PREPENT Day 1 // My Tool of Tikkun is the Art of Mirroring
A reflection by Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie
“We have to confront ourselves. Do we like what we see in the mirror?
And, according to our light, according to our understanding,
according to our courage, we will have to say yea or nay - and rise!”
-Maya Angelou
Mirror, Mirror…
The mirror is our sacred portal of transformation. Not just a vanity object but a device of truth-telling, the mirror is one of our tools of Tikkun, used by the ancient Hebrew priestess of sacred thresholds, inviting us to come face to face with what we love and what we loath about ourselves. To activate: Take a moment each morning to just look into your own eyes and ask yourself sincerely - what is today’s task of Tikkun? What is on me to repair? Smile when ready, like you mean it, or wink, face to face with your best self, and go on with your day, into these high holy days of renewal, refinement and repair.
Repeat daily.
Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie (he/him) 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. Rabbi Amichai is a founding member of the Jewish Emergent Network, serves on the Leadership Council of the New York Jewish Agenda, is a member of the Global Justice Fellowship of the American Jewish World Service, the Advisory Council for the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, an advisor to the Jerusalem Open House, and is a founding faculty member of the Reboot Network. Rabbi Amichai has been hailed as “an iconoclastic mystic” by Time Out New York, a “rock star” by the New York Times, a “Judaic Pied Piper” by the Denver Westword, a “maverick spiritual leader” by The Times of Israel and “one of the most interesting thinkers in the Jewish world” by the Jewish Week. In June 2017 Rabbi Amichai published the JOY Proposal, offering a new response to the reality of Intermarriage and taking on a personal position on this issue, including his resignation from the Rabbinical Assembly of the Conservative Movement. In 2022 Rabbi Amichai began publishing Below the Bible Belt, a daily digital project extended over 42 months, critically queering and re-reading all 929 chapters of the Hebrew Bible. Amichai is Abba to Alice, Ezra and Charlotte.
Prepent daily posts will be shared via Substack on weekdays from the New Moon of Elul, August 25, 2025 until the Eve of Yom Kippur, October 1, 2025.
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Welcome to PREPENT 2025/5786