The Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute conducts a two-level training program.  The first four retreats, over the course of a year and a half, train women in basic ritual skills based on thirteen archetypes of the ancient Hebrew priestesses: the Weaver, the Maiden, the Midwife, the Prophetess, the Mother, the Wise Woman, the Shrinekeeper, the Queen, the Mourning Woman, the Shamaness, the Seeker, the Lover, and the Fool.  We use these archetypes, in addition to the resources of Jewish tradition, to discover ritual roles to play and ritual spaces to build.  

 

The second level of the program consists of three retreats over the course of a year and a half.  During this level of the program, our students focus on lifecycle ritual skills as well as other advanced ritual skills, and on developing their own mission statement and skillset for the kind of sacred work they want to do in the world.  At the end of the second level of the program, students may request to be ordained.

 

The Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute seeks to revive and re-embody Judaism through the gifts of women spiritual leaders.  Since 2006, we have ordained twenty-eight women as kohanot, Hebrew priestesses.   Some of our students are rabbis. Some were distant from Jewish practice until they came to the Kohenet Institute.  These women now serve in a variety of leadership roles, facilitating transformative ritual for women’s and mixed-gender communities.  The lively and diverse Kohenet community supports on-going communal education and ritual for our alums.