What is Rahmana?
Rahmana is a Denver-based community of Jewish spiritual practice, by and for women. Through learning, prayer, and song, we offer a sensitive, deep, and devotional space for women to connect authentically with one another, with their spirituality, and with the Divine.
Rahmana is grown out of a question: what is possible in Jewish spiritual space that is of women, for women, opening to the Divine together? We are cultivating a community of learners who harvest and share insight, exchange wisdom, and listen carefully to the text, to our own understanding, and to each other. We are building a place where we can be "connected each woman facing her sister" חֹבְרֹת אִשָּׁה אֶל־אֲחֹותָהּ (Ezekiel 1:9).
Rahmana is grown out of a question: what is possible in Jewish spiritual space that is of women, for women, opening to the Divine together? We are cultivating a community of learners who harvest and share insight, exchange wisdom, and listen carefully to the text, to our own understanding, and to each other. We are building a place where we can be "connected each woman facing her sister" חֹבְרֹת אִשָּׁה אֶל־אֲחֹותָהּ (Ezekiel 1:9).
Frequently Asked Questions about Rahmana
Who guides Rahmana?
Rabbi Hannah Kapnik Ashar is a graduate of Hadar’s Advanced Kollel, where she studied Jewish law and its development, prayer practice and the poetry of liturgy, and midrash (rabbinic exegesis). She is the Director of Faculty at the Bronfman Fellowship and served as Associate Spiritual Leader at Congregation Bonai Shalom for five years. She is an alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship, the Atra Fellowship for Rabbinic Entrepreneurship, the M2: Institute for Experiential Jewish Education's Senior Educators Cohort, the Ayeka Spiritual Educator Training, and Kenissa: Communities of Meaning Network. Hannah is a graduate of Wellesley college, a birth doula, and a mother of three girls.
Hannah is a mentor in Hadar's Sha”tz [prayer leader] Training and was recently invited to write the article on "Spirituality" in The Hartman Institute’s publication, Sources, edition on “Keywords in the Future of Jewish Life,” published in 2024.
Hannah is a mentor in Hadar's Sha”tz [prayer leader] Training and was recently invited to write the article on "Spirituality" in The Hartman Institute’s publication, Sources, edition on “Keywords in the Future of Jewish Life,” published in 2024.
Is Rahmana aligned with a certain sect of Judaism?
No. Rav Hannah is observant and trusts our tradition as a profound guide. Our programming reflects this, but is open to all.
What does Rahmana offer?
Rahmana is unlike anything else in Denver. Our Torah study includes learning prayer as poetry, and also teachings of great women sages. Our multi-part learning series allow an intimate community to develop as learners encounter the material and share their own insights. We hold regular prayer and song gatherings that are typically home-hosted.
Throughout the year, especially around holidays, we bring in guest collaborators—women with tremendous gifts in spiritual facilitation: prayer, song, text study, dance, and/or art-making. In recent years, Rabbi Deborah Sacks Mintz, Chana Raskin of Raza, Cantor Basya Schechter, and Hadar's Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Aviva Richman, have joined Rahmana for events.
Throughout the year, especially around holidays, we bring in guest collaborators—women with tremendous gifts in spiritual facilitation: prayer, song, text study, dance, and/or art-making. In recent years, Rabbi Deborah Sacks Mintz, Chana Raskin of Raza, Cantor Basya Schechter, and Hadar's Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Aviva Richman, have joined Rahmana for events.
Where does Rahmana meet?
Rahmana regularly meets in homes and sometimes communal spaces around the Hilltop neighborhood in southeast Denver. After you register for a particular event, the location for that event will be shared with you.
What if I only want to do one piece of RahmanA--like only singing, or only davening?
Come only to those programs! When you join our mailing list, you can opt to only receive emails that include programs in which you are interested.
If you want to sit in an intergenerational circle of wise women, learning torah of the internal landscape and doing a generative spiritual writing practice, join us for Yemima learning.
If you want to be embraced in melody, punctuated by wisdom of our ancestors, join us for Evenings of Song. This is for people of every singing ability. The beauty we create is a side-effect to the very experience of listening, breathing, expressing: co-creating.
If you want to pray unabashedly, express through ancient language, sing wordlessly, flow between connection and being alone together, join us for davening (prayer).
And if you want to indulge in living a world permeated with these things, join us for every program.
