:19PM -0500, Cantor Wolberg via Avodah wrote:
> I'm not sure if it is Tunisia and Algeria, but there was definitely
> a minhag whereby the parsha Mishpatim was divided into two parshiyot
> read separately on consecutive weeks. The first parsha goes until "Im
> kesef talve." And the second week is the second half. I don't know which
> haftarah they use for the second week.

I had always wondered why the standard chapterization of the Seifer
haChinukh starts a new parashash there. I was wondering if this was an
actual minhag, or just a way to split up the 52 mitzvos that are in
Mishpatim to more managable chapters.

Now I know! Thanks.

The Chinukh was written by R Aharon haLeci in Barcelona in the 13th
cent. Although the chapterization may be far later, so I don't know
what that says about the scope and evolution of that minhag.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 Strength does not come from winning. Your
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   struggles develop your strength When you go
Author: Widen Your Tent      through hardship and decide not to surrender,
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF    that is strength.        - Arnold Schwarzenegger

Heard in a daf yomi shiur -- R Sholom Rosner was:
-- critical of minhag of oleh to not say birkas hatorah on tochacha
-- critical of the minhag that women don't make a mezumin when they are
three on their own; or, if with 10 men, not answering the mizumin
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Some thoughts on AI/ML(Machine learning) and a psak generator:
But it will happen imho. And since lots of psak (if not all) has lots of
unarticulated premises, it will be interesting to see what ML extrapolates.
In the outside world the man machine partnership is one model (others say
machine only!)	Any thoughts on how this might play out?
KT
Joel Rich

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I spent some time looking for commentaries explaining the focus on the donkeys by Yoseif and his brothers.

I realize it's probably projection but I came up with two possibilities.

The first was that many places the donkey seems to be taking somebody to
their destiny (Think avraham Moshe bilaam......)I was thinking when they
might've been concerned that they would be unable to fulfill theirs

My other thought was that they represented technological extensions Of
human ability ( think vcivshuha) And they would be unable to fulfill their
human capabilities and be no more than another animal

Later heard R' M Taragin mention that R' Amital elsewhere looked at chamor and saw chomer(material world)

Thoughts?

Kt
Joel rich

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On Wed, Feb 19, 2020 at 06:23:05AM +0000, Rich, Joel via Avodah wrote:
> Some thoughts on AI/ML(Machine learning) and a psak generator:
> But it will happen imho. And since lots of psak (if not all) has lots
> of unarticulated premises, it will be interesting to see what ML
> extrapolates. In the outside world the man machine partnership is one
> model (others say machine only!)  Any thoughts on how this might play
> out?

In terms of the tech, we're not close yet, and may never be.

To weave a derashah into my explanation of that sentence, the word
"binah" can refer to thought in at least two ways:

- from "bein", the art of making distinctions -- bein qodesh lekhol, bein
  or lechoshekh... Being able to characterize this as an A, that as a B,
  this is spam, this is not spam. And when things are not separated:
  this A and B share features that would allow them to belong to the same
  font, whereas that A & B are in another.
  
  Finding the limits of sets, to know what to separate. That's what AI is
  now doing. Using what boils down to a lot of linear algebra to draw lines
  between sets using known examples of what's in and what's out.

  That can be obvious in cases of AI reading CT or MRI scans. But that is
  also how automous vehicles decide when to change lanes, accelerate,
  or whatnot. There are two sets: a right time and a wrong time.

- from "binyan", the art of combining facts. Whether making deductions of
  the sort you did formally in Geomatry class, or inductions -- figuring
  out that those sets even exist.

  There is AI that does binyan-binah. It is very simple, generally just
  searching the space of possibilities until it hits sueccess (as defined
  for it). That's not what ML is about, and it's not where we are close to
  the commercial application. And may never be.

Then there is informal thought. Conclusions you can only reach because
you not only have a concept of red in your head, but you know what it
is like to see red. (Apologies to the color blind for that example.)

In terms of hashkafah...

I argued that lo bashamayim hee has more to do with whose hands halakhh
is in than whose it isn't. A pesaq can only come from someone who (to
jump ahead to the end of the statement) "befikha ublivavkha la'asoso".

Related to that knowing what red is *like*, knowing what moral is *like*
is arguably a fundamental element of what a poseiq brings to the question.

And even if that argument fails hashkafically, halachically pro forma a
poseiq must be a mentally competent Jewish male adult who you believed
has the appropriate knowledge, ability and experience (experiential
knowledge?). It's the difference between whether any error would be your
aveira beshogeig or your doing the right thing in following a pesaq. (And
the the case of a human poseiq, their shogeig.)

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 You will never "find" time for anything.
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   If you want time, you must make it.
Author: Widen Your Tent                        - Charles Buxton
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF

1) We're all familiar with the custom and law of making much noise when
Haman's name is mentioned during the reading of the Megilla.  The standard
answer to why we do it is to drown out his name.  I see another reason.  We
must make a lot of noise against EVIL.	Haman, a descendant of Amalek, is
evil personified.  We cannot be silent in the face of evil.  We must yell,
shout, and make all the noise we can. (Does this sound timely)?
 
2) If we were asked the etymology of the word "Megilla," we would say it
comes from the word galal, "to roll."  The word gelila, "wrapping the
Torah" also comes from the same root. I came across a nice midrashic twist.
 As we know the word "Esther" has as its root "samech, tof, reish" for
hidden.  Interestingly, Megilla has been explained to have the root giluy,
which means "revealed."  Hence, we have a major theme for the Megilla --
revealing that which is hidden.

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