In the fall of 2011 I dreamed I was giving a lecture on the Bible — something I frequently do in waking life. In the dream, I was telling the participants in the class about the missing letters in the Bible, pointing to a chart of letters that did not exist but had once existed, and somehow still did exist in their latent potential within the biblical stories. One of the letters had the sound ng, and I wanted to name myself after this letter. When I woke up, I had the sense that the dream was somehow real.
Kohanot at the Parliament of World Religions 2015!
Kohenet Rae Abileah and Kohenet Sarah Bracha Gershuny attended the Parliament of World Religions in Salt Lake City, Utah in October, 2015. They co-led a tashlich l'tzedek ritual with several members of Jewish Voice for Peace -- about the ritual in this blog. Rae spoke on a panel of priestesses about the role of a Kohenet and how she heard the calling to become a Hebrew priestess. Sarah Bracha and Rae invited participants to make ribbons to send to Paris for the Climate Ribbon art ritual at the UN Climate Summit. Read more in Rae's article about the Parliament, "What do you love and hope to never lose to climate change?" published on Patheos.
Book Review of The Hebrew Priestess by Judith Laura
The authors’ introductions to The Hebrew Priestess are just the beginning of the treasures in this book. Both introductions tell of the authors’ journeys to the priestess path and their co-founding of the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute, which now has chapters on both the East and West Coasts of the United States.
Article in Feminism & Religion: "Embracing the Hebrew Priestess" by Jill Hammer
Even after I was ordained as a rabbi, I longed to be a priestess.The spiritual leadership I wanted most was less about leading traditional Torah study and prayer (though I’d done plenty of that) and more about immersing in the ocean, creating new rituals, reading kabbalistic sources on Shekhinah (the divine feminine mentioned in Talmud and kabbalah), or interpreting legends about women. My deepest desire was for there to be a school for Jewish women on a priestess path.
Article in J Weekly: Five Local Women Ordained as Hebrew Priestesses
The title of “kohenet” has been conferred upon nine women — including five from the Bay Area — who were ordained as Hebrew priestesses in a ceremony this summer in Connecticut
The locals are Ariel Vegosen of San Francisco, Rae Abileah of Oakland, Ashirah Marni Rothman of Berkeley, Elsa Asher of Sebastopol and Nina Pick of Inverness.
“Kohenet” is a feminine form of “kohen,” or priest, and the women comprise the program’s fourth graduating class since the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute began 10 years ago.
Their ordination signifies that “they have been trained as ritual leaders in an earth-based, embodied, feminist Jewish paradigm that honors the history of women’s spiritual practices and the sacred feminine,” a press release said. Graduates will conduct marriages, funerals, baby namings, house blessings and other ceremonies and lead communities in prayer.
Kohenet & Earth-Based Ritual: Limmud UK Presentation by Jill Hammer
Kohenet Institute Ordains Nine Hebrew Priestesses
On Friday, July 24, 2015, the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute gave smicha, ordination, to nine women at a ceremony at the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center in Falls Village, Connecticut. The nine new Kohanot, Hebrew Priestesses, constitute the fourth graduating class since Kohenet started 10 years ago. Under the guidance of Kohenet co-founders Rabbi Jill Hammer, PhD and Taya Shere, they have been trained as ritual leaders in an earth-based, embodied, feminist Jewish paradigm that honors the history of women’s spiritual practices and the sacred feminine.
