More Human, Thanks to My Robot: How AI Empowers More Sacred Leadership

Until recently, my kids found the best place to stretch their $1-a-week allowance was on Temu, an online marketplace operated by a Chinese e-commerce company known for offering heavy discounts. Over dinner one night, they were enthusiastically planning their next sticker haul when I realized that I needed to give them the heads up that we couldn’t shop there anymore, as disrupted shipping and significant price increases now make their allowance sprees unfeasible.

But I found myself unsure how to explain tariffs, international trade policy, and the broader political shifts that had influenced our shopping habits—all in a way that was honest, age-appropriate, and emotionally grounded. Even as someone whose professional expertise is explaining complex ideas to young children, this was outside of my wheelhouse. In addition, I’m still struggling with complicated feelings about the current political and economic climate, and I didn’t want that inner uncertainty to cloud my ability to explain something clearly and reasonably.

So I asked my ChatGPT to help.

I used it first to generate some plain-language explanations I could offer in real-time. Then, because as an instructional designer, I know that brains love stories—and that storytelling deepens retention—I asked it to turn the explanation into a bedtime story. It wasn’t a gimmick. It was a pedagogically grounded decision rooted in care.

I used to wonder if leaning into AI use would make me more robotic. But it’s done the opposite. It’s helped me become more adaptive, more attuned, and more present in the moments that matter.

Whether we’re nurturing children we love, supporting families through transition, or supervising the staff who carry out our mission, Jewish leaders face moments when the words don’t come easily. AI won’t do the sacred work for us—but sometimes, it helps us show up for that work more fully. Here are three benefits I’ve seen from my use of AI.

1. Leading with Compassion in Conflict

Sometimes when we’re dysregulated and unsure how to respond with compassion, AI can serve as a private, judgment-free processing partner that helps us reflect before we react.

Recently, I received a truly nasty email from a client—one that felt unkind, trampled my clearly stated boundaries, and deeply misaligned with how I believe professionals should treat one another. It came from someone exhibiting patterns of toxic behavior, and I knew I needed to respond—and also to be able to continue working together with this person.

I also knew that if I responded from the place I was in—hurt, frustrated, and irritated—it wouldn’t help anything. Stewing would be a waste of time. And going to another human for help processing wouldn’t fully respect the privacy of the person who had emailed me.

So I turned to AI. I asked it to help me think through and shape a clear, respectful response. What emerged wasn’t a script, but a catalyst—something that gave me space to regulate, reflect, and explore a range of thoughtful, values-aligned options. It helped me imagine how to respond firmly and empathetically, how to consider what might be going on beneath the surface for her, and how to preserve my own dignity in the process. And it did all of that in a fraction of the time it would’ve taken me to get there on my own.

Unfortunately, AI is not magic; that one email didn’t suddenly turn around my relationship with this client. However, AI helped me respond in a way that reflected my values, not my frustration. Perhaps more importantly, it reduced my stress and saved me the time I would have spent strategizing my response. I no longer dreaded working with this person, because I had a way to engage that protected my energy and integrity.

2. Communicating with More Insight

Sometimes, the hardest part of leadership isn’t knowing what to say—it’s knowing how to say it in a way that resonates with the people we serve. AI helps me clarify language, consider different learning styles and contexts, and communicate with greater impact.

When I heard a friend was diagnosed with a neurodegenerative disorder, I didn’t know what to say—or even how to anticipate what she might need. I asked AI for a quick explanation, a sense of what might be ahead, and guidance on how to show up. That tool helped me enter the relationship with more confidence and compassion.

In my professional work, I use AI to prepare instructions or feedback that match a staff member’s learning style. I use it to explore how certain language choices might land with a particular audience. I’ve even used it to analyze local demographic trends when designing programs for families, so I can better understand the community’s context.

AI doesn’t replace the emotional labor of leadership. But it helps me do it with more clarity. As a curriculum designer, I actually enjoy mapping outcomes and building toward them with intention. AI has enabled me to do it faster and more flexibly. What AI offers isn’t a shortcut—it’s a strategy enhancer. It helps me draw on expertise from virtually any field and shape resources that are responsive to the people I serve.

That’s what depth looks like for me now: not just doing more, but doing it with precision, personalization, and purpose. Not just better planning—but better presence.

3. Making Time to Grow—Not Just Deliver

When we’re constantly reacting to urgent tasks, it’s hard to lead from a place of purpose. AI has helped me reclaim time and mental bandwidth so I can invest in my business, my skills, and my long-term growth as a Jewish leader.

Before I integrated AI tools into my workflow, I was constantly scrambling. “Hustling” is the more socially acceptable term—but the reality was that my leadership was limited by my exhaustion. I was writing every newsletter from scratch, rewriting every event description, and manually tracking every logistical detail.

It was fine. It was even good. But it wasn’t sustainable. And it wasn’t scalable.

Once I started using AI to handle early drafts and streamline repetitive tasks, I saved many hours a week. In that newly free time, I was able to prioritize parts of my entrepreneurial work that I didn’t have the capacity to address before. I completed Clal’s START program, where I connected with like-minded entrepreneurs and had the opportunity to practice using AI-assisted tools to develop my business. That experience helped me build foundational skills I now pass along to my clients.

But the growth didn’t come from AI alone. It came from learning to leverage tools in relationship—with a thoughtful (human) mentor who reflects my values and helps me stretch. It came from surrounding myself with values-aligned learning communities that keep me grounded and accountable. 

I’m not working harder. I’m working smarter. I grew my business by 142% in 2024 during “unprecedented times” as a single mom with three kids. But more importantly, I’m growing as a leader—reflecting on what I want to build, how I want to build it, and who I want to be while doing it.

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While I’ve described small changes in all three of these examples—how I write, plan, and prepare, those changes have created space in my life for something much bigger. When we walk toward AI with curiosity instead of fear, it doesn’t just save time. It can help us uncover new connections, strengthen our confidence, and lead with deeper intention.

When I first started using AI, I worried it could distance me from the work I love—the relational, values-driven, human part of Jewish leadership.

Instead, it’s helped me connect even more with it.

I’m still the one showing up. I’m still the one making the decisions. But now, I’m doing it with more emotional availability, more space to reflect, and more time to lead—not just react.

AI hasn’t made me less human. It’s helping me become the kind of human I want to be.