Hashpa’ah: Jewish Spiritual Direction Training
Hashpa’ah (Being in the Divine Flow or consciousness of Gods Presence)
Hashpa’ah (Being in the Divine Flow or consciousness of Gods Presence) is a traditional Jewish term for the relationship with a Jewish spiritual director/companion or mashpia/h (in Hebrew). The Mashpia/h offers guidance and support on matters of faith and practice, relationship with the Divine or Source and meaning, calling and purpose of life Itself.
The ALEPH Hashpa’ah program was designed in the early 2000s by Rabbi Shohama Wiener and colleagues, with the guidance and blessing of Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, the visionary founder of Jewish Renewal. The program continued to evolve for Cohorts 3 through 6 (2014-2023) under the leadership of Rabbi Nadya Gross, Director, Rabbi Shawn Zevit, Associate Director, Reb Sandra Wortzel, Assistant Faculty, and other training faculty.
Cohort 8 of the Spiritual Direction Training Program will launch in January 2027. It will be guided by Mashpia Rabbi Shawn Zevit, HDD, with support from Assistant Director Mashpia Rabbi David Curiel. The faculty will include Mashpiah Hannah Salander, Mashpiah Pastor Reb Sandra Wortzel, Mashpiah Rabbi Nadya Gross, and Mashpiah Rabbi Eva Sax-Bolder, among others.
Please review the bios of the Spiritual Direction Training Program Faculty.
This program,unique in Jewish history, offers a three-year concentration in Jewish Studies as it informs Spiritual Direction. Upon completion, participants receive a certificate as Mashpia/Spiritual Director. Clergy may also receive Ordination (smicha) as Mashpia Ruchani. The Program is open to graduates and students of all Jewish seminaries approved by OHALAH: Association of Rabbis for Jewish Renewal and candidates, not on a clergy path,whose background makes them eligible for this work.
Hashpa’ah is multi-disciplinary, integrating diverse spiritual guidance approaches and skills from classic and contemporary schools of training and practice, while emphasizing the legacy of hashpa’ah that can be found in the literature and praxis of Hasidism and the Jewish mystical tradition.
From the Baltimore Jewish Times:
With Hashpa’ah Experience, Kol HaLev Provides Unique Approach to Spiritual Counseling
Cohort 7 Participants
January 2024
Cohort 6 Graduation Ceremony
January 7, 2023
Cohort 5 Graduation Ceremony
January 11, 2020
The curriculum integrates the sacred arts of spiritual and pastoral counseling; personal, intercessory and communal prayer and ritual; the art of the maggid (storyteller); spiritual approaches to Torah and mitzvot; personal and communal ethical development/mussar, hashpa’ah, gender, multiracial, multifaith identities, spiritual eldering and other areas of learning.
The requirements of the training program include five Intensives, video-conference coursework spread over the programs duration, five semesters of supervised practice with individuals and groups, and supplemental learning in related areas. Participants train individually and in group settings with mashpiotim (gender expansive plural form) who support their spiritual growth in relationship to G~d and sacred service, and model for them diverse modalities of spiritual direction.
Faculty members will present and demonstrate various models of spiritual guidance as they engage the participants in prayer, meditation, and probing dialogues, intended to explore new possibilities of receiving guidance in the presence of the Divine.
Program Details
(1) Five Intensives and Five Semesters Hashpa’ah Supervision
- Two Winter Intensives in Denver, Colorado (In January 2027: Tuesday afternoon through Friday afternoon before the OHALAH conference. January 2029, final winter intensive)
- Three Summer Intensives (a five-day training in late June or early July held during the ALEPH Ordination Program Intensive Study Week, aka Smicha Week).
- Five Semesters Hashpa’ah Supervision(with individuals and groups from Fall 2027 through Fall 2029)
(ALEPH rabbinic students earn one unit of credit in Kli Kodesh for each of the 5 intensives)
Topics for Intensive have included:
- Styles of Hashpaah and Holy Listening
- Personal Theology and Prayer
- The arc of Spiritual Formation (inc. lineage, internalize Jewish, gender, cultural, and other identities)
- Transpersonal Guidance God, guides, ancestors and malachim/messengers
- Hashpaahand Rituals (for blessing, healing, and transformation)
- Group Spiritual Direction
- Multi-faith/Interfaith Spiritual Direction
(2) Hashpaah Training Program Courses – Thirteen Week Live Video Courses Offered in the Fall and Spring Semesters:
- Issues in Hashpa’ah year one (January-May 2027)
- Issues of Sage-ing and Hashpa’ah year two (Fall 2028)
- Sacred Text and Hashpa’ah year three (Fall 2029)
(For ALEPH rabbinic students, courses 1 and 2 count as units in Kli Kodesh, and course 3 may count either as Kli Kodesh or as Tanach.)
