- A NEW Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Training begins
July 5 – August 5, 2012!
Learn more here: http://isabellafreedman.org/kohenet
“I’m open to the mystery and to walking the path lit by Shekhinah…”
—Kohenet participant
“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
Kohenet is the Hebrew word for “priestess.” The Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute reclaims powerful shamanic models of sacred service based on Jewish women’s spiritual leadership roles throughout the centuries, from biblical prophetess-priestesses to Talmudic healers and magicians to kabbalistic dream interpreters to modern feminist ritualists. By opening to the sacred feminine in Jewish sources, in the world around us, and in our own lives, we evolve an embodied, earth-based, and feminist Jewish practice. The Kohenet training program uses prayer, ritual, text study and experiential learning to give women tools of spiritual leadership they can use in their own communities.
The Kohenet Institute meets twice a year for a week-long session at the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center in Falls Village, CT. Our curriculum is based on priestess-archetypes such as Seeker, Shrinekeeper, Wise Woman, Mother, Prophetess, and Shamaness. (Learn more about the archetypes here.) For each priestess-archetype, we explore myth, history, personal experience, ceremony and spirit journey. Our initial program is four week-long retreats, with phone calls and on-line discussion and assignments in between sessions. This training program concludes with an initiatory ritual.
Upon completion of the initial program, students may enroll in an advanced program that provides in-depth training in ritual leadership, and receive smicha (ordination) as a Hebrew priestess.
Our community of Kohenet sisters spans the entire country and is a rich source of support and learning. Our core faculty has extensive experience in ritual facilitation; Jewish sacred text, lifecycle ritual, and prayer; and earth-based feminist theology, and we also are supported by guest faculty and interns. We have yearly programs for alumnae, and our graduates maintain close contact with the Institute and the Kohenet network. We are planning a Kohenet trip to Israel for the summer of 2013.
For additional information contact us or visit Isabella Freedman’s website.
