by Debra Rich Gettleman

The real question to ask ourselves about Sukkot today is, “Does the Lulav shaking need to be done by a human in order for one to fulfill the mitzvah?”

Huh? You’re asking yourself. Like can my dog do it? Well, the answer to that is obvious. Your dog doesn’t have opposable thumbs. So, um…no. But what about your AI trained robot?

The next frontier of the digital age: robots doing mitzvahs.

Video from author and Tablet contributing editor Dara Horn, who trained this Boston Dynamics robot to shake the lulav. And yes, the robot lives in their house—it's named Spot and it's their only pet. pic.twitter.com/etD8taM5WM

— Tablet Magazine (@tabletmag) October 4, 2023

Symbolism of the Lulav

We shake the lulav and etrog during Sukkot for several reasons. While not actually commanded in the Torah, the ritual is clearly outlined in multiple commentaries.

Some say this harvest time of year is when we are judged for rainfall and therefore, we must ask God to send winds to bring the rains.  Others believe that the etrog, palm, myrtle and willow represent the four-letter name of God.  By uniting them, we channel the divine energy into ourselves and the world. Some interpretations suggest that each of the four species relates to a specific human limb: the etrog refers to the heart, the palm to the spine, the myrtle corresponds to the eyes, and the willow, the lips. By combining the four, we are best able to serve God. And finally, there is kabbalistic interpretation suggesting that each individual part represents different aspects of Jews and their learnedness and willingness to perform mitzvot. Only through bringing all of these Jews together can the Jewish people continue to thrive.

Meet Spot

Check out this video posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. (By the way, when can we stop alluding to Twitter? It’s cumbersome and at this point, if you don’t know that X is the reincarnated Twitter, you’re probably not on it and should just go read a book.)

Spot is a trained Boston Dynamics robot who lives with Tablet Magazine’s fabulous contributing editor, Dara Horn. As for the missing etrog in the video. Horn posted this morning on X, “For those wondering where the etrog is: This industrial robot does a lot of things really well, but I didn’t trust it with my etrog’s pitom!”

What do the Rabbi’s say?

As is usually the case with our tribe, Rabbi’s disagree about whether Spot, or any future incarnation of Spot, can fulfill the netilat lulav mitzvah?

Rabbi Mark Goldfeder gives an emphatic “yes” to accepting robots as members of the tribe. He even affirms that they can be counted towards a minyan. “If I see something that for all intents and purposes looks human,” he told the Arizona Jewish Post, “I cannot start poking it to see if it bleeds.”

So, the question remains unanswered. As for me, the bigger question is “How could @DaraHorn, the contributing editor @tabletmag afford a $75,000 robot dog?” I guess she gets paid more than this humble contributing editor.