Kohenet—The Hebrew Priestess Institute

A New Vision of Jewish Women’s Spiritual Leadership

Week 3: July 13 – 19, 2009

"Studying text, integrated with women's other ways of knowing, has helped me find places in Judaism where I can fully engage as a woman.” –Kohenet participant

The Kohenet Training Intensive seeks to revitalize the connection between Judaism and the Divine Feminine by helping women reclaim the ancient role of the kohenet — the priestess or sacred servant who facilitates holy Jewish experiences. Kohenet trains women to exercise their spiritual power in a distinctly feminine way as the needs of Jews, women and the planet as a whole continue to emerge and evolve.

Kohenet supports Jewish women on their journeys as individuals and as communal leaders. Participants study traditional texts — Torah, Talmud, Kabbalah and Near Eastern myths — in ways that call forth Shechinah, the indwelling feminine Presence. Kohenet trainees also explore practices that have been passed down by generations of Israelite and Jewish women, including birthing amulets, dreamwork and the celebration of women's holidays.

Each of the four weeklong Kohenet retreats during the initial two-year training program is organized around thirteen netivot — paths that correspond to archetypes such as Wise Woman, Mother, Shamaness, Priestess, Prophetess, Midwife and Matriarch. By weaving these netivot throughout prayer, sacred chant and experiential learning, participants learn to create and lead powerful rituals.

• Week 1: June 16 – 22, 2008
  Women of Beginnings: Telling Our Stories, Dancing our Journeys
  
  
• Week 2: January 12 – 18, 2009
  Women of the Life-Force: Finding Spirit, Sustenance and Creativity
  
  
• Week 3: July 13 – 19, 2009
  Women of Strength and Vision: Making Boundaries, Becoming Vessels
   
  
• Week 4: January 11 – 17, 2010
  Women Weaving Together: Integration and Initiation

This intensive is sponsored by Kohenet: The Hebrew Priestess Institute. Learn more at www.kohenet.org.

Teachers

Rabbi Jill Hammer, PhD is an author, educator, midrashist, myth-weaver and ritualist. She is the co-founder of Kohenet: The Hebrew Priestess Institute, and the director of Tel Shemesh, a website and community celebrating and creating Jewish earth-based traditions. She is also the Director of Spiritual Education at the Academy for Jewish Religion, a pluralistic Jewish seminary. Rabbi Hammer is the author of two books: Sisters at Sinai: New Tales of Biblical Women (Jewish Publication Society, 2001) and The Jewish Book of Days: A Companion for All Seasons (Jewish Publication Society, 2006). Rabbi Hammer conducts workshops around the country on ancient and contemporary midrash, bibliodrama, creative ritual and Jewish cycles of time. She was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary and holds a doctorate in social psychology from the University of Connecticut.

Holly Taya Shere, co-founder of Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute, is a folklorist, ritual artist and educator committed to reclaiming and innovating embodied and earth-honoring models of Jewish women’s spiritual leadership. Since 2006, Holly has held the rabbinic pulpit at Olney Kehila Jewish Congregation, where she serves as Spiritual Leader. Holly also facilitates life-cycle ritual, leads prayer services, and teaches Judaism in three other Washington, DC area Jewish communities, and is a leader of ALEPH’s biannual “Renewal in Israel” trips. She shares her tribal-style, prayer offerings celebrating the sacred feminine at gatherings around the country, as well as on her forthcoming CD, “holy, holy: the wild earth shebrew chants.” She received her M.A. in Folklore and Folklife from the University of Pennsylvania, where her Master’s thesis was "Everything She Touches Changes: A Feminist Ethnography of Women Integrating Spirituality, Politics and Creativity." She spent several years priestessing in earth-based communities and working as a healer before becoming a teacher and facilitator in Jewish community.

Shoshana Jedwab is a prize-winning Jewish educator and the Jewish Studies Coordinator at the A.J. Heschel Middle School in New York City. She is the founding facilitator of the Makom Drum Circle at the JCC in Manhattan and is a percussionist and performance artist who has trained in bibliodrama and psychodrama. Shoshana has provided empowering drum circles to singles, student, training and bereavement groups. Shoshana has performed with Storahtelling, Chana Rothman, Debbie Friedman, Akiva Wharton, A Song of Solomon, Hebrew Mystical Chant with the Kirtan Rabbi Andrew Hahn, and Tel Shemesh seasonal events. She is Kohenet's ritual drummer and also serves on the Kohenet faculty.

Registration Information

Program Fees