EDUCATORS

Abby is an independent Jewish educator and lifecycle officiant with over 20 years of experience in Jewish education. Prior to founding her own independent teaching and officiation practice, Abby taught middle school Tanakh (Bible) and Mishna (Rabbinics) at Schechter Bergen County, and also served in various programmatic roles in Jewish education. Abby has taught adults in and around NYC at the 92Y, Limmud NY, and most recently, online through www.myjewishlearning.com.

Abby is passionate about facilitating text-based Jewish learning experiences that allow each learner to find his/her/their own unique meaning within the text. Abby’s clients, colleagues and students describe her as passionate, knowledgeable, creative, empathetic, and deeply committed to each individual’s learning interests and style.

With the combination of a traditional Jewish background, including a day school education; academic training in Judaic studies; and a contemporary approach to Jewish life, Abby is poised to support a highly diverse group of learners. Abby earned a BA in history from Stern College, Yeshiva University, and an MA in Judaic studies from The Jewish Theological Seminary. As a lifelong Jewish learner, Abby deepens her own knowledge of biblical and rabbinic text, Jewish thought, and Jewish history. She is working toward private rabbinic ordination, and anticipates the completion of the process next year.

Sara has spent 13 summers as an informal educator at Camp Ramah in the Berkshires and 16 years as a day school classroom teacher. She currently teaches rabbinics, Jewish history and T'fillah (prayer) at the Schechter School of Long Island. Sara always looks to integrate formal and the informal aspects of education to create learning rich in emotional development and intellectual growth.

As a rabbinics teacher, Sara looks to instill in her students a deep appreciation for the Talmud and other works of the Spoken Torah, as a storehouse of Jewish learning and values that transcends the generations and physical communities.

As a recent graduate of Ayeka's professional development program in Spiritual Education, Sara always looks to enhance each unit of learning with a spiritual aspect to leave a long-term impact on a student's path to spiritual growth and meaning-making.

Sara is also the Hebrew Home Page Coordinator at the JCC of Manhattan's Jewish Journey Project, a program that has brought rich online learning in Hebrew and Judaics to K-8 students since 2013.

Sara holds an MA in Jewish Studies with a concentration in Informal Jewish Education from the William Davidson School of Jewish Education at the Jewish Theological Seminary.

Sara is looking forward to bringing a taste of her Rabbinics Beit Midrash Class to our online Explore Jewish students for the Summer of 2020.

Jessica is a thoughtful, passionate, knowledgeable Jewish educator who currently teaches middle school Judaic studies at a pluralistic day school, and is active in Jewish learning and teaching on the Upper West Side and in Harlem. She loves working with learners from diverse backgrounds, and particularly enjoys working with middle school students. Jessica lived in Israel for two years where she studied Tanakh (Hebrew Bible), Talmud, rabbinic literature, and Jewish education at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies. Jessica earned BAs in Religious Studies and Spanish at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon (where she was raised) and has two MA degrees in Jewish Gender & Women's Studies and Jewish Education, from the Jewish Theological Seminary. In her free time, Jessica loves to explore New York's museums, cultural landmarks, and art and art history.