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 19: Not Just an Old Carpet
Thursday 9/22/16 Elul 19 5776 Dear Matthew, Ten years ago, when you moved out of NYC, you gave me a beautiful carpet, for safekeeping and use. One day, you said, you may be back to get it. Well, now you can’t. I’m really sorry. Yesterday, as part of my anti-moth campaign, I finally moved around…
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Community Prepent Day 18: The Periodic Table of Being a Mensch
Wednesday 9/21/16 Elul 18 5776 Dear Sarah, For the past few days I was on the strangest email chain that engaged a few people in considering your legacy and virtues: Can Sarah the Matriarch, the one from Genesis, count as a Jewish heroine worthy of representing the character trait of ‘forgiveness’? I’m sorry – but…
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Community Prepent Day 16: Cleaning Up My Act
Monday 9/19/16 Elul 16 5776 Dear Moths, I’m sorry for annihilating, not without satisfaction and a bit of pleasure, every single one of you that I could find. My recent Tineola bisselliella infestation, I am told, was not as bad as others, and yet enough damage has been done and you are no longer welcome…
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Community Prepent Day 15: I’m Late!
Sunday 9/18/16 Elul 15 5776 Dear Dr. C, Sometimes I feel like the white rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, running running muttering muttering “Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!” Im sitting in the back of a taxi, stuck in bad traffic, really really late to our scheduled appointment. I’m so sorry. No…
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Community Prepent Day 13+14: Too Busy for Self Love
Friday 9/16/16 Elul 13 5776 Today, we are publishing a double love letter for your double super Sabbath souls. Wishing you a restful, peaceful, and love-ful Sabbath. Be back on Sunday! Dear Pain In My Neck, You have been with me for years, at times so bad I had to take days off from work…
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Community Prepent Day 12: Please Forgive Me, Again, for Not Visiting
Thursday 9/15/16 Elul 12 5776 Dear N., I hope you are feeling better today. This time last year, I wrote to you with an apology for not visiting you often enough. It was a difficult year for your health and a super busy year for me with grief, work and school. And yet, you are…
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Community Prepent Day 11: We Still Need to #BringBackOurGirls
Wednesday 9/14/16 Elul 11 5776 Dear Ms. #117, I’m sorry – but I don’t know your name. You are one of 218 schoolgirls kidnapped 883 days ago by Boko Haram in Nigeria, and one of more than 200 still in captivity. I’ve been told that keeping your name private may be helpful to your safety…
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Community Prepent Day 10: I Owe You an Apology
Tuesday 9/13/16 Elul 10 5776 Dear E, Four months ago, I asked you to help me plan a celebratory event with specific goals and outcomes. Unfortunately and despite good intentions, things did not go as well as planned. By the time you sent me the proposal it was too late to raise the needed funds…
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