Nu’a נוּעַ:
Meet yourself through the art of Jewish prayer.
Explore the ancient art of Jewish prayer through guided movement, reflection, and conversation. Across six live online sessions, discover how its rhythms can shape the way you meet yourself.
November 4–December 16
Wednesdays, 1–2:30pm ET · Online
No Hebrew or dance experience required.
What could prayer open in you?
Perhaps you’re looking for a Jewish practice that feels personal, but you’re unsure where to begin.
Perhaps you know the words of prayer and want to encounter them with fresh attention.
Or perhaps you’re curious about what movement might reveal about the way you listen, love, ask, and respond.
Nu’a offers a place to explore these questions through the rhythms of Jewish prayer, in conversation with your own experience.
What happens in a session?
We begin with a short passage from Jewish prayer and a question it opens.
Then we explore through guided movement: perhaps a small gesture, a shift of weight, a moment of stillness, or an invitation to reach and respond.
We pause to notice, reflect, and share. Then we return to the words and consider how we hear them now.
For example, a session exploring the Shema might bring its invitation to listen into conversation with movement and stillness. What becomes noticeable when you pause? What makes listening possible? Where might that question meet you tomorrow?
There is no choreography to learn or particular feeling to achieve. Curiosity is enough to begin.
What you can carry into everyday life
Across the six sessions, you’ll have opportunities to:
Notice your feelings, needs, and habitual responses with greater attention.
Develop a personal relationship with the language and flow of Jewish prayer.
Explore movement and attention practices you can return to.
Create a short personal ritual, including a possible morning practice, shaped by what you discover.
We’ll make room for both insight and uncertainty, and for practices small enough to meet an ordinary day.
The six-session journey
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1. Arriving · Barchu
Explore invitation, response, and what helps you become available to yourself and others.
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2. Listening · Shema
Make room to notice what is present before deciding how to respond.
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3. Loving · V’ahavta
Explore how love and devotion take shape in the body and in daily life.
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4. Asking · Amidah
Give attention and expression to what you need.
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5. Being accompanied · Mourner’s Kaddish
Encounter the relationship between personal experience and communal response.
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6. Beginning again · Integration
Bring together what you’ve discovered and shape a practice you can carry forward.
Come experience a taste of Nu’a
Join us for a free introductory workshop.
We’ll encounter a short prayer text, explore it through guided movement, and reflect together. You’ll also meet the facilitators, hear about the six-session journey, and have time for questions.
You’re welcome to come simply to experience the practice.
Wednesday, October 28 · 1–2:30pm ET · Online · Free
Meet your Teachers
Lawrence Dreyfuss
Founder & Director of Text & Spirituality
Lawrence is the founder of The Jewish Embodiment Lab and an RYT-500 yoga teacher. His work brings Jewish learning into conversation with movement, meditation, and community ritual.
Through programs including The Sabbath Dance, he creates opportunities to encounter Jewish practice through lived experience. In Nu’a, he guides our relationship with the prayer texts, their context, and the questions they invite.
Director of Embodied Practice
Avital Kranz
Avital is a dance/movement therapist with a master’s degree in Creative Arts Therapies from the University of Haifa. Her experience spans clinical and community settings in Israel and the United States.
She guides movement through attention to sensation, gesture, and relationship. In Nu’a, she helps participants explore their responses to the texts through movement and reflection.
"I was not just moving to express my perception of the text, but I was expressing, understanding, and creating my Judaism together with my havruta which was beyond meaningful. "
— Past Participant
Program Details
Six live online sessions
Wednesdays: November 4, 11, 18; December 2, 9, 16.
We pause during Thanksgiving week, with no session on November 25.
Time: 1-2:30pm ET
Location: Online via Zoom
Between sessions: XXXX
Cost: XXXX
Financial accessibility: Scholarships are available based on need
Enrollment closes: November 2 at 9pm ET
Questions you might have
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No. We’ll work with English translations and introduce the context of each passage. Familiarity and fresh curiosity are both welcome.
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No. Movement might be a small gesture, a shift of weight, or a change in posture. You don’t need to perform or move in a particular way.
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Questions, uncertainty, affection, and resistance can all be part of the exploration. We’ll encounter the prayers in their Jewish context while making room for your own relationship with their language.
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The practice can include small movements and seated exploration. Contact us at avarembodied@gmail.com to discuss what would support your participation.
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Sharing is an invitation. You choose what you bring into the conversation.
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No, you don’t have to be Jewish. People with different relationships to Judaism are welcome. We ask everyone to approach the texts and tradition with respect and curiosity.
Find your way into the practice.
Meet the words with your questions.
Meet the movement with curiosity.
Discover what the rhythms of Jewish prayer can bring into view.