Artificial intelligence keeps asking Judaism an old question in a new way: Who gets to answer?
Last year, I wrote about whether AI might someday replace rabbis. My conclusion was fairly clear. No matter how sophisticated these tools become, they lack the depth, context and human relationship that sit at the heart of Jewish life. But as AI continues to evolve, a more interesting question has emerged. If these tools are not replacements, what are they becoming instead?
One possible answer is JewPT, a new free AI assistant designed specifically for Jewish textual learning that was created by Jonathan Gugenheim, who lives and works in London in the FinTech industry. JewPT bills itself not as an “AI rabbi” but as a study partner (chevruta in Hebrew) for exploring Torah, Talmud and Jewish wisdom. The distinction is not just semantic. It sits at the center of an increasingly urgent conversation about authority, transparency and ethics in Jewish-facing technology.
The idea for JewPT did not come from a think tank or a synagogue boardroom. It began at home. Jonathan told me the project started when his girlfriend began her conversion journey.
Like many people entering Jewish life, she had questions. Lots of them. Each answer led to three more, in classic Jewish fashion. Some were simple. Others felt too basic or too vulnerable to bring directly to a rabbi. He realized there was no easy place for those questions to land.
“We should have a place where it is easy to ask these questions, get a sense of Jewish perspectives on it, and find helpful jumping-off points for deeper research or a full conversation with a rabbi,” he explained.
JewPT was built for the moments when curiosity sparks late at night, or when embarrassment becomes a barrier to learning.
That posture of approachability is intentional. Jonathan describes JewPT as friendly and nonjudgmental by design, encouraging users to ask even the questions they think they should already know the answers to. In that sense, it resembles a digital chevruta more than a decision-maker.
Even the name reflects that goal. JewPT is a play on OpenAI’s ChatGPT, but with a theological twist. GPT stands for Generative Pre-Trained Transformer. Jonathan reframed it as a Jewish Pre-Trained Transformer. He dropped “generative” on purpose.
“I want this model to be extremely pre-trained on understanding and presenting core Jewish texts and prominent rabbinic writings, not generating new info,” he said. The goal is synthesis, not invention. That distinction matters, especially when it comes to rabbinic authority.
Not a Real Rabbi
Jonathan is explicit that JewPT is not an authority and should not be treated as one. When users ask detailed halachic (Jewish legal) questions or seek yes-or-no rulings, the model is trained to redirect them to a real rabbi. This is something ChatGPT does not do. He argues that JewPT helps users understand the range of opinions, identify key variables and prepare for a meaningful conversation. In other words, JewPT can help someone know what to ask, even if it does not decide the answer.
That boundary is also enforced structurally. Certain categories of questions are blocked outright, not for theological reasons but for safety ones. Building a public website with “Jew” in the name attracts antisemitism, and Jonathan has already had to create a separate moderation model to filter hateful messages. As a result, many questions about the Holocaust or modern Israel and Palestine are currently blocked, even when they might be asked in good faith.
“It’s not ideal,” he admitted, “but for now they are mostly blocked at the source.” When answers do touch on real-world religious behavior, the model signs off with disclaimers and reminders to consult human rabbis.
Transparency is a recurring theme. JewPT provides citations whenever possible, including Hebrew and English texts, especially when it draws from sources it has full access to, such as Torah, Talmud, select midrashim and the Shulchan Aruch.
That transparency is part of Jonathan’s effort to avoid geneivat da’at, misleading someone into thinking an answer carries authority it does not actually have. “False authority comes from how tools are interpreted by users,” he said. “I never want someone to say, ‘JewPT told me this is right.’ I want them to say, ‘JewPT pointed out an interesting connection and helped me find the books and knowledge to form my own opinion or bring it to my rabbi.’”
That is why he deliberately avoided branding it as an AI rabbi. In Jewish learning, labels matter.
Of course, no AI system is perfect, and Jonathan is candid about the challenges. Hallucinations, or instances when an AI model generates incorrect or fabricated information while presenting it as factual, remain a real risk, particularly with Aramaic texts like the Targumim. Much of the improvement process relies on users flagging errors so he can retrain the model. It is a reminder that, despite the polish of modern AI, these systems are still tools built by humans with limited oversight.
The audience, for now, is primarily the curious. JewPT excels at providing overviews and showing how ideas developed across Jewish history. It is less equipped for the kind of deep, cross-disciplinary synthesis that scholars do. That may change with time, but Jonathan is realistic about its current strengths and weaknesses.
The Challenge of JewPT
What surprised him most was the reach. Since launching in late October 2025, JewPT has attracted thousands of users from around the world. Rabbis and educators have been among its most enthusiastic testers, pushing it with difficult questions and offering feedback. Jonathan would welcome more rabbinic involvement, acknowledging that his own Jewish knowledge has limits.
Looking ahead five years, his definition of success is modest and telling. He is a solo developer with a full-time job in FinTech. If people are still asking meaningful questions and finding the confidence to pursue Jewish learning, he would consider that a win.
The real story of JewPT is not whether it gets every answer right. It is what it reveals about where Jewish curiosity lives today. In a world where people are used to asking machines everything from travel advice to medical questions, Jewish learning is inevitably part of that shift.
The challenge, as always, is not the technology itself. It is how we frame it. If AI becomes another voice claiming authority, we should be wary. If it becomes a doorway, a chevruta or a late-night nudge toward deeper engagement, it may play a role.
Judaism has always valued questions. The task now is to make sure we still know who is answering and why.
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