Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie is the founder and spiritual leader of Lab/Shul in Manhattan.
Amichai Lau-Lavie
By Amichai Lau-Lavie
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Community Prepent Day 6: Every Vice Has A Price
Each vice has a price. Simple pleasures or sweet sins can turn toxic and become trouble, crutches that, with help, sometimes, come to be thanked and discarded. Inside the safe circle of truth on this journey of self reflection I make a list of vices today, just three – guilty pleasures perhaps that could use…
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Community Prepent Day 5: Taking Care Of Your Body
“Are you taking care of your body?” A doctor asks and I pause to ponder a seemingly simple question. Who is the “I” that is taking care of my body? Or is it the other way around and IS there a difference? This new week of Prepent begins with a focus on the inner circle…
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Community Prepent Days 3+4: Pause To Be Present
How and when if at all do I pause to be present? Imagine a lake, serene and silent, before a rock is thrown in and the ripples begin. What will I do today to do less and be more, to pause, to stop, to Sabbath, to become that lake. On this first Sabbath of PREPENT…
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Community Prepent Day 2: Take A Deep Breath
The innermost circle of my being is my breath, so often taken for granted. I pause today to honor my body for its continued rippling and to think: what can I do to breathe more deeply, more often, more aware, today and every day anew? Take a deep breath has become a cliche but still,…
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Community Prepent Day 1: What Do You Thirst For?
An old Jewish legend tells of a rainmaker at a time of drought who draws a circle around himself, declaring that he will not step outside until the rains quench the people’s thirst. The rains arrive. Today, each of us casts a circle around ourselves, taking on a 40 day intentional journey to focus on…
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Community Ripples, Circles and Why PREPENT?
Rabbi Amichai’s Welcome Note Imagine throwing a stone, gently, into the middle of a quiet lake. The stone sinks and the ripples ripple out, one by one, until the lake is once again calm. Sometimes I am the stone, the ripples, the lake. Each perfect circle creates another, each spin expands into the next, and…
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Community Introducing PREPENT 2017 with Lab/Shul’s Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie
Lab/Shul Presents: PREPENT 2017/5778 40 Circles of Return High Holy Days Blog 2017/5778 August 23rd — September 30th Start your new Jewish year with life refocused and recharged, powered by PREPENT, Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie’s forty daily doses of inspirational spins for self-reflection and renewal. This year Rabbi Amichai is partnering with his friend and longtime…
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Culture One Of New York’s Most Liberal Rabbis Walked Around As A Trump Supporter For A Day: This Is His Story
The bride squinted at my red “Make America Great Again” baseball cap, then looked me in the eye. “Do you really like Trump?” To which I replied, “Are you really a bride?” She pouted, turning her head away as her mother started laughing. “Honey, it’s a costume, he’s kidding, it’s Purim, right?” she explained to…
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