2015 Ordinees

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back row, left to right: Rachel Rose Reid, Sarah Bracha Gershuny, Elsa Rose, Ariel Mara Vegosen, Rae Abileah, Rebecca Ruth Lemus, Ashirah Marni Rothman

Front row, left to right: Nina Pick, Sarah Chandler

 

 

Rae Abileah

הכוהנת רחל קרן אור אבילאה בת קרן / haKohenet Rachel Keren Or Abileah bat Karen

אורגת נביאות / Oreget Neviot / Weaver of Wor(l)ds and Prophecy

 

Rae Abileah is a social change strategist, creative consultant, and an advocate for human rights, economic, environmental and racial justice, and community wellness. She currently engages with Beautiful Trouble, ThoughtWorks, and the Climate Ribbon participatory arts ritual project. Rae served as co-director and national organizer of CodePink Women for Peace for nearly a decade. She supports a just peace in Israel and Palestine through her work with Jewish Voice for Peace, Interfaith Peace Builders, and the Palestinian-led nonviolent economic resistance movement. As a ritual leader, Rae facilitates rites of passage, weddings, transitions, and creates sacred spaces at political actions. She is a contributing author to Beautiful Trouble: A Toolbox for Revolution; Beyond Tribal Loyalties: Personal Stories of Jewish Peace Activists; Sisters Singing: Blessings, Prayers, Art, Songs, Poetry and Sacred Stories By Women; and Siddur HaKohanot: A Hebrew Priestess Prayerbook; and her articles have been published in publications ranging from Huffington Post to Tikkun Magazine. She graduated from Barnard College at Columbia University with a dual degree in Environmental Science and Human Rights. She is based in northern California, travels often, and is probably soon coming to a city near you. www.raeabileah.com

 

 

Elsa Rose Asher

הכוהנת אלישבע רות בת סינדה ויהודה לייב ושושנה / haKohenet Elisheva Rut bat Cinda v’Yehuda Leib

מאזינה השער / Ma’azinah haSha’ar / Listener at the Gates

 

Elsa Asher is a narrative medicine practitioner and educator, perinatal somatic psychology practitioner, and full-spectrum holistic reproductive health doula and advocate. She is a writer, embodied storyteller, ritualist, and facilitator. She holds a MS in Narrative Medicine from Columbia University and lives in Sebastopol, CA. www.elsaasher.com

 

 

Sarah Chandler

הכוהנת שרה שמירה בחירה בת רחל וחנוך / haKohenet Sarah Shamirah Bechirah bat Rachel v’Chanoch

שמירה בחירה עין הקריאה / Shamirah Bechirah Ein haKriyah / Protector of Choice, Fountain of Calling

 

Sarah Shamirah Chandler is a Jewish experiential educator, community activist, and earth-based spiritual leader. She recently served as the Director of Earth Based Spiritual Practice for Hazon’s Adamah Farm, responsible for Food, Farm and Forest Jewish Educational Programming. Sarah holds a M.A. in Jewish Education and a M.A. in Hebrew Bible from the Jewish Theological Seminary, and a certificate in Non-Profit Management and Jewish Communal Leadership from Columbia University. She teaches, writes and consults on a national level on issues related to Judaism, earth-based spiritual practice, the environment, mindfulness, food values, and farming.

 

 

Rabbi Sarah Bracha Gershuny

הרב והכוהנת שרה ברכה בת רוח  / HaRav vehaKohenet Sarah Bracha bat Ruach

בת אסתר יהודית וישראל יהונתן מבית לוי / Bat Esther Yehudit v'Yisrael Yehonatan mibeit Levi

משוררת עתים יערת שירה / Meshoreret Itim, Ye’arat Shirah / Knower of the Seasons, Honeycomb of Song

 

Rabbi Sarah Bracha Gershuny was raised in the UK and holds an M.A. in History from Cambridge University.  She received rabbinic ordination from Boston's Hebrew College, an institution dedicated to trans-denominational Judaism, where she also earned her Masters in Jewish Education. Sarah Bracha serves currently as the rabbi of Nevei Kodesh, a Jewish Renewal congregation located in Boulder, Colorado.  She is a fellow of CLI: the Clergy Leadership Incubator pioneered by Rabbi Sid Schwarz and Marty Linsky of the Harvard Kennedy School, and she is passionate about pioneering a Judaism that is spiritually nourishing and socially transformative for adults, children and adolescents.  www.neveikodesh.org

 

 

Rebecca Ruth Lemus

הכוהנת רבקה בת שבע בן אברהם / haKohenet Rivkah bat Sheva ben Avraham

מתירה תעלומות / Matirah Ta’alumot / Unraveler of Mysteries

 

Rebecca Ruth Lemus is continuing to creating herself as a multimedia artist, musician, dancer, teacher co-creating dynamic communities rooted in evolving Judaism.

