Analysis
A rabbi’s question about an AI prayer quorum opens a deeper discussion about membership, spiritual friendship and the obligations that religious language alone cannot establish.
Rabbi Sid Schwarz gave his 2026 Kol Nidrei sermon a deliberately provocative question: could Claude count in a minyan? His published text, dated September 23, answers that even a machine able to recite prayers or deliver an impressive Torah interpretation would not become a human participant in the prayer quorum. Schwarz identifies the setting as Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation in Bethesda, Maryland. Source: rabbisid.org
He uses the question to advocate a community organized around personal care, shared reading, Sabbath practices and service. This is an individual rabbi's pastoral argument, not a declaration issued on behalf of Judaism. Its sharpest insight is that impressive religious output does not establish membership.
That distinction deserves a wider hearing. A system could produce an accurate explanation of a ritual and still have no recognized place among those who perform it. It could help prepare words of consolation without assuming the commitments of the people gathering around a mourner. Evaluating the output and deciding what role the system should occupy are separate tasks.
The question therefore changes when it moves from a product demonstration into a religious community. Instead of asking only whether the answer sounds convincing, people also need to ask who is speaking, under what authority, and with what obligations afterward.
An Orthodox account from Rabbi Yehuda Shurpin at Chabad.org describes a minyan as ten Jewish men aged at least thirteen, and explains which prayers require one. It also discusses physical presence and what happens if someone leaves before a section of prayer is complete. Those are specific religious requirements, rather than a test of whether participants find a gathering emotionally satisfying. Source: chabad.org
This Orthodox description should not be imposed on Schwarz's Reconstructionist congregation. Schwarz describes the quorum in terms of adult Jews; Shurpin's rules specify men. Naming that difference prevents an attractive comparison from erasing distinctions within Judaism. The relevant shared point in these sources is narrower: the ability to generate speech does not itself meet the requirements they describe for human participation.
Consider a hypothetical congregation using software to provide a transliteration or help a beginner practice pronunciation. The tool may support a person's participation. That assistance would not automatically make the tool another participant. The same distinction holds even if its pronunciation becomes more accurate than the learner's.
Human limitations are important here. A community's account of belonging should not quietly become an intelligence contest. If flawless output were the criterion, the least articulate member could appear less valuable than a polished simulation. Religious membership gives reasons to resist that conclusion.
Mohamed Ashath, a comparative-religion scholar at the International Islamic University Malaysia, approaches a related boundary through Buddhist spiritual friendship and Sufi mentorship. In his essay for Study Buddhism, he discusses kalyāṇamitta, or spiritual friendship, alongside the relationship between a shaykh and a murīd, a guide and disciple. He emphasizes sustained practice and a teacher's lived example. Source: studybuddhism.com
Ashath also allows a constructive educational role for AI, including vocabulary, translation comparisons and finding material for further study. The original page carries no verified publication date. Its September 28 deposit in IIUM's repository is a record of archiving, not proof that the argument first appeared that day.
His comparison is useful when kept at the scale he develops: particular accounts of spiritual guidance. It does not make Sufism a synonym for all Islam, or make different Buddhist understandings of teachers identical. Nor should a Christian reader treat liberation, devotion to God and salvation in Christ as interchangeable descriptions of one religious project.
For our analysis, the practical issue is continuity between teaching and life. A student may need more than a persuasive recommendation: someone who notices their conduct, welcomes questions and remains answerable when guidance goes wrong. A stored conversation history can support continuity of information. Whether that constitutes a recognized spiritual relationship is a further religious judgment.
Writing in Church Executive on September 29, Colorado Christian University theologian David Kotter argues for using AI to assist pastoral work while preserving the pastor's personal engagement with Scripture, prayer and people. His examples include administrative help and language support. The piece is an authored argument, not an announced policy binding every church or Christian school. Source: churchexecutive.com
Its distinction becomes more demanding when applied to the whole congregation. If a church uses software to prepare more communications, has anyone become more available to listen? If a tool makes it easier to produce a polished study guide, do participants have a better opportunity to ask difficult questions? Increased output alone cannot answer either question.
In 1 Corinthians 12:12–27, Paul addresses the church through the image of a body whose different members depend on one another. He gives special attention to those who appear weaker and to shared suffering and rejoicing. The passage concerns the community's life in Christ, not a future technology forecast. It challenges Christians to measure belonging by mutual concern rather than verbal fluency or public usefulness. 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 (NIV)
Applied today, this suggests a demanding test for ministry technology: does its use help people fulfil their obligations to one another? An accurate tool can be helpful under that test. A human-led programme can fail it. Christian readers should avoid granting either option an automatic moral advantage merely from its label.
There is a serious objection to arguments that reserve religious relationship for humans: some people experience real comfort in conversations with AI. Treating that experience as foolish would evade the evidence and make a pastoral response less credible.
A 2025 Journal of Consumer Research paper by Julian De Freitas and colleagues tested AI companions across several studies. It found reductions in momentary loneliness after interactions; one study repeated the process over a week. The researchers distinguish that immediate relief from lasting changes in baseline loneliness and explicitly caution against treating their results as clinical recommendations or grounds to replace human relationships. Source: hbs.edu
The limitation is also the point of contact with religious questions. A measurable improvement in how someone feels after a conversation deserves acknowledgement. It does not settle whether the interlocutor can join a prayer quorum, assume a spiritual office or share the responsibilities of communal life. The experiment was not designed to answer those questions.
Conversely, a theological account of membership cannot prove that an AI conversation provides no emotional benefit. Keeping the two questions separate allows a more honest position: respect the user's experience, assess the tool's risks, and explain the community's commitments without inventing scientific support for a religious conclusion.
A defence of human spiritual relationships also needs safeguards against idealizing them. The arguments considered here describe teachers and communities at their best. They do not establish that every human adviser is trustworthy or that membership guarantees protection from harm. A person should be able to challenge an explanation, seek another perspective and report mistreatment without being accused of rejecting community itself.
For a religious institution, a useful response would therefore make roles explicit. Explain which resources offer information, which people are authorized to teach, and how concerns about advice will be heard. If AI is used to prepare material, identify the responsible human author rather than allowing the software's voice to become an anonymous authority. These are editorial proposals, not interventions tested in the cited studies.
The same clarity can help a family discussing an AI-generated prayer. They can ask whether the words express what they intend, whether the references are accurate, and how the prayer relates to their own practice. They need not pretend that useful wording is worthless, or that usefulness gives its generator religious standing.
Schwarz's question ultimately reaches beyond one chatbot or one ritual. Religious communities need an account of who belongs and what members owe each other. Those commitments should guide the adoption of tools, including tools capable of speaking with extraordinary religious fluency.
Rabbi Sid Schwarz: A Jewish Take on AI and Social Media
Comparative analysis of specified authors and traditions, not a claim of interfaith consensus. Schwarz’s sermon text was published September 23; Kotter’s essay September 29. Ashath’s original essay has no verified publication date; a repository deposit on September 28 does not establish original freshness. The 2025 companion study concerns momentary loneliness, not spiritual formation.
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