All We Need is Vav with Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie

What can an obscure feud between two rival kingdoms teach a fractured, anxious 21st‑century society about belonging, justice, and the dignity of difference? In this provocative presentation, Rabbi Amichai Lau‑Lavie turns an often‑ignored episode of ancient Jewish history—the schism between the two kingdoms that birthed the Bible– into a vivid mirror for today’s increasingly polarized world. 

“All We Need is Vav” offers a surprising journey from the Biblical Age to the Age of Instagram, where a single Hebrew letter—vav, “and”—becomes a transformational tool for living beyond either/or politics of division. 

 Blending history, critical biblical scholarship, and contemporary social critique, Rabbi Lau‑Lavie offers a fresh framework for holding complexity; for cultivating a third space between tribes and certainties; and for asking how we can transform inherited trauma and division into resilience, courageous conversation, moral clarity, and new social covenants grounded in dignity.

This event will take place at 5pm in the BU Photonics Colloquium Room (8 St. Mary's Street, Room 906).

You can register for the March 16 film screening of Sabbath Queen, which follows Rabbi Amichai's journey, here.

Speaker Bio:

Social activist and storyteller, writer and teacher, Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie (he/him) is the Co-Founding Spiritual Leader of the Lab/Shul community in NYC, the creator of the ritual theater company Storahtelling, Inc, and the 2026 Inaugural Recipient of Lippman Kanfer Foundation for Living Torah Fellowship.

Israeli born, he’s been living in New York since 1997 and travels often between both homes. In 2016 he received his rabbinical ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in 2016, becoming the 39th generation of rabbis in his family — the first one to be openly queer.

Rabbi Amichai is the Co-Chair of the Executive Board of Rabbis for Human Rights, is a co-founding member of the Jewish Emergent Network, a founding faculty member of the Reboot Network, and serves on the Advisory Board of the Sulha Peace Project for Israeli and Palestinian peacemakers, the Leadership Council of the New York Jewish Agenda.

Rabbi Amichai is the subject of Sabbath Queen, Sandi DuBowski’s award-winning documentary film, 21 years in the making, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in June 2024 and touring the world.

Lau-Lavie is the author of The JOY Proposal, published in 2017 as a creative response to the reality of Intermarriage, ShaBook, published by AYIN Press in 2024, and the ongoing Below the Bible Belt blog.

Amichai is Abba to Alice, Ezra and Cai-Hallel.

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Host or Publisher Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies at BU