David Zvi Kalman
@dzkalman.bsky.social
I write about religion and tech. I also design dreidels.
New from me: AI Ethics is a Casualty of the Gaza War
Would love your thoughts.
www.jellomenorah.com/p/ai-ethics-...
Would love your thoughts.
www.jellomenorah.com/p/ai-ethics-...
AI Ethics is a Casualty of the Gaza War
Does our traumatized minority even have the bandwidth?
www.jellomenorah.com
August 15, 2025 at 3:12 PM
New from me: AI Ethics is a Casualty of the Gaza War
Would love your thoughts.
www.jellomenorah.com/p/ai-ethics-...
Would love your thoughts.
www.jellomenorah.com/p/ai-ethics-...
With great trepidation, I’m excited to launch Sabbath Mode, a YouTube channel about religion and tech. This is a vulnerable step for me, a perpetual podcaster.
More videos coming later this summer.
youtu.be/Or0KqnwTpEU?...
More videos coming later this summer.
youtu.be/Or0KqnwTpEU?...
Two Religions Invented A Bad Lamp
YouTube video by Sabbath Mode
youtu.be
August 6, 2025 at 3:42 PM
With great trepidation, I’m excited to launch Sabbath Mode, a YouTube channel about religion and tech. This is a vulnerable step for me, a perpetual podcaster.
More videos coming later this summer.
youtu.be/Or0KqnwTpEU?...
More videos coming later this summer.
youtu.be/Or0KqnwTpEU?...
Last week I attended a conference at Harvard Law School on religion and psychedelics. I left feeling energized about the state of Jewish psychedelic culture. Here's my write-up.
Psychedelic Judaism is going to win
The energy is there and the obstacles are surprisingly few
www.jellomenorah.com
March 13, 2025 at 12:18 PM
Last week I attended a conference at Harvard Law School on religion and psychedelics. I left feeling energized about the state of Jewish psychedelic culture. Here's my write-up.
The guy who went to jail for using CRISPR to genetically edit babies is just regularly tweeting that he wishes he could do it all the time.
March 11, 2025 at 4:24 PM
The guy who went to jail for using CRISPR to genetically edit babies is just regularly tweeting that he wishes he could do it all the time.
When you ask the wrong OpenAI model to give you a picture
February 18, 2025 at 6:44 PM
When you ask the wrong OpenAI model to give you a picture
I think about this video at least once a week.
February 11, 2025 at 9:56 PM
I think about this video at least once a week.
TIL that the Camp Khitomer peace accords were signed at American Jewish University
February 10, 2025 at 5:28 PM
TIL that the Camp Khitomer peace accords were signed at American Jewish University
I wrote up the state of the Jewish AI conversation—which is picking up speed! Lots of goodies here.
Finally, a Jewish AI debate has emerged
The field is broadening. Here's my report card.
www.jellomenorah.com
February 6, 2025 at 8:06 PM
I wrote up the state of the Jewish AI conversation—which is picking up speed! Lots of goodies here.
Two weeks in, the clear media pattern appears to be that international insanity is treated as Big News while domestic government-breaking is treated as a series of minor stories. This despite the fact that the former is more likely to be bluster/negotiation tactics while the latter is well underway.
February 5, 2025 at 3:12 AM
Two weeks in, the clear media pattern appears to be that international insanity is treated as Big News while domestic government-breaking is treated as a series of minor stories. This despite the fact that the former is more likely to be bluster/negotiation tactics while the latter is well underway.
Where I’m at today.
February 2, 2025 at 11:38 PM
Where I’m at today.
It’s fascinating that a certain segment of the Orthodox world has identified Orthodox podcasts as a dangerous subversion of authority (and of course they’re correct). yated.com/beware/?fbcl...
Beware! - Yated.com
Who remembers blogs? Not long ago, perhaps a bit more or less than fifteen years ago, blogs were all the rage. It was a totally new concept. Anyone who had opinions, regardless of how good, how crazy,...
yated.com
January 6, 2025 at 5:36 PM
It’s fascinating that a certain segment of the Orthodox world has identified Orthodox podcasts as a dangerous subversion of authority (and of course they’re correct). yated.com/beware/?fbcl...
This is literally the premise of Ken Liu's short story "Byzantine empathy."
gizmodo.com/florida-judg...
gizmodo.com/florida-judg...
Florida Judge Allows VR Simulation of Alleged Crime to Be Submitted as Evidence
The defendant's attorney wanted the judge to see the altercation from his client's eyes.
gizmodo.com
January 3, 2025 at 4:55 PM
This is literally the premise of Ken Liu's short story "Byzantine empathy."
gizmodo.com/florida-judg...
gizmodo.com/florida-judg...
