Rabbi Abby Sosland

Rabbi Abby Sosland arrived at Leffell in 2002 expecting to take a one-year respite from pulpit life; twenty years later, she is still energized by daily life at school. She teaches Talmud, Bible, the Philosophy of the Messianic Idea in Judaism, and a course on the Holocaust and human behavior. She has taught a women’s lunch and learn for over 12 years, covering a variety of topics including this year’s "Rebels in the Torah." Rabbi Sosland enjoys getting involved in all aspects of school life; over the years, she has taught yoga, zumba, and meditation, helped to choreograph the school musicals, and acted as “ball girl” for the Girls’ Varsity Soccer team. Her teaching aims to integrate serious text study with joyful connection and personal spiritual experience. Rabbi Sosland is a graduate of Harvard College and a JTS-ordained rabbi, where she was awarded a Wexner Fellowship. Previously, she was the assistant rabbi at Town and Village Synagogue in Lower Manhattan, where she founded a free High Holiday Community Service for downtown New Yorkers. She is a regular contributor to the 929 Tanakh study website, delivered an ELI talk on Shameless Judaism, and was featured in the New York Times and New York Magazine for her creative outreach work. She has taught all over the United States (including Alaska), Europe, Russia, and India. Her writing has appeared in The Jewish Week, Let's Go Europe, and The Observant Life: The Wisdom of Conservative Judaism for Contemporary Jews. Off campus, she can often be found walking the woods behind her home in Riverdale with her husband, Daryl Mazlish.