Semitic neopaganism

{{Short description|Religions attempting to reconstruct ancient Semitic religions}}

Semitic neopaganism is a group of religions based on or attempting to reconstruct the ancient Semitic religions, mostly practiced among Jews in the United States.

Jewish neopaganism

The notion of historical Israelite or Jewish polytheism was popularized in the United States during the 1960s by Raphael Patai in The Hebrew Goddess, focusing on the cult of female goddesses such as the cult of Asherah in Solomon's Temple.{{Citation needed|date=January 2019}}

During the growth of Neopaganism in the United States throughout the 1970s, a number of minor Canaanite or Israelite-oriented groups emerged. Most contained syncretistic elements from Western esotericism.{{Citation needed|date=January 2019}}

Forms of Neopagan witchcraft religions inspired by the Semitic milieu, such as Jewitchery, may also be enclosed within the Semitic neopagan movement. These groups are particularly influenced by Jewish feminism, focusing on the goddess cults of the Israelites.Jenny Kien, Reinstating the Divine Woman in Judaism (2000), {{ISBN|978-1-58112-763-8}}.

A notable contemporary Levantine Neopagan group is known as "Am Ha Aretz" ({{lang|he|עם הארץ}}, lit. "People of the Land", a rabbinical term for uneducated and religiously unobservant Jews), "AmHA" for short, based in Israel. This group grew out of Ohavei Falcha, "Lovers of the Soil", a movement founded in the late 19th century.Jennifer Hunter, Magickal Judaism: Connecting Pagan and Jewish Practice. Citadel Press Books, Kensington Publishing Corp., New York, New York, 2006, pp. 18–19.

Elie Sheva, according to her own testimony, an "elected leader of AmHA," reportedly founded an American branch of the group, known as the Primitive Hebrew Assembly.Interview with Elie in Being a Pagan: Druids, Wiccans, and Witches Today, by Ellen Evert Hopman and Lawrence Bond (2001), p. 105.{{cite web |title=Judeo-Paganism or Jewish Paganism |url=http://witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=uswv&c=words&id=12595 |website=Witchvox |access-date=16 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090223102215/witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=uswv&c=words&id=12595 |archive-date=23 February 2009}}

Beit Asherah ("House of Asherah") was one of the first Jewish neopagan groups, founded in the early 1990s by Stephanie Fox, Steven Posch, and Magenta Griffiths. Magenta Griffiths is High Priestess of the Beit Asherah coven and a former board member of the Covenant of the Goddess.{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/witchcrafttodaye0000lewi|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/witchcrafttodaye0000lewi/page/163 163]|quote=beit asherah.|title=Witchcraft Today: An Encyclopedia of Wiccan and Neopagan Traditions|first=James R.|last=Lewis|date=1 January 1999|publisher=ABC-CLIO|access-date=8 December 2016|via=Internet Archive}}{{cite web|url=http://www.cog.org|title=Covenant of the Goddess - Representing Witches and Wiccans since 1975|access-date=8 December 2016}}

Semitic neopagan movements have also been reported in IsraelOfri Ilani. [http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/paganism-returns-to-the-holy-land-1.272627 Paganism returns to the Holy Land]. Haaretz, 2009. and in Lebanon.{{cite news |last=Naim |first=Hani |date=2010-03-31 |title=الباطنيـون والوثنيـون فـي لبنـان: هـذه هـي معتقداتنـا |url=http://hanibaael.wordpress.com/2010/04/08/occultists-and-pagans-in-lebanon-these-are-our-beliefs/ |work=As-Safir |access-date=2019-01-09 }}

=Kohenet movement and "Jewitches"=

In 2006, rabbi Jill Hammer founded the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute, which has a stated mission to "reclaim and innovate embodied, earth-based feminist Judaism", inspired by pre-Israelite Semitic religion priestesses such as Enheduanna, who was a devotee of the goddess Inanna.{{cite web |title=Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute |url=https://kohenet.org/ |website=kohenet.org |access-date=18 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230616100338/https://kohenet.org/ |archive-date=2023-06-16 |language=en |url-status=live}} The word kohenet is the feminine declension of kohen, the priestly lineage in Jewish tradition. The ordination of "Hebrew priestesses" has led to some consternation in the Jewish community, with some feeling that the Kohenet movement is not solely Jewish due to the presence of aspects of paganism that are incompatible with the Torah.{{cite news |last1=Silvers |first1=Emma |title=Kohenet institute says it helps women reclaim their role as priestesses |url=https://www.jta.org/2013/07/11/united-states/kohenet-institute-helps-women-reclaim-their-role-as-priestesses |access-date=4 August 2022 |agency=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |date=July 11, 2013}}{{cite news |last1=Kustanowitz |first1=Esther D/ |title='There's no one right way to kohenet': The Hebrew priestess movement aims to center women's voices |url=https://www.jta.org/2021/01/29/culture/theres-no-one-right-way-to-kohenet-the-hebrew-priestess-movement-aims-to-center-womens-voices |access-date=4 August 2022 |agency=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |date=January 29, 2021}} The syncretic aspects of this religious movement have been characterized as "goddess worship", but supporters say that the movement expresses a creative approach to problems posed by non-egalitarian streams of Judaism.{{cite journal |last1=Grenn |first1=Deborah |title=Claiming the Title Kohenet: Examining Goddess Judaism and the Role of the Priestess Through Conversations with Contemporary Spiritual Leaders |journal=Women in Judaism |date=2008 |volume=5 |issue=2 |url=https://wjudaism.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/wjudaism/article/view/3545}} Similar organizations include the Lilith Institute (also known as Mishkan Shekhinah), an organization and community more overtly aligned with Wicca and other feminist/goddess-centered neo-pagan movements than the Kohenet Institute.{{cite web |last1=Grenn |first1=D'vorah |title=Welcome... |url=https://www.lilithinstitute.com/lilithwp/ |website=The Lilith Institute |access-date=4 August 2022}} A related movement is "Jewitches" (sometimes styled as JeWitches), Jews – often but not exclusively women – who combine Jewish religious tradition and witchcraft, often including elements of Semitic neo-paganism.{{cite news |last1=Greene |first1=Heather |title=How some 'Jewitches' are embracing both Judaism and witchcraft |url=https://religionnews.com/2021/10/25/how-some-jewitches-are-embracing-both-judaism-and-witchcraft/ |access-date=4 August 2022 |agency=Religion News Service |date=October 25, 2021}}{{cite web |last1=Greene |first1=Heather |title=Paganism in Israel: where the modern meets the ancient |url=https://wildhunt.org/2014/03/paganism-in-israel-where-the-modern-meets-the-ancient.html |website=The Wild Hunt |date=9 March 2014 |access-date=4 August 2022}}