The Baal Shem Tov taught, “Forgetfulness leads to exile, while remembrance is the secret of redemption.”
I’m big on tried and true love. Honest love. Reverent love. The kind that’s weathered life’s storms without losing its spark. The kind that honors growth, forgives the mess, and whispers grace into the cracks.
That’s why I’m still my own Bashert. Not because I’m waiting, but because I’ve become the sacred partner I once searched for. I’ve carried the whole prayer, and now I honor the wholeness I’ve cultivated within.
I’m big on family that honors tried and true family. Honest family. Reverent family. Not the kind that hides behind titles or old wounds, but the kind that shows up, messy, raw, real.
I was born into a lineage that shaped me, but I am not defined by their limitations. I carry Israel in my bones, not just as a homeland, but as a metaphor for wholeness, struggle, and return. And just like I still believe in love, I still believe in honoring and attracting my people, the ones who remember what sacred means.
What sacred means. Not what scared means. Sacred is the realm where love becomes devotion, where marriage becomes covenant, and where wealth and health are measured by alignment with the soul, not by fear, control, or appearances.
Too many have confused scared with sacred, clinging to old patterns, silencing truth, or staying in comfort zones that cost too much. But sacred asks us to rise, to revere, to risk. To invest in eternity, not just survival. That’s the love I am. That’s the union I honor. That’s the kind of Bashert I still believe in.
We find that love in our ancestors. From the first couple. Adam and Eve. What transpires beyond their sacred strength is a story that divides and unifies through sexuality, money and the wrestling between the two.
I’ve defined, designed, aligned and refined my life to the divine over and over again throughout my 67 years in body. I’ve lived many lives in my time on earth. And while I’ve got miles on my body and am clearing away a tick-borne illness, discovered after the October 7th, 2023 Hamas invasion of Israel, my souls message is here for you to learn from. Here’s why…
The Five Books of Moses are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
The first book of Genesis; Bereishit, offers more than just a narrative of physical creation. At its heart, it reveals the divine architecture of the soul and the intentional design behind our human existence. When we say the primary theme is defined by G*d’s creation of our soul, we are pointing to the sacred imprint; tzelem Elohim, the image of G*d, embedded in us from the beginning.
In the book of Exodus, when Moses asks for a name to bring back to the Israelites, G*d responds, “I Am That I Am,” a phrase that reveals not a fixed identity but a dynamic essence of becoming. This statement invites us into a living relationship with the Divine, one that isn’t confined by definition but opens space for discovery. Through metaphor, we design the meaning of Gd in our lives, not by limiting the Infinite but by co-creating a sacred path that reflects the divine presence within us. To design in this way is to shape our lives with intention, aligning our becoming with the Eternal’s.
In the Book of Leviticus, G*d forgives, gives instructions, and teaches us to align our intentions with our actions as we navigate life’s struggles. It is a book of sacred responsibility, reminding us that our efforts toward holiness begin with awareness and continue through mindful practice. Leviticus invites us to bring our whole selves—flawed, striving, and sincere—into relationship with the Divine, showing that the path to spiritual alignment is not perfection but presence.
The Book of Numbers illustrates G*d sharing peace and presence in the land of Canaan, and we are led to refine our accomplishments and goals. It is a journey of movement and maturation, where setbacks become teachings and each step forward invites deeper trust. In this sacred wilderness, we learn that refining is not about striving for more, but about clarifying what truly matters and walking with purpose toward it.
In the context of the Book of Deuteronomy, we live divinely with our lesson and gift in loving G*d. It is a book of remembrance and return, where wisdom is drawn from experience and devotion becomes a conscious choice. Below you will read how I frame my past, present, and future with every teaching I explored, both when Torah seemed to guide me clearly and when it challenged me to seek deeper understanding.
The Five Books of Melinda: defined, designed, aligned and refined to the divine.
FYI: red script is clickable images, blue is links.