(3) Required Courses offered during the Summer intensives for the Hashpa’ah Training Program:
Requirement determined based on prior experience, in consultation with the Program Director
- Storytelling for Spiritual Transformation
- One of: Hasidic Texts and Spiritual Practice/ or Mussar/ or Reb Zalman’s Writings for Transformation
- For non-clergy students, our in-house specially designed Clinical Pastoral course (can be substituted with one unit of CPE) (see CPE requirements for clergy below)
(4) Thirteen-week courses are offered during the Fall and Spring semesters. These courses should be completed by the end of the Hashpa’ah Training Program. Students are typically required to take three or four of these courses.
Requirement determined based on prior experience, in consultation with Program Director:
All required to take:
- JTHT 501 Deep Ecumenism (interfaith studies and new cosmology)(offered Fall 2025, Spring 2026, Spring 2028, 13-week course)
Additional 13-week Courses-choose two or three in consultation with the Program Director:
- RABTXT 401 Foundations of Jewish Practice (Spring 2025, Spring 2027, Spring 2029)
- MYSTIC 418 Spiritual Practices of Hasidut (Spring 2026, Spring 2028, Spring 2030)
- LTURGY 403 Exploring the Siddur (Fall 2025, Fall 2027, Fall 2029)
- RABTXT 402 Jewish Traditions of Sacred Time: Theology of the Jewish Year (Fall 2025, Fall 2027, Fall 2029)
- MYSTIC 402 Themes of the Jewish Mystical Tradition: Yesh Sod L’Dvar (Spring 2025, Spring 2027, Spring 2029)
- JTHT 505 Transformative Themes in Reb Zalman’s Writings (Fall 2026, Fall 2028)
(5) These Courses are required for AOP Clergy Students only:
Best if taken prior or during the Hashpa’ah Training Program
- PASTOR 541 Clinical Pastoral Education, 1 Unit
- PASTOR 505 and 506 Pastoral Counseling 1 and 2
- Davvenen Leaders Training Institute [optional for non-clergy] www.DLTITraining.org
(6) Two reflection papers required per year.
(7) Revised Spiritual Autobiography required in the final year.
Application Process – Next Cohort will begin January 2027.
Application to the ALEPH Ordination Program in HASHPA’AH consists of:
- Filling out an online Application Form
- Submitting a Spiritual Autobiography – via the application form
- Providing two Letters of Recommendation – via the application form
If you are presently an ALEPH student, one of your letters of recommendation must be from your DOS.
Information on the estimated cost of the Hashpa’ah Training Program can be found here.
For more information about the Hashpa’ah Training Program, click here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is The AOP Hashpa'ah Program only open to ordained Jewish clergy or students?
When our training program first began, our policy had stressed limiting enrollment to Jewish clergy as we felt that this insured a high level of Jewish learning, permitting more advanced text study as well as a commonality of interests and needs. However, beginning with cohort 4, we began to accept a limited enrollment of non-clergy students whose applications and interviews reveal to us that they have a strong Jewish background and show exceptional promise for this work. We fully affirm that therapists, chaplains, and others may be gifted in the arena of spiritual counseling and accept applications from prospective students who are not clergy or students in a clergy track. A variety of pastoral and Jewish practice and spirituality courses are part of the training program for those who are not ordained clergy, clergy students who have not yet taken certain courses and non-clergy as per the information listed on the Hashpaah homepage and in dialogue with the Director.
Why is HASHPAAH a three-year program?
This allows for more learning and personal development, as well as more supervised practice in working with mushpaim (directees). It is worth noting we have asked prior cohorts after the three year program whether they would have preferred it too be shorter, and the vast majority have asked us not to shorten the time for spiritual formation and taking the journey together.
What credential will I receive upon completion of the program?
Certificate of Completion: All students who successfully complete the 3-year training program receive a Certificate of Completion as a Jewish Spiritual Director.
Smicha (Ordination): Ordained clergy may be eligible for an additional smicha as a Mashpia Ruchani/Mashpiah Ruchanit when they complete their primary smicha program or if the training is viewed as an extension of an existing smicha.
Certification is not given as Spiritual Directors International does not offer certification oversight. However, to practice hashpa’ah, mashpias must engage in ongoing supervision and continue to meet with a mashpia/h.