ABOUT MELINDA
The Path That Found Her
For as long as she can remember, Melinda Ribner has searched for what is true and real.
As a young woman, that search led her to explore meditation, psychology, spirituality, and the deeper questions of life's purpose. Ultimately, it brought her back to her Jewish roots, where she discovered a path that united spiritual practice, Divine connection, and service to others.
In 1978, Melinda began teaching Jewish meditation.
At a time when meditation was virtually unknown within Jewish communities, she quietly dedicated herself to sharing these transformative practices with others.
What began as small meditation gatherings grew into a lifetime of teaching, counseling, writing, speaking, and guiding people through life's most meaningful challenges.
For nearly five decades, Melinda has helped thousands of people deepen their relationship with God, experience the wisdom of their own soul, and navigate life's challenges with greater faith, peace, and purpose.
Her unique approach blends Jewish meditation, Kabbalah, psychotherapy, and spiritual guidance in a way that is both deeply rooted in Jewish tradition and profoundly practical for everyday life.
Today, Melinda is recognized as one of the pioneering voices in modern Jewish meditation. She is the author of eight books, an ordained teacher of Jewish meditation and spiritual counseling, the founder of Beit Miriam, and continues to teach meditation, counsel individuals and couples, lead workshops, and share timeless spiritual wisdom with audiences around the world.
More than anything, Melinda's work is devoted to helping people experience the Divine directly, discover lasting inner peace, and live with greater faith, trust, and love.
She has taught at Jewish conferences and synagogues of all affiliations, from Chabad to Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and Jewish Renewal, as well as Jewish community centers, New Age centers such as the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health and the Open Center, classes at the Jewish Theological Seminary, and even on Wall Street at the American Stock Exchange.
MELINDA’S WORK CENTERS AROUND 4 CORE PILLARS
Authentic Jewish Meditation
Reviving and sharing ancient Jewish meditative practices rooted in Kabbalah, combined with breathing and visualization techniques that help people experience greater peace, clarity, and connection with their own soul.
The Wisdom of Biblical Women
Exploring the extraordinary lives of biblical women to uncover the timeless feminine wisdom that continues to inspire courage, compassion, leadership, and spiritual transformation today.
Turning Pain Into Blessing
Helping people transform life's greatest challenges into opportunities for healing, resilience, purpose, and spiritual growth through Jewish wisdom, meditation, and compassionate guidance.
Living in Harmony with the Jewish Calendar
Revealing the spiritual opportunities found within each Hebrew month and holiday, offering practical wisdom for navigating life with greater awareness, intention, and inner alignment.
MELINDA’S OWN WORDS ABOUT HER WORK
As long as we are physically embodied, we each have an opportunity to raise our consciousness in positive and dramatic ways. Jewish meditation allows us to get out of our way to access the holy soul within us. When we access the expanded consciousness of our own soul, we can move from a place of challenge to one of peace, protection and blessing.
The challenges in the external world or within our personal lives need not determine our state of mind nor our fate.
May it be a daily spiritual practice to direct our attention to the holiness and wisdom of our own soul and to our intrinsic God connection.
This is my personal goal and my spiritual calling. It is a great privilege and honor for me to help people be empowered to live more in alignment with their soul purpose.
Melinda received semicha (ordination) from the legendary Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, of Blessed Memory, in 1990, authorizing her to guide Jewish meditation and offer Jewish spiritual counseling. It has been one of her greatest blessings in life to share these sacred teachings with others.
WAYS TO WORK WITH MELINDA
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SPEAKING & MEDIA APPEARANCES
Book Melinda for media appearances, interviews, keynote presentations, and expert commentary.
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SPIRITUAL PSYCHOTHERAPY
Learn more about Melinda's unique approach to counseling, which integrates psychotherapy, Jewish wisdom, meditation, and spiritual guidance
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BOOK A WORKSHOP
Discover Melinda's transformational workshops on healing, Jewish meditation, Kabbalah, relationships, women's wisdom, and spiritual growth.
PRAISE FOR NEW AGE JUDAISM
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"A wonderful account of New Age Judaism that is chock full of practical skills from a most sincere, spiritual traveler."
Rabbi Shoni Labowitz - Author, Miraculous Living
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"This wonderful book will help you live a meaningful life. Don't let the title fool you. This book is filled with the wisdom of the ages."
Bernie S. Siegel, M.D. - Author, Love, Medicine & Miracles
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"A thoughtful and inspiring book for any traveler on the spiritual path."
Barbara De Angelis, Ph.D. - Author, Are You the One for Me?
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"Few writers bring Ribner's depth of understanding of Jewish mystical sources together with such practical clarity."
Alana Ruben, Jerusalem creativity coach, writer, teacher and theater artist.
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"Melinda presents sublime concepts of Jewish mystical thought and makes them relatable and accessible to all..."
Rabbi Chaim Richman - Director, Jerusalem Lights: Torah for Everyone
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"Empowers its readers to live more fulfilling lives."
"This book needed to be born for people today. Both inspiring and practical, this book empowers its readers to live more fulfilling lives, no matter what has happened to them."
Tirzah Singer, Jerusalem Rosh Chodesh teacher and musical composer.
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"Riveting heart-opening personal accounts of life-changing 'holy tears."
"Exquisitely, softly, grounding us first in core texts (Biblical, Talmudic, philosophic and kabbalistic), she then brings us right into the present with an offering of riveting heart-opening personal accounts of life-changing 'holy tears.' Ribner does not stop there: she ventures further, into the personal world of reader, gifting us with the user-friendly meditations of a seasoned guide, such that the depths that this book gives voice to, can truly land."
Rabbi Dr. Leibish Hundert, Yeshivat Simchat Shlomo, Jerusalem, Israel.
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"I SAID TO MYSELF 'THAT WOMAN IS MY REBBE...'"
"Our conversation before Yom Kippur so centered me. I got off the phone and said to myself, 'that woman is my rebbe.' You teach me what I need to learn in the way I need to learn it."
Susan K. - Rabbinical Student, Jewish Theological Seminary
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“ONE OF THE LEADING TORAH TEACHERS & SPIRITUAL GUIDES OF OUR TIME….”
"Melinda Ribner, one of the leading Torah teachers and spiritual guides of our time, has created a new genre in which, through her deep sensitivity to the subtle nuances of Biblical text and Midrashim (oral tradition), we are able to take a fresh look at the great women of Israel, not as statuesque figures from the past, but as real people who responded heroically to life's challenges. This work will empower women and enrich men with a wealth of insights that will help them better understand the strength and greatness of their own mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters."
Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum - Author of The Wings of the Sun
Review of Biblical Women Who Changed the World