Genesis / G*d’s creation story / Defined:
I was born on Miami Beach. I’m the youngest of three. I have two older brothers. Up until my teenage years, life was basic; food, shelter, bedtime stories. My two older brothers had Bar Mitzvah’s yet it was decided by my parents that I would not have a Bat Mitzvah. I was 14 years old in the summer of 1972 and strangely my father wasn’t living at home. My mother cried the entire summer. Nobody said anything to me and I was very confused as to what was going on. This was my first dark night which would repeat over time. I’d learn later in life that my entire family would diligently keep my fathers summer affair a secret. You see, he was a Lieutenant / Narcotics Detective for the Miami Beach Police Department and working as the “head of security” for the Republican and Democratic Conventions on Miami Beach. His responsibilites were intense. The following summer my parents sent me on a life changing tour of Israel. I was fifteen years old and we toured all over Israel during the summer before the Yom Kippur war. Planes were flying loud and proud everywhere we went.
What I didn’t realize then was that the silence of that summer, the unspoken truth of my father’s affair would become my first initiation into the kind of grief that forges a woman’s soul. The secrecy in my childhood home didn’t just shape me; it raised me. In the absence of emotional guidance, I learned to become my own mother, wise, watchful, and spiritually awake. I have learned that the protection I longed for as a girl became the presence I now offer to others. That is the heart of being my own Bashert. During the time my parents mended, my mom volunteered for politicians over the years as well as for the Council for International Visitors. We had dignitaries from all over the world into our home. We were a reform jewish family and I found the reform setting very boring!
From here, I invite you to walk with me, not behind me, not ahead of me, but beside me, as I share the teachings, tools, and soul truths that have emerged from this sacred becoming.
My first family experience was a defining moment in my life. From my dad I mostly learned that home was a safe sanctuary, the world outside was unsafe and for some reason, husbands hurt their wives. From mom I learned that inviting cultural differences of the world were a heartening experience and would build bridges of faith and friendship. Yet their emotional suppression was the norm. They held no emotional security for me. That fateful summer, while my mother cried behind closed doors, holding in her truth, I would ride my bicycle to Greynolds Park in North Miami Beach with friends. There, I found something my home lacked: the sound of music, the pulse of freedom, and people unafraid to feel. I remember seeing many “hippies” dancing freely, swooning in love as the smell of marijuana drifted in the air. I kept my distance for fear of getting the scent on my clothing, yet felt undeniably drawn to their liberated lifestyle. That yearning for uninhibited joy and honest connection would return decades later, when I was finally mature enough to claim it on my own terms. I would rekindle my freedom in that lifestyle when mature enough during my 50’s. I was “confirmed” through Reform Judaism at 16 years old and for that experience, I am deeply grateful. In fact, I am grateful for all of my life; the trials and tribulations as well as the moments of divine revelation and ecstasy.
Exodus / God tells Moses I am That I am / Designed:
The summer of my 19th year I had a brief yet beautiful “first love” with a bright and blond (not stupid) young man by the name of Jonathan Colby. His Hebrew name (Yonatan) means G*d has Given. G*d gave me a warm and wonderful reflection of pure and innocent love with this beautiful man. In the fall we went our separate ways, to different colleges. Over time, we’ve kept the candle of remembrance lit throughout various challenges and chapters of life. There is something to be said about the kind of remembrance: Beautiful lovers. Romantic. Sexy. Passionate. Adventurous. Loving. There is something to be said about growing wiser through tried and true friendship. And I do not have many. For Yonatan Ben Rachel, I am eternally grateful.
During the college years both of my brothers married non jewish women, had children and both transitioned from jobs to entrepreneurial successes in business. They created good fortune and prosperity in their lives. My eldest brother Jeff left the Miami Beach Police Department to become a well recognized and sought after for police test preparation as a Leader in Public Safety. My middle brother left one of the Big Eight Accounting Firms to head west and write comedy. He began with the well known comedy hit “Ace Ventura Pet Detective“. Both would become instrumental in my motivation to succeed, despite the obstacles placed in front of me.
