Artificial intelligence has quickly become the focal point of modern conversations about education, cognition, and the future of human learning. As AI tools become more adept at producing essays, solving math problems, and generating polished responses to virtually any question, educators and parents alike are grappling with a deep and justified anxiety: What happens to the human mind when thinking becomes optional? What becomes of a generation raised on instant answers, pre-packaged reasoning, effortless shortcuts, and the expectation that knowledge should arrive without struggle?

The fear, put simply, is the dumbing of the American mind — not because students will lose access to information, but because they may lose the habits of mind that make information meaningful. When thinking can be outsourced, why struggle? When answers are one click away, why wrestle? And when everything can be summarized, simplified, or automated, what happens to depth, nuance, argument, and creativity?

There is one ancient antidote to this modern threat: Torah learning — especially the study of Gemara.

Long before textbooks, standardized tests, or learning algorithms, Jewish scholars developed a mode of study that trains the intellect in a way no machine can replicate. The Talmud is not........

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