 

 

Nina Pick

תוהכוה חנה רחל בת שילה ופיטר / haKohenet Chana Rachel bat Sheila v’Peter

ווילדע חיה / Vilde Chaya/Wild Being

 

Nina Pick holds an MA in Comparative Literature from UC Berkeley, an MA in Counseling Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute, and a BA with a concentration in Comparative Literature from NYU. She is the author of At the Edge of the Dirac Sea, forthcoming from Kore Press. Her poems have appeared in publications such as Arion, Stone Canoe, Dark Mountain, and ISLE, online as part of the Tupelo Press 30/30 Project, and in various anthologies. Originally from Western Massachusetts, she lives in Northern California, where she is an editor of the place-based literary journal, the Inverness Almanac.

 

 

Rachel Rose Reid

הכוהנת רחל רוח-אל שושנה בת פרומה ודוד ראובן / haKohenet Rachel Ruach-El Shoshana bat Fruma v’Dovid Reuven

שומעת תהום אוספת ניצוצות / Shoma’at Tehom Osefet Nitzotzot / Witness to the Deep, Gatherer of Scattered Sparks

 

Kohenet Rachel Ruach-El Shoshanah was raised with a love of her family, folk traditions and rituals, and took a winding path to find her full self reflected in her heritage. Her work encompasses storytelling, song, community activism, and ritual leadership and creation. She was a founding resident of Moishe House London. She worked to welcome those who felt marginalised by mainstream communities, and to create partnerships with local Muslim & environmentalist groups. She has also taken her storytelling and ritual facilitation to Sukkat Shalom at Burning Man and Wilderness Torah. Rachel has co-curated a new space for contemplation, earth-based spiritual practice and accessible prayer in the UK, including Limmud UK, and Grassroots Jews. In the wider community, her Willesden Green Wassail was praised by the Lonely Planet as one of the UK's most inspiring winter events, bringing together an ancient English folk custom with a multi-cultural city neighborhood. The Cena de los Muertos, created with Pablo Villierezz enables participants to share stories about those who have died, in a warm and safe Seder-style meal. She is studying Soul Midwifery, and is affiliated with the Fellowship of Independent Celebrants. As a storyteller, Rachel has created work for and with the London Symphony Orchestra, the Southbank Centre, Billy Bragg, the Royal Shakespeare Company and BBC Radio 3. She is currently touring Three Acres and a Cow: A History of Land Rights and Protest in Folk Song and Story.

 

 

Ashirah Marni Rothman

הכוהנת אשירה מרני בת לאוונדה ואליעזר / haKohenet Ashirah Marni bat LaVonda v’Eliezer

אשה חכמת לב / Isha Chachmat Lev / Wise-Hearted Woman

 

And all the women that were wise-hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun [for the mishkan/traveling temple]... Exodus 35:25

 

Ashirah is an artist, graphic designer, gardener, psychotherapist, and crafter of amulets, shivitim, and rituals. She is a mother to her step-daughter, aunt to her four nephews, and partner to her husband. She has a BA from Smith College (Studio Art), an MA in Integral Counseling Psychology from The California Institute of Integral Studies, and certifications in Gestalt psychotherapy. She has contributed to Siddur HaKohanot: A Hebrew Priestess Prayerbook and to Six-Word Memoirs on Jewish Life. Ashirah was also a co-founder of Spiorad, a journal on spirituality in Dublin, where she lived for 6 years, as her Jewish spirituality made a pilgrimage amidst the Irish traditions of sacred trees and stones, and where her artist self was resurrected.

 

 

Ariel Mara Vegosen

הכוהנת אריאל(ה) מאשה בת יון שאני ורעואל אשר ראובן / haKohenet Ariel(a) Masha bat Joan Shoni v’ Raoul Asher Rubin

קסם תרועת יורת / Yorat Teruat Kesem / Archer of Joy, Light, Liberation, and Magic

 

Ariel Vegosen is a writer, educator, performer, activist, and Hebrew priestess. Ariel co-founded the Gender Blender Collective and is committed to creating safe spaces to explore gender. She is also a conflict resolution specialist, professional dialogue facilitator, ropes course instructor, youth educator, media wizard, organic therapist, and world traveler.

 

 

To read the Kohenet Ordination 2015 Press Release, click here.