All psak depends in the intersection of theoretical law and reality. As poskim are not trained as doctors, programmers, lawyers, businessmen, farmers, etc, they need to integrate information from outside experts, or develop personal expertise. As the world changes, this is even more complicated. The question of how poskim do this is of critical importance. For example, when faced with a simple question of whether one is sick enough to eat on Yom Kippur, does the posek consult his or her own doctors, or trust the patient to find a doctor, or assess the situation his or herself? What about in political questions? Does the fact that both the laity and poskim can access information with AI and information technology change the equation? I draw on insights from Eric Topol and Martin Gurri as how this dynamic plays out in medicine and in general for insight.
Rabbi Ziring is the Rosh Yeshiva of Migdal HaTorah in Modi’in. He studied at Yeshivat Har Etzion and continued his learning there as a member of the Kollel Gavoah. He was also a fellow at the Tikvah Fund and Center for Modern Torah Leadership’s Summer Beit Midrash. Rabbi Ziring has previously served as Sgan Rosh Kollel of the Yeshiva University Torah miTzion Beit Midrash Zichron Dov and as the Rabbinic Assistant of BAYT in Toronto. He has taught in many contexts in the US, Canada and Israel, focusing particularly on the Halachic Process.He is the author of Torah in a Connected World: A Halakhic Perspective on Communications Technology and Social Media was published by Maggid Books, an imprint of Koren Jerusalem, in 2024.
