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Prepent 5774: Day 29, A New Year

Choose one intention for the new year and commit to it

by
Amichai Lau-Lavie
September 05, 2013
(Tablet Magazine)
(Tablet Magazine)

Journey into the High Holidays with Amichai Lau-Lavie, founder of Storahtelling and the spiritual leader of Lab/Shul. It’s a daily dose of inspiration to get you focused and ready for the new year, featuring daily intentions, simple tasks, and tools for living better.

On this fresh first day of 5774, take a few minutes to select one new intention for a happier new year. Something doable—a challenging but attainable goal that will make you happier, focused, and more productive.

This is an old Hasidic custom known as ‘kabbalot,’ or intentions (the plural form of Kabbalah). Some mystic masters would keep a small notebook, and in it they would list one intention each new year. These notebooks would be found after the mystics’ deaths, often containing surprisingly mundane matters: smile each day, dance more, eat slowly, thank a lot. Whatever it takes.

Dip your hopes in honey, and let it be! Here’s to a year of best intentions and great results.

Follow along with the Scroll’s daily Prepent series here.

Amichai Lau-Lavie is the founder of Storahtelling, and the spiritual leader of Lab/Shul, an emerging New York City congregation.