The One Jasons is better, this was a cash grab pure and simple
Completely made up movies I enjoyed this year:
The Big Lives of Small Things
The Two Jasons
A Distracted Life
The Glass Hammer
Wet Shoes
Little Becky
Duck Duck Doom
The Breathening
Cole & Dusty
The Call of Night
My Favorite Day (Wednesday)
Elephant Man 2: Merrick’s Revenge
The Smell of My Date Tree
The Big Lives of Small Things
The Two Jasons
A Distracted Life
The Glass Hammer
Wet Shoes
Little Becky
Duck Duck Doom
The Breathening
Cole & Dusty
The Call of Night
My Favorite Day (Wednesday)
Elephant Man 2: Merrick’s Revenge
The Smell of My Date Tree
January 2, 2025 at 11:30 PM
The One Jasons is better, this was a cash grab pure and simple
This is the way Hanukkah ends.
This is the way Hanukkah ends.
This is the way Hanukkah ends.
Not with a bang but a whimper.
This is the way Hanukkah ends.
This is the way Hanukkah ends.
Not with a bang but a whimper.
January 2, 2025 at 8:16 PM
This is the way Hanukkah ends.
This is the way Hanukkah ends.
This is the way Hanukkah ends.
Not with a bang but a whimper.
This is the way Hanukkah ends.
This is the way Hanukkah ends.
Not with a bang but a whimper.
I'd like an AI that will tell me if the work I'm doing could be done more efficiently with the help of AI.
January 2, 2025 at 2:57 PM
I'd like an AI that will tell me if the work I'm doing could be done more efficiently with the help of AI.
If you're not hanging on every twist and turn of AI development, this is a great rundown of the last year. It's technical but within reason—and of course you can always ask an LLM for help if you don't understand something! simonwillison.net/2024/Dec/31/...
Things we learned about LLMs in 2024
A lot has happened in the world of Large Language Models over the course of 2024. Here’s a review of things we figured out about the field in the past …
simonwillison.net
January 1, 2025 at 9:06 PM
If you're not hanging on every twist and turn of AI development, this is a great rundown of the last year. It's technical but within reason—and of course you can always ask an LLM for help if you don't understand something! simonwillison.net/2024/Dec/31/...
Predictions about the future of AI could not be any further apart.
January 1, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Predictions about the future of AI could not be any further apart.
A reminder that Christmas is much more like Shabbat than it is like Hanukkah, and if that seems absurd maybe consider that Americans have an unhealthy relationship to work.
www.jellomenorah.com/p/the-jewish...
www.jellomenorah.com/p/the-jewish...
The Jewish Christmas is...Shabbat.
Forget Hanukkah. Christmas shares much with the day of rest.
www.jellomenorah.com
December 24, 2024 at 8:59 PM
A reminder that Christmas is much more like Shabbat than it is like Hanukkah, and if that seems absurd maybe consider that Americans have an unhealthy relationship to work.
www.jellomenorah.com/p/the-jewish...
www.jellomenorah.com/p/the-jewish...
Honored to be among such excellent company!
It was an honor to be asked by @caitlindewey.bsky.social to curate my favorite links of the year for her fantastic Links I Would Gchat You If We Were Friends newsletter
linksiwouldgchatyou.substack.com/p/the-best-l...
linksiwouldgchatyou.substack.com/p/the-best-l...
The best links of 2024, part 3
Featuring Elan Ullendorff of Escape the Algorithm
linksiwouldgchatyou.substack.com
December 24, 2024 at 8:56 PM
Honored to be among such excellent company!
On this Christmas Eve, a new episode for you: the story of why people keep making AI models of Jesus, and why they may be more than a novelty.
I spoke with Marco Schmid, who made the AI confessional booth in Lucerne that received an avalanche of media attention.
open.spotify.com/episode/5h26...
I spoke with Marco Schmid, who made the AI confessional booth in Lucerne that received an avalanche of media attention.
open.spotify.com/episode/5h26...
The Beta Testing of Jesus Christ
Belief in the Future · Episode
open.spotify.com
December 24, 2024 at 2:48 PM
On this Christmas Eve, a new episode for you: the story of why people keep making AI models of Jesus, and why they may be more than a novelty.
I spoke with Marco Schmid, who made the AI confessional booth in Lucerne that received an avalanche of media attention.
open.spotify.com/episode/5h26...
I spoke with Marco Schmid, who made the AI confessional booth in Lucerne that received an avalanche of media attention.
open.spotify.com/episode/5h26...
This is such a beautiful thought from Flannery O'Connor.
December 5, 2024 at 6:06 PM
This is such a beautiful thought from Flannery O'Connor.
I have institutional library access but I end up seeking out "other" sources for PDFs because this is just so annoying.
I don’t like how we so often chop up books now into PDFs downloaded individually on ProQuest or some such. Chop chop. At least my book will have footnotes not endnotes!
December 3, 2024 at 10:40 PM
I have institutional library access but I end up seeking out "other" sources for PDFs because this is just so annoying.
He's correct, and there's only one solution: go outside.
December 3, 2024 at 12:58 PM
He's correct, and there's only one solution: go outside.
This academic detective story is incredibly well written—and the payoff is unbelievably beautiful.
December 3, 2024 at 12:22 PM
This academic detective story is incredibly well written—and the payoff is unbelievably beautiful.