If you want to sit in an intergenerational circle of wise women, learning torah of the internal landscape and doing a generative spiritual writing practice, join us for Yemima learning.
If you want to be embraced in melody, punctuated by wisdom of our ancestors, join us for Evenings of Song. This is for people of every singing ability. The beauty we create is a side-effect to the very experience of listening, breathing, expressing: co-creating.
If you want to pray unabashedly, express through ancient language, sing wordlessly, flow between connection and being alone together, join us for davening (prayer).
And if you want to indulge in living a world permeated with these things, join us for every program.
I don't do much in the Jewish community right now. Will I fit in?
If you want a space that is deep and nourishing and feminine, a place to be real together, to attune to others and be attuned to, then yes.
We love inviting in women who want to immerse deeply in the potential and intimacy of these spaces. Our events draw women with rich Jewish backgrounds and who are newly exploring their Jewishness; women from Orthodox, Conservative, and Reconstructionist communities, and from across Denver's otherwise unaffiliated Jewish population.
This is a new type of space. Come as you are. We're excited to grow with you.
We love inviting in women who want to immerse deeply in the potential and intimacy of these spaces. Our events draw women with rich Jewish backgrounds and who are newly exploring their Jewishness; women from Orthodox, Conservative, and Reconstructionist communities, and from across Denver's otherwise unaffiliated Jewish population.
This is a new type of space. Come as you are. We're excited to grow with you.
How is Rahmana different from a shul?
Shuls (synagogues) are often the place of offering Jewish answers or structures in response to life's questions. We're offering life's question to Jewish answers: What depth and potential is possible [when women are centered] in communal Jewish life?
Unlike shuls, Rahmana is not trying to hold the full lifecycle of a full community. We are trying to discover and amplify the potential in women's gathering, using traditional Jewish tools.
We meet mostly in homes; the torah we bring is mostly about relationships and the internal landscape; in our learning, Rav Hannah guides not only the content of our conversation but also the mode in which we relate to each other, relate to the content, and sometimes even how we relate to ourselves.
Like some shuls, our rabbi is a woman. We see everyone as a learner, always in process. Emotions and spirit are core elements of what we cultivate and allow.
Like all shuls, we always have food.
Unlike shuls, Rahmana is not trying to hold the full lifecycle of a full community. We are trying to discover and amplify the potential in women's gathering, using traditional Jewish tools.
We meet mostly in homes; the torah we bring is mostly about relationships and the internal landscape; in our learning, Rav Hannah guides not only the content of our conversation but also the mode in which we relate to each other, relate to the content, and sometimes even how we relate to ourselves.
Like some shuls, our rabbi is a woman. We see everyone as a learner, always in process. Emotions and spirit are core elements of what we cultivate and allow.
Like all shuls, we always have food.
What ages are invited to participate in Rahmana events?
All of them! Our community members include women ranging from age 14 to 70+ and our gatherings are intergenerational by design--a quality that young and old alike cherish.
If you're asking about bringing your kids: our policy on daughters is if they want to be here and you don't think they will distract you much, they may come. While we are currently focused on programming for adult women, we are working on bringing Rahmana's learnings to the broader community.
If you're asking about bringing your kids: our policy on daughters is if they want to be here and you don't think they will distract you much, they may come. While we are currently focused on programming for adult women, we are working on bringing Rahmana's learnings to the broader community.
Do I have to understand Hebrew or have a background in text study to learn or pray with Rahmana?
Not at all. During text study, we always include the original language of a text and also English.
We are a come-as-you-are kind of community, and we absolutely value your voice, whether you understand Hebrew, if you've heard a melody before, or if you know the words.
We treat prayer as a spiritual practice which aims to cultivate trust and joy, flow between solitude and belonging, relationship with community and with The Divine. We use liturgy as a scaffold through which our many experiences of prayer can be together in community. Prayer with Rahmana is in three languages: Hebrew, silence, and song. We hope you'll feel at home in at least one of them.
We are a come-as-you-are kind of community, and we absolutely value your voice, whether you understand Hebrew, if you've heard a melody before, or if you know the words.
We treat prayer as a spiritual practice which aims to cultivate trust and joy, flow between solitude and belonging, relationship with community and with The Divine. We use liturgy as a scaffold through which our many experiences of prayer can be together in community. Prayer with Rahmana is in three languages: Hebrew, silence, and song. We hope you'll feel at home in at least one of them.
If your questions aren't answered here, please get in touch. We'd love to hear from you!