Jewish Futures Puts AI and Education on the Agenda

The Jewish Education Project will hold its annual Jewish Futures 2026 conference, “Becoming Tomorrow's Educators,” at Temple Emanu-El in New York City on Monday. Artificial intelligence and emerging technologies will anchor discussions about Jewish education, as educators consider how young people learn, connect and process information amid technological change—and what role they should play in responding.

Who Shapes the Future of Learning

The Jewish Education Project says educators must take an active role as technology develops. Samantha Vinokor-Meinrath, Senior Director of Knowledge, Ideas and Learning at The Jewish Education Project, said young people encounter information and make meaning in changing ways.

“We are living through extraordinary changes in how young people encounter information and make meaning,” Vinokor-Meinrath said. “Jewish education can’t simply react to those changes after they happen. Our responsibility is to help educators understand what’s coming, experiment with new possibilities, and also identify the deeply human elements of education that technology can never replace. Jewish Futures is about giving educators the opportunity to help shape that future rather than simply adjust to it.”

The conference puts that claim into practice with “Tzomet Games: Shaping the Jewish Future,” an interactive exercise where teams will assess possible scenarios for Jewish life in 2050. The program aims to help participants identify coming challenges, try new learning methods and consider which foundational elements of Jewish education remain essential, regardless of technological advances.

Educators take part in imagining possible futures. Technology doesn’t get the only say. The stated aim is to give them a chance to assess scenarios and consider how learning methods might develop. The account of the event doesn’t specify which scenarios teams will evaluate or what conclusions they may reach.

Games, AI and Attention

Technology entrepreneur Sam Glassenberg will give the keynote, “The Jewish Neuron at Play: What Games and AI Can Teach Us about Learning, Identity, and Our Kids' Future.” Glassenberg leads Emerging Healthtech Initiatives at Sheba Medical Center in Israel and previously served as CEO of FTX Games and founder of Level Ex.

His address will explore what educators can learn from systems designed to capture attention. Drawing on game design, neuroscience and AI, he will discuss how games teach through challenge, feedback and reward. The keynote will also examine emerging AI tools as ways to explore Jewish history and identity, including through analysis of the Cairo Geniza and mapping the Jewish genome.

Those examples place technology’s power to engage and analyze alongside questions of education and identity. The conference presents them as subjects for educators to examine; the article doesn’t say the tools will be adopted in classrooms or describe specific results from their use.

The program will end with “Educators Assemble!,” an interactive session led by Shoshana Bloom, an ICF PCC-certified coach and speaker. Bloom specializes in addressing burnout, overwhelm, imposter syndrome and procrastination. She will guide participants to identify their individual strengths, consider how those traits complement fellow educators and turn discussions about future challenges into actionable steps.

The event focuses on the changing relationship between technology, learning and Jewish education. Its agenda gives educators structured exercises, a keynote about attention and AI, and a closing session on individual strengths and collaboration. What participants decide about the future remains to be seen.