How Facebook Messenger Bots was Inspired by Challah

Seth Rosenberg, Product Manager at Facebook presenting at the F8 Conference

One of the indicators of an effective leader is their ability to empower their constituents.

While some managers may have the tendency to micro-manage their employees in order to ensure optimal outcomes, empowering them and equipping them with the necessary tools to take their own initiative allows them to harness their creativity, leading to potential innovations and developments that may surpass the original expectation.

When Seth Rosenberg, product manager for Facebook’s Messenger platform, took the stage to explore the company’s new Messenger Bot platform, the Facebook fans learned a surprising inspiration for this latest technological gambit: weekly batches of challah baked by Ella Potash, co-director of Chabad of Redwood City, California.

“When we started developing the Messenger Bots platform, the experience that showed me bots could work was getting this challah,” explained Rosenberg. “It wasn’t this dry transaction on an e-commerce site. Instead, I could talk; I could ask questions and have this personal interaction.”

“Growing up, my mother made Challah every week,” he said. “Shabbat was something special to our family.”

When he moved to the Bay Area, however, he found himself isolated from Jewish life. “I’m not plugged into the Jewish community here,” he said. “Finding out about Potash’s challah has opened new ways for me to connect and explore my Judaism.” (See here for the more on the story)

Seth's story, among many others, exemplifies the benefits of establishing an open and collaborative work environment. In such an environment, team members and employees are provided with the opportunity to innovate and employ their own creativity, ultimately contributing to the success of the business.

But how can we ensure that all our team members are dedicated to the company's mission? How can we be certain that our team will always prioritize the best interests of the business and not exploit their freedom, neglecting the entrusted responsibility?

In this week's Torah portion, Shlach, a captivating episode is recounted. The Jewish people were journeying through the desert, heading towards their ultimate destination, Israel. To prepare adequately, they asked Moses to send men to scout the land, making it easier to conquer. Moses turned to G-d with the request, and G-d granted permission, saying, "Shlach Lecha" (send out for yourself).

Eventually, the scouts returned with negative reports, declaring that although the land was beautiful, the inhabitants were too powerful to conquer. They concluded, and subsequently convinced the Jewish people, that the logical course of action was to remain in the desert. As a consequence of their report, G-d decreed that the Jewish people would wander in the desert for forty years. Ultimately, only the next generation would merit entering the land.

Doesn't this appear to be a setup? They obtained permission from God to scout the land, yet they are now being punished for carrying out their task? Perhaps they would have been better off not going in the first place and instead trusting that everything would work out fine with G-d's guidance.

While faith is an important foundation for how we live our lives connected to G-d, Judaism empowers us to utilize our own intellect and judgment to be enthusiastic and creative in the choices we make. However, to ensure that our intellect leads us to objective truth, rather than merely providing evidence that supports subjective perspectives, it must be based on G-d-given morals, traditions, guidelines, and a clear distinction between right and wrong.

The mistake the scouts made was that they added their own conclusions, contradicting their mission. They were only instructed to determine "how" to conquer the land, not "if" it was possible. By introducing their own conclusions, they compromised the entire mission.

As long as all our team members are dedicated to the mission of the company, organization, or community, and adhere to the guidelines of their work, we can be confident that they will ultimately make the right choices and fulfill their responsibilities properly.

Over three thousand years ago, at Mount Sinai, the Jewish people were entrusted with a special mission: to transform the world into a dwelling place for G-d and ultimately bring about the final redemption, which is the purpose and goal of creation. As taught in Midrash Tanchuma, "The purpose for which this world was created is that the Holy One, blessed be He, desired to have an abode in the lower realms."

According to the teachings and signs from our Prophets and Sages, we are currently at the final moments before the coming of Moshiach. It is up to each of us to perform one more Mitzvah to tip the scale. The question is not "If" it can be done, but rather "How" we can make it happen sooner!