Meanwhile I swooned my way through college at University of Florida, managed to get average grades, graduated with a degree in finance and soon after college; met and swooned with my former spouse on the disco dance floor. The day after our wedding he began work at a new job and eventually built a “rare coin” business due to his love of history and precious metals.
Five years later we had our first, a boy. Within two years, a girl. He traveled a lot and came home hung over most of the time. I wondered if this was my destiny? Four years into the marriage Hurricane Andrew blew our home away and I knew the hurricane was G*d’s way of offering me refuge.
Months later we moved to an orthodox area and I was desperate for a new phase of spiritual maturation and healing. It was obvious that learning Hebrew and the observance of Torah would become my medicine and it lasted for almost a dozen years. Meanwhile our business model expanded into precious diamonds, fine watches and other collectibles.
As I learned Hebrew in synagogue, I never felt loved as the crown jewel in my marriage and that is the ultimate goal of a Bashert. I wondered if this is all that HaShem designed for us. On May 5th, 2005 (555) I received a call in the middle of the night from the jail telling me my former spouse was incarcerated for multiple legal infractions. I was told not to worry so I went back to sleep. Upon awakening I held myself (and him) responsible forming boundaries that I hoped that he would hold himself responsible to. I gave him 90 days to do so and on the 91st day, I got my answer. He wasn’t ready to treasure me so I filed for divorce.
At this time our two teenage children , went from Maimonides Day School to public school and I knew I needed to get very busy designing our Exodus; theirs for college and mine for wherever G*d would lead me. I knew from my father and brothers that my destiny would be unique. I just didn’t know that becoming a Rabbi (a teacher) was part of G*d’s plan.
To see if you are a good fit to work with Melinda, begin by booking a 15 minute discovery session.
Leviticus / God forgives and gives instructions / Aligned:
My choice to love myself and bring shalom b’ahava (peace in my heart) to my children were in motion. I was becoming a Kundalini Yoga teacher while going through the divorce. I graduated the nine month program on May 14th, 2006, which is Israel Independence Day. That training offered me the awareness to merge the Lilith and Eve energies within. To further heal I studied Buddhism, Taoism, Vedic Astrology, QiGong, Vibrational Medicine, Jewish Energy Healing, Kabbalah, Ho’oponopono, Paganism, Veganism and let reverence with God come into my soul. My children got the message. My daughter is happily married with three children and one on the way. They have devoted their lives to orthodox judaism. My son is responsible for his own life, devoted to working hard and playing harder and the freedom of being himself in the moment. Both have their heads and hearts in the right place. Baruch Hashem!
To further assist, I had the great fortune of working at an integrative medical clinic and five elements spa . Sadly it closed and I was let go. I worked per diem to help a Law Firm I had worked for early in my marriage to solve their theft issue. When that job was complete, I started my first entrepreneur experience with a business card that said Yoga Solutions. I offered bookkeeping and balance to businesses and also taught Kundalini Yoga. Then I wanted to become a Life Coach and for my dissertation I wrote The Roadmap and called myself a Core Life Coach. This was and still is my signature teaching for being on the road without a map one tends to create cycles revisiting me.
With my love of dance I created and tried to lead groups of conscious dancers with what I called Freedom Dance but my hip told me to stop. By my 50th birthday I wrote “The Roadmap to a Purposeful and Prosperous Life” and gave it to my family as a gift. Unbeknownst to me, my brother told me that one paragraph would upset my mom so I re-wrote it and published it as Seven Steps To a Peaceful Heart After Divorce. Writing the story helped me let go of the negativity (the Yetzer Hara) and writing yours can do the same.
It was around that time that I met Rabbi Gabriel Cousens, MD He has been a teacher in healing arts and meeting him, I felt more aligned with G*d. Leviticus and his book “Torah as a Guide to Enlightenment” brought me closer to myself. It still does, to this very day!
Numbers / God shares peace and presence in the land of Canaan / Refined:
By early 2009 I was invited to partake in a Gaiadon Heart meditation weekend and because it included Kabbalah, I accepted. In that weekend the base of my skull opened with a vortex of warm spiritual energy during the Kabbalah meditation and my body was activated by the light of its teachings.
