We are living through a moment that feels, at times, like science fiction.

Artificial intelligence is no longer theoretical. It is writing, coding, analyzing, and predicting. It is reshaping how decisions are made, how work gets done, and how value is created. For many sci-fi lovers, it feels like standing on the bridge of a starship watching a future unfold faster than we can fully understand it.

And yet, once a year, we sit down at a table and tell a story that hasn’t changed in thousands of years.

No screens required. No automation. No optimization.

Just people. Questions. Memory. Meaning.

Passover is, in many ways, the original “operating system” of the Jewish people. It is not efficient. It is not scalable in the way modern technology defines scale. It requires time, presence, participation. It asks us not just to consume a story, but to re-experience it.

And that may be exactly the point.

Over the past year, my wife, Rivka Bresler, worked on something that, at first, caught me off guard; a Star Trek Hagaddah titled: Star Trek: The Exodus Directive: The Hagaddah that Takes Us Where No Matzah Has Gone Before

Full disclosure; this is her work, not mine. And yes, of course, I’m proud.

But what stayed with me wasn’t just the creativity of the idea. It was what it forced me to think about.

When she first described it, I found myself grappling with a deeper question: what does it mean to carry one of our oldest stories into a world increasingly shaped by technology?

On the surface, the pairing feels unlikely. The Hagaddah is ancient, structured, deeply rooted in memory and tradition. Star Trek is futuristic, imaginative, and synonymous with technological possibility.

And yet, when you encounter this Hagaddah, it feels like translation, like instruction, like a signal for the future.

The structure of the Seder remains intact, but the language shifts; framing the journey of Exodus through the lens of mission, exploration, and responsibility. It doesn’t replace the story. It re-engages it, inviting participants to see themselves not just as inheritors of the past, but as active participants in a journey forward.

That’s where it becomes instructive, a translation to understand the future.

Because Star Trek, at its core, was never really about technology. It was about humanity, about leadership, ethics, responsibility, and what it means to navigate the unknown. The technology simply made those questions more urgent and more available to answer.

And that feels familiar.

We often talk about AI and the future of work as a technological shift. And it is. But underneath that shift is a deeper question: what does it mean to be human in a world where machines can do more and more of what we once thought was uniquely ours?

The answer will not come from the technology itself.

It will come from the stories we choose to keep telling and the spaces we create to tell them.

A Haggadah is not just a ritual text. It is a leadership tool. It shapes identity. It reinforces values. It creates a shared language across generations.

And importantly, it happens in person.

Around a table. With interruptions. With questions that go off-script. With moments that cannot be predicted or replicated. Amazing meals with friends and family. Its an annual highlight.

And in a world increasingly optimized for speed and scale, the Seder is intentionally neither.

That tension matters. Especially now.

Because as AI takes on more of the structured, repeatable, even creative, work, the human differentiators don’t disappear. They become more essential.

Presence. Judgment. Storytelling. Ethical responsibility.

The Seder reminds us that these are not inefficiencies to eliminate. They are the point.

This year, as we sit down and tell a very old story once again, sometimes even through new lenses, it is worth asking:

Not just what the future will look like.

But what parts of being human we are determined to carry with us as we boldly move into the future.

May this Pesach remind us of what it means to be human, together.

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)