We had the extraordinary joy and privilege of welcoming Leah Shoshanah as our cantorial soloist over the High Holy Days this year. She was both an incredibly spiritual presence and a consummate professional. I worked with her on all of the aspects of planning the services and the music Throughout the planning process, she was open to my thoughts and also ready to make suggestions as to how to assure that our services would be the most impavtful. There were a number of songs that were familiar to our congregation that she did not know, but she did not hesitate to jump in and learn quite a lot of new music in order to maximize the experience for our members. We were particularly touched by her own compositions, which clearly came directly from her heart. A number of my members described being moved to tears multiple times during the ten days. She is a gift to every community that is fortunate enough to have the opportunity to host her. 

She sings like an angel, knows her liturgy backwards and forwards, and has written countless interpretations of scripture set to her own original melodies and translations.

While in ceremony with her, I felt transformed and led to very reflective places in my heart.

Leah combines traditional songs and blessings, her own original music and a passion for social justice in a way that immediately invited me into the prayer.

Leah has the gift of songwriting that is compelling and new, yet rooted in, motivated by, an earlier time, when the now nostalgic genre of the folk ballad Americana was in its innocence.