Two months later, on May 14, 2009, in honor of Mothers Day and Israel Independence Day, I received my ordination after apprenticing with a local favorite, Rabbi Loring Frank, whom I met at a new years day celebration on Miami Beach. I was offered an ordination, similar to the way rabbi’s became rabbi’s before there were rabbinical schools. This felt like a perfect beginning to my reconciliation and redemption. Rabbi Loring Frank is my favorite Rabbi too yet we were both too big to fit into each others hearts for romance despite his yearnings and my playful ways. We let each other go and return when spirit calls. Usually it’s I who is in need! (c’est la vie ; that’s life) Regardless, we tend in care for each other as spiritual leaders.
Two months after that my ordination I sold the “family” home. It was the same weekend the kids went to college. In the crash of the housing market, I lost my nest egg (in lieu of alimony). I am a Levite and Levites are wanderers, so I let go. At a Passover Seder led by Rabbi Frank, I met a man named Edward who offered to gift me a 52 page Business and Marketing Plan. Edward didn’t realize I had more work to do, which involved healing the feminine. Edward passed away, sadly, in 2021. May his memory be a blessing.
Having received the plan, I continued with my purpose showing up at first as a Holistic Rabbi. Soon after I taught The Sacred Flirt at a Singles Event in Boca Raton, FL. Watch the class . I began to call myself a Tantric Rabbi because it resonated to my personal expression of energy.
Around this time my daughter decided to leave college in Orlando and go to Bar Ilan University in Israel for one year. I wanted to see where she was going so I booked my flight to Israel and on that very same trip I spoke at the Jerusalem International Conference on Integrative Medicine. My subject was “Healing Sexual Energy with Advanced Kundalini”. Watch the teaching here. My lofty goal was to help “her” (all of Israel) heal. On my last Shabbat in Israel I stayed at Moshav Modi’in which is known as the Carlebach Moshav. I met a unique nazarite, Essence Bishop by the name of Jah Levi. His chosen name translates to God’s Heart and thus I felt the gift of a refinement in his presence. Probably due to my mother’s style of inviting foreign leaders into our home during childhood. He invited me to visit him in Northern California and the following year I did so. I recognized him in myself. He was a perfect match for the times I was in.
Through our union, I turned my pain into ultimate pleasure. He was a space holder for my wholeness. I am forever grateful as the experience taught me how to propel individuals towards a journey of inner truth, healthy sexuality as well as practical and continuous non-conforming growth. On that first visit to Northern California I also sought to meet Rabbi Leah Novick, known as the Matriarch of Jewish Renewal . I immediately developed a strong kindred spiritual connection. I recognized her in myself. She was the Shechinah to my own! Praise Yah!
I moved to Northern California in January 2012. My swooning in my own unique vibration brought about invitations to participate in a wide variety of spiritual communities, most of which was the expression of healing one way or another. Very thankful to my past for knowing what was destined for me and witnessed how sacred sexuality as well as the sex magic can rebuild and/or destroy lives. Definitely not my jam or my purpose, but important gifts were received.
Just before Valentine’s day in 2014 I was invited and accepted a private invitation to partake in the medicine by way of a potent hallucinogenic and psychoactive substance from the venomous excretion of a bufo toad. Before this invite, I had been offered and turned down numerous invitations for other shamanic experiences, clear in my knowing what I didn’t want. I was told by the shaman that I received a double dose because I’d awakened prematurely to the first dose by kicking her. After receiving the double dose of venom, I spent three days alone processing the medicine, also known as 5-ME-DMT. It is called “the God molecule”. It helped excavate issues from childhood, marriage and family that I didn’t know existed. It awakened the mystery in myself. It taught me about Rebbe Nachman’s Burnt Book that lives in my soul. My refinement felt as complete as ever. I had become my own Bashert- forever.
