Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie: As If Community

“Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie is the founding spiritual leader of Lab/Shul NYC and the creator of Storahtelling, Inc. An Israeli-born Jewish educator, writer, and performance artist, he received his rabbinical ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in 2016.” […]

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The Kibitz Podcast on Atheism with Rabbi Amichai

“Talking about God is like eating soup with a fork.”

A recent quote of mine, though not something I said during this interview about Jewish atheism on Reboot’s The Kibitz Podcast. But there are soup stains all over the place here and it’s a fun quick listen – 19 minutes of jet-lagged rumination with Dan Crane on how it’s possible to be 100% Jewish and/or spiritual in every sense of the word while not believing in God or connecting to a higher power. Listen to the podcast on iTunes or SoundCloud.


BREAKING NEWS – Intermarriage: Changing the Rules – Amichai Lau-Lavie

Amichai Lau-Lavie, the founding spiritual leader of Lab/Shul, made national headlines by authoring Joy: A Proposal, which outlines his choice to begin performing interfaith marriages. Hear directly from Lau-Lavie as he engages in a conversation with co-hosts Dan and Lex about marriage and the rapidly shifting landscape of American-Jewish life. Joy can be accessed at Amichai.me/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Welcome_Book_2017.pdf.


On Being with Krista Tippett, First Aid for Spiritual Seekers

June 13, 2017

“Forms of religious devotion are shifting just like every institution right now. But there’s a new world of creativity towards crafting spiritual life while exploring the depths of tradition. Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie is a fun and forceful embodiment of this evolution. Born into an eminent and ancient rabbinical lineage, as a young adult he moved away from religion towards storytelling, theater, and drag. Today he leads a pop-up synagogue in New York City that takes as its tagline, “everybody-friendly, artist-driven, God-optional.” It’s not merely about spiritual community but about recovering the sacred and reinventing the very meaning of ‘we.'”


On Being with Krista Tippett, Deep Laughter in the Place of the Deepest Pain

June 8, 2017

“Humor is always about ‘as if.’ And it just relaxes everybody. We’re going to laugh.”

Transparent creator Jill Soloway describes Amichai Lau-Lavie as “a God-optional, patriarchy-toppling, Jewish modern mind.” He uses humor to connect — to himself and others, his family, his sexual identity, and his spiritual life. The rabbi says the Jewish people have endured because of their ability to laugh at themselves and, in this way, laugh at the world.


Judaism Unbound, Episode 29: Lab/Shul – Amichai Lau-Lavie

September 2, 2016

What role do art and artists play in contemporary Judaism? Amichai Lau-Lavie, founder, Executive Director, and Spiritual Director of Lab/Shul, joins Dan and Lex to kick off a unit of episodes exploring that question in detail. He speaks about his own experiences leading an artist-driven community, and he takes on a variety of related questions on issues ranging from technology, to pluralism, to literature, and more.


Forgiving

Wisconsin Public Radio, September 2013

In the Jewish sacred calendar, Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the year — the Day of Atonement. Israeli-born Jewish educator Amichai Lau-Lavie reinterprets the meaning and message of the holiday, to focus less on guilt and more on self-forgiveness.