"Al" Hanissim - For The Miracles

Al Hanissim ("For the Miracles") is, of course, the special addition to our prayers on Chanukah and Purim. "Al" is the transliteration of a Hebrew word not to be confused with the English abbreviation "AI" which, depending on the font you use, looks exactly the same.

Unless you've been living under a rock (which apparently I had been for some time), you know that AI stands for Artificial Intelligence and that Chat GPT is "a generative artificial intelligence chatbot developed by OpenAI". I can't explain it any better than that but some people I know quite well have been using this (miraculous?) little tool for some very interesting and worthwhile purposes. 

So I figured it's time to check it out with some artificially intelligent illustration and the addition of a few new paragraphs to my ancient Chanukah POem. (For the original, click here.) So let's see what it can do - with a bit of editing by yours truly...

In Israel today, miracles abound;
from the Sea to the River, they can be found.

With helping hands 

amid the madness,

hope and faith 

replace the sadness.

Chayalim (soldiers) 

home and hugged tight;
aglow all this week 

with bright candlelight.

Yet still we wait 

and count the days
until our hostages return,

for us to sing praise.

As I Remember Jerusalem on this Chanukah's last day, 

I wonder just what her menorahs would say

about miracles now, and those long ago
and more miracles waiting for G-d to bestow...

*****************************************************

Thank you, AI - you're impressive and "smart"

but you can't hold a (Chanukah) candle to words from the heart.

Your images generated just don't compare

to the art we produce with our humanly flair.

So I'll use my own thoughts to compose what I can,

the original way that these blog posts began.

I'll share my own photos, the best that I've got.

(But I'm glad to be out now from under that rock.)

May all your Chanukah dreams and wishes come true 

with revealed good and sweetness, too.