Deuteronomy / Our lesson in loving G*d / Divine:
I returned to Florida in September of 2015, as my father was nearing his end of life. He died December 5th, 2015, on the night before Hanukkah. A few weeks later my knee swelled up something fierce. Six months later, with a knee that could barely bend, I performed my first wedding ceremony!
Within a year I had a bad dream about my father and knew it was time to learn Jewish Ancestral Healing Meditation. Within two years I connected with all four of my ancestors. I healed those that weren’t thriving in the afterlife, brought blessings to myself, my family and future generations in my lineage. It was my saving grace.
In addition, over the course of nine years, I would perform over 300 ceremonies and counsel hundreds more with The Roadmap to Everlasting Love. I got very tired as I approached my 64 1/2 year. I thought of my parents 64 1/2 year marriage and decided to reach out to my first love to see if he was ready for a second chance. He wasn’t. Six months later I decided to vet my 6th cousin, who I found on 23 & me on my father’s first Yahrzeit. His name is Rabbi Yisroel Bernath, he is known as The Love Rabbi . I attended his classes and still do from time to time. I wasn’t sure if I was ready for the journey but I kept my mind open. Then Hamas invaded Israel on October 7th, which was my grandsons seventh birthday. I was pissed beyond belief. I hired Rabbi Bernath eight nights later, after delivering a funny birthday toast to my eldest brother, who was celebrating his 70th birthday. It was October 15th, the evening of Rebbe Nachman’s Yahrzeit. Rebbe Nachman holds the keys to my deepest wisdom, again, through The Burnt Book. A book our beloved Rebbe threw into the fire in the 1800’s. A book I glanced at in the fire of my psychedelic journey. It was also the night before my ex’s birthday. Due to the stress of the invasion, a vicious text threat from my ex on October 23rd, 2023 and my dating for marriage, I felt like death was knocking at my door. By April 2024, I would later learn that I got bit by a tick while in California (2011-2015) and have since began the journey of being a resilient survivor of chronic Lyme disease.
Anyways, I had three sessions with Rabbi. But first I vetted Aleeza Ben Shalom the Netflix star of Jewish Matchmaking. She came to Boca Raton from Israel two days after the invasion. My first session with my cousin was private. I did introduce him to my mother though. I booked a second session and it turned out that he went to Israel. With bombs in the background, while he was staying with Aleeza Ben Shalom, ten members of my family were present for the second session. Here I am with my son and son-in-law and with my brothers and my mother. The last session was private. I dated two Rabbi’s (one local and one far away) and a retired Gynecologist living in Israel. One day after the first date with a local Rabbi, I spoke about What Is Love (click to watch) for a Valentines day show on the Bad Jew Podcast. I don’t think he was really ready for a Bashert. My health was crashing anyways!
By the summer of 2024 I was invited on the Love, Home and Lyme Podcast. I spoke about The Spiritual Convergence of Lyme Disease. I also spoke on Lyme and Beyond with Tanya about Lyme, Spirituality, and Finding a New Path. I’ve written two articles for LymeDisease.org. They are as follows: A rabbi’s roadmap for healing from chronic Lyme disease Winter Holiday Issue December 2024 and Letting Go of Lyme and Other Illnesses This Sacred Season Spring Holiday Issue April 2025.
Because of what has happened, my mother moved into Independent Living. She is 95, healthy and wealthy and loved. She plays bingo, goes to the mall, gets her hair and nails done and doesn’t have to cook for herself. We had the best of times during the nine years we lived together. We are best friends. Respectful of the truth. Regretful too. This is part of the journey folks.
To summarize. I am growing into my legacy, and the energy of my full Hebrew name Mindel Bracha. It translates to Peaceful Blessings. I channel the divine with an abundance of revelations shared through ancestors, angels, matriarchs and patriarchs as well as ongoing visits with past and future parts of myself.
Last but not least, an awakened life may or may not be a fairy tale. If you are awakening, be responsible for that which your soul seeks in this life.
With blessings,
Rabbi Melinda “Bracha” Bernstein
To see if you’re a good fit to work with Melinda, begin by booking a 15 minute discovery session.
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