Our Fellows

Rosenbaum Teaching Fellows in Transformative Kabbalah

As Kabbalah Experience resumes in-person classes in Denver, its leadership is providing an opportunity for people to enjoy and benefit from Transformative Kabbalah in-person, wherever they may be located. To implement this vision, KE is launching a teacher mentorship program for individuals to teach the Kabbalah Experience curriculum in their local communities.

We are excited to welcome these outstanding Fellows from around the world.

Kabbalah Experience is grateful to Jane E Rosenbaum for her leadership in underwriting the first three years of the Fellowship in honor of her husband, Stanton, of blessed memory. Stanton was a leader in the Colorado community- a model of a person who embodied ethics and strong values in all that he manifested, both personally and professionally. Stanton was a lawyer by profession and a student at Kabbalah Experience for many years, loved to learn, and to mentor younger people. His memory will be a blessing to all who are touched by this fellowship.

Rosenbaum Teaching Fellows

David Burstein
David burstein
experimental educator

I am looking to expand my own practice of Kabbalah and increase opportunities for Jews and non-Jews to find the spiritual path of transformation instead of the religion based transactional models that are being offered. I am trying to be more intentional in my living, embracing the vulnerability I need to help myself and others.

Rabbi David Burstein, ordained as a rabbi from HUC-JIR Cincinnati in 2001, has worked for the past 25 years as an experiential educator. He was the director of Kulanu-the Reform Jewish High School in Cincinnati from 2003-2018. David trained at Harvard College in their program on mediation and negotiation and traveled with peace negotiation missions to Israel, Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Northern Ireland. He plays the hand-drum, holds two black belts in martial arts and is working on his third in Krav Maga. Rabbi David has taught mindfulness meditation for over 20 years. His greatest joy comes from being a dad to Emma, Coby and Nadia, and husband to Elizabeth.

Tracy Byarlay
tracy byarlay
Founder, Breakthrough Sports Therapy

My motivation for studying Transformative Kabbalah is dual in that I want to help others find the light, and I want to further open my own awareness. Prayers are answered by our acts of kindness. Simply love yourself, your neighbor, you’r enemy. I can say on many levels I understand what that means. I want to help others find this too by sharing what I learn on my journey as a student of the Kabbalah and a life-long mystic.

Tracy’s passions are fitness, music and writing. After many years working as a fitness expert, he started Breakthrough Sports Therapy in Colorado which has been honored with the “Best of Boulder Award” for the past three years. Trained in helping clients overcome injury through working with the body’s connective tissue, Tracy conveys the importance to recovery in the interplay between body, emotion, mind and spirit. He also co-founded Without Warning, a self-defense academy which provided hands-on training and group seminars. Tracy lives with his partner, Martina, his son and her two daughters.

Matthew Kalkman
matthew kalkman
Author + Lawyer

I am a curious person by nature and I feel open to being drawn in the direction that feels right as well as making rational sense. After my grandfather passed away I pursued an understanding of what gives life meaning. Having one day looked up Kabbalah while living in Colorado, I noticed that there was a class that evening at Kabbalah Experience. From that class I enrolled in the online programs and continued to explore the Tree of Life and creative manifestation. I have been following the “bread crumbs” ever since and they have led me here.

Matthew has a law degree from Durham University and a Masters from the London School of Economics. After having been called to the bar and having worked in the financial world, he is currently undertaking doctoral studies with a focus on human value. His dissertation topic is: “Human Rights and the Embodied Semiotic Image of God.” He is the author of New Liberalism, a book on restoring the progressive liberal vision. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children.

Aaron Marcus
AARON MARCUS
Teacher, Lawyer, + Tax Professional

Three years ago I read McGilchrist’s awesome book on the brain. I wondered – Why does he sound kabbalistic? We have to learn from the heroes of the past and learn how to wrestle with God and prevail. I fear the challenge. I hope I have strength to make the necessary sacrifices. To borrow a Christian trope, I know that the letter alone is clearly insufficient. There must be spirit.

Aaron is a teacher, lawyer, and tax professional who has spent most of his working life teaching math, history, and Torah in Jewish day schools. After nine years at Akiba Schechter Jewish Day School in Chicago he is currently moving back to tax. His primary intellectual interests stem from Torah, midrash, philosophy—most recently an interest in Neoplatonism and Heidegger, myth, and psychology. He lives in Chicago with his wife and three children.

Nicole Montanarelli
NICOLE MONTANARELLI
Founder, Life Thrive Yoga

Grace is my most sacred value. Living with Grace, Being Graceful, Accepting Grace and Giving Grace. I think Grace is the most profound feeling a person can have for someone else. Grace to improve, to forgive, to inspire and to let go.

Nicole is a yoga teacher, yoga therapist, life coach, natural health and healing educator. She is the founder of Life Thrive Yoga in New Park, Pa. Nicole was raised in a dual faith family; her father’s lineage is Roman Catholic and her mother’s lineage is Russian Jewish. Her faith in the existence of ultimate Love, Goodness and the right to equality and joy has helped her move past difficult times and into service over and again. She is drawn to mythology and religious, spiritual studies and has always had a strong draw towards esoteric mysticism and Kabbalah. Nicole lives with her husband on a homestead where they grow much of their own food and practice permaculture-based sustainable gardening. She has an adult step daughter, a perfect dog, and multiple cats and chickens.

Vanja Popovic
VANJA BOKUN POPOVIC
Lecturer, Integral Psychotherapist + Author

I was lucky to be born into a Godless communist-gone-socialist society (the former Yugoslavia) which taught me to value unity, citizenship and giving back to the community. It set me on a privileged, yet tumultuous path of having to find God on my own. In working with others there comes the value of Responsibility and Integrity which I put above all others. I love science and business as they help me to build greater structures for the grand architecture of the Invisible to have a place to land.

Vanja is a professional lecturer, integral psychotherapist and author. She is currently a PhD candidate in Psychology having previously completed a Master’s in Urban Education and a Master’s of Philosophy in Psychology. In her work she honors science (the masculine power of action and logic), and the language of Soul (the feminine way of graceful expansion and inspiration). The KE mentorship will prepare her to “present Kabbalah in an authentic way to the people in my part of the world.” Vanja resides in Belgrade, Serbia with her husband Nikola and their son and daughter.

Martina Young
MARTINA YOUNG
Therapist, BodyWise Physical Therapy

When one looks around or turns on the news, it does not take a lot to feel discouraged or to wonder: “Where is this world headed”? I found Kabbalah the year I turned 40 and it has helped me find faith. I find the synchronicities and parallels in life fascinating, and I am quite puzzled about the question: How did I not see them before? I would like to take an active part in the rebirthing process of mankind.

Martina works as a therapist for BodyWise Physical Therapy in Colorado. She has a Doctorate in physical therapy and a Master’s degree in public relations. She was an avid triathlete until injuries sidetracked her and forced her to “slow down” and she discovered Kabbalah, Yoga, Jin Shin Jyutsu and Muay Thai. Enrolling in the KE teacher mentorship program allows her to “dive deeper in teachings that speak to my soul and provide me with the tools to share that knowledge with others.” Born in Slovenia, she moved to the United States in 2000. She lives with her partner Tracy, her daughters and his son.

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Sheila Bouie-Sledge

As an Elder in the United Methodist Church, my desire is to learn more about the Kabbalah experience and to have a deeper relationship with God. To learn more is to grow more, and to grow more is to change. Growing and being transformative can create positive impacts. The impacts come from transformative actions which can create a positive world without division, without my tribe versus your tribe, without competition rather than cooperation, without complaints instead of suggestions and without inequities which provides space for a heartcentered environment and world.

Sheila is a people person with thirty plus years of experience in Human Resources. She has a Master’s Degree in HR from St. Louis University and a Master’s of Divinity from Eden Seminary. As part of her Doctor of Ministry project, she is the founder of a nonprofit, “My Diversity Circle”. The annual event highlights people, fashion, international foods and beverages, multimedia communication and interactions with the other.

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Joy Gershman

Shefa Joy Gershman is a Queer individual who was raised in an Orthodox Jewish home. She worked as a school psychologist for 16 years and then as a school administrator for an additional 14 years. She evaluated students, supported families, trained large groups of educators in coaching, reading, family involvement and in social/emotional and systemic change. Since her retirement in 2016, she became a Hebrew Priestess or Kohenet and an Interfaith Minister. She has studied earth-based religions, Sufism, Buddhism, Meditation, Theta healing, Ancestral Healing, Reiki, Kabbalah, Shamanism, and Dreamwork. She believes in the unity of the divine and in our innate ability to connect the above and the below.

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Jenna Sezionale Basilicato

Jennas mission is for people to experience Freedom, Connection & Truth. Having gone through her own transformational journey: leaving a long term job, extended solo travel, hiking, meditation, and plant medicine in the Amazon jungle of Peru, Jennas personal experience of freedom inspired her to found Venture Beyond.  Through Jennas  practice she serves clients in 1:1 and group settings through the vehicles of conversation, mindfulness, travel, plant medicine, birth and death. 

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Renae Boyett

I was fortunate enough to have been introduced to Kabbalah many years ago. The wisdom and teachings of Kabbalah have given me a sense of certainty & clarity in life that I cannot put into word as it must be experienced. This opportunity to learn Kabbalah on a deeper level and then share the knowledge with others is a dream come true for me. My hope is that I can offer support for others to grow in their path of spiritual transformation.

Renae has spent the last10 years bridging the gap between her career as a Director of Operations for a Sales & Marketing Broker and creating a Spiritual Business (Souls in Service, LLC). Renae is a Reiki Master, Intuitive Energy Healer & Spiritual Coach. She also is a Transformational Hypnotherapist where she helps her clients overcome selflimiting beliefs that are preventing them from creating the life they deserve. Renae is currently 6 months into a 3year program to earn a PHD in Metaphysical Counseling and hopes to use her skills & knowledge to support individuals in reaching their spiritual goals in life.

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Laurie Reisman

Kohenet Laurie Reisman (Chochma Vida), L.C.S.W. (She/Her), is a white, queer, fem, Ashkenazi Jew who resides on Timucuan and Seminole land known as Gainesville, FL U.S.A. Laurie attained a bachelor’s degree from the University of Florida