Rabbi, educator, spiritual advisor

I have spent over two decades teaching teens at the Leffell High School in Westchester NY. Being on the front line of Jewish education never fails to excite me. As my teacher and mentor Rabbi Eliezer Diamond, z’l, used to say about teachers, “we work retail;” I love being a true salesperson for the wisdom and neverending treasures of Jewish learning. For many years I served as Talmud Chair and Morah Ruchanit (Spiritual Advisor), and I’ve taught everything from Talmud to Philosophy, Prayer, Bible and all sorts of other topics. Teaching zumba as a PE elective or serving as ball girl for our Girls’ Varsity Soccer team have kept me young as the years go by. Today I’m still teaching two of my favorite classes (Advanced Talmud and a senior elective on the Messianic idea in Jewish tradition), and working closely with alumni and adult learners; the Morah Ruchanit title just seems to stick.

I started my career as assistant rabbi at Town and Village Synagogue in Manhattan, where I founded a free High Holiday service for downtown New Yorkers—a project featured in The New York Times and New York Magazine now well into its third decade. Every year we gather for intimate prayer and connection; that community has become a growing family that always brings excitement to the new year.

My father, Rabbi Henry Sosland, z’l, said that to live a life of meaning, one should always be working on a project. Even as he led his congregation in New City NY, he spent years working on a translation of 14th century Italian doctor Yaakov Zahalon’s A Guide For Preachers. My projects are a little less lofty, but they do keep me engaged in life: writing, counseling, teaching in a variety of settings. These “side hustles” are sometimes the best part of my week; they make my life feel rich and full.

I’m proud of some of my credentials: a magna cum laude thesis that I wrote for Harvard College on the topic of the Jewish American Princess, my Talmud concentration at the Jewish Theological Seminary, and my Wexner fellowship which helped me to form some of my most important professional relationships. I’ve had some cool life experiences, too: a climb up Kilimanjaro, a summer writing for Let’s Go Wales, and nabbing a spot on Wheel of Fortune’s College Week (Don’t try to find it… it predates YouTube). But honestly, what makes me proudest is the relationships I’ve built over the years. There are a lot of people out there who have shared a part of life with me—I am deeply thankful to each of you, and I am excited to see where this path takes us next.