As Jewish educators and future rabbis, we see the ability to interpret as a gift. When we empower students to make their own meaning of the symbols they encounter, they will feel more personally connected to the material they are studying and see it as relevant to their lives.

In an era increasingly shaped by generative artificial intelligence, Jewish educators must prioritize interpretation as a creative skill. The proliferation of AI-driven tools means that more and more of our students will receive instant, seemingly definitive answers to complex questions. 

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When Google first became the standard search engine, it provided links to various sources in response to a query. Now, instead of directing learners to primary or secondary sources, Google offers an AI-generated summary of search results — one that is sometimes plain wrong. If we do not teach students how to engage with texts creatively, they may come to believe that there is only one correct way to interpret Jewish tradition, or they may not know how to find key sources to help them make sense of it.

We are inspired by Miriam Heller Stern, a Hebrew Union College professor and founder of the Beit HaYotzer, the Creativity Braintrust, which articulates a vision of Jewish education centered on chidushim (novel ideas and interpretations). Too often, our Jewish classrooms prioritize right-versus-wrong assessments, reducing learning to regurgitation rather than exploration; but Jewish education at its best fosters personal and communal meaning-making, an interpretive practice embedded in our tradition.

Interpretation is central to Jewish life. From the rabbinic arguments of the Talmud to the commentators of the Middle Ages, Judaism has thrived on the multiplicity of perspectives. We have never been a tradition of singular meanings; rather, we are a people who return to our texts year after year, uncovering new insights and making them relevant to our contemporary lives. To accept a single interpretation as “correct” is to misunderstand the very nature of our tradition.

What does prioritizing creative interpretation look like in the Jewish classroom? 

One approach may be to engage students in modern midrash, inviting them to craft new narratives that build on biblical stories. Another may be Bibliodrama, where students step into the mindsets of biblical characters and explore their dilemmas from multiple perspectives. And what would it look like to encourage students to compose their own liturgy? While mastery of Hebrew and reverence for the prayers that we have inherited should not be disregarded completely, adding time for personal meaning making will only strengthen young learners’ connections to Judaism.

As Passover approaches, we have the opportunity to flex these creative interpretive muscles. 

The Seder is ripe with symbolism. How often do we teach that the items on the Seder plate represent fixed meanings? The bitter herbs for the bitterness of slavery; the charoset represents the mortar the Hebrew slaves used to build. But these symbols are not set in stone. They have evolved over time, and they can continue to evolve in our classrooms. 

What if, this year, we invited our students to make meaning for themselves? How much richer would their relationship be to the holiday, and to the ritual of the Seder itself, if they were asked to create their own symbols and share their interpretations with their family and friends? By doing so, we not only reinforce the creative spirit of interpretation but also deepen the personal and communal relevance of our traditions.

An emphasis on interpretation is not merely an intellectual exercise; it is a spiritual and ethical imperative. The Haggadah commands us to see ourselves as if we personally were freed from Egypt. This is an act of radical imagination — an invitation to re-experience and reinterpret our foundational story in every generation. If we want our students to develop a meaningful relationship with Jewish tradition, we must teach them not only what texts say but how to make those texts their own.

As generative AI continues to shape the ways in which we access and process information, Jewish education must resist the temptation to equate knowledge with definitive answers. Our tradition has endured because of its interpretive dynamism. The future of Jewish learning depends not on finding the “right” answers, but on cultivating students who engage with our texts, our symbols, and our history with creativity, curiosity and a sense of personal stake in making meaning. 

We can’t wait to see what new meanings our students uncover. 

Ally and Hannah Karpel-Pomerantz are rabbinical students at Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles, where they are also pursuing a masters in Jewish educational leadership from HUC’s Rhea Hirsch School of Education.