January 29, 2021 1:23 pm A kohenet cohort is ordained at the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center in Connecticut. (Gili Getz/Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute)
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(JTA) As Kohenet Rachel Kann welcomes participants to a Shabbat prayer and meditation experience she leads each month in Los Angeles, she intones a chant while playing the shruti box, an Indian version of the harmonium.
“Mah norah hamakom hazeh,” she chants. “How awesome is this body. How awesome is this place. How awesome is this journey through time and space.”
A poet, artist, and dancer in addition to a kohenet (Hebrew for “priestess”), Kann invites participants in her Realize Paradise: Shabbat Soul Journey services to get comfortable and many do, adopting yoga poses or lying down, drumming or dancing, even now that the event is on Zoom. The service includes a Native lands acknowledgement, in recognition that Kann’s L.A. neighborhood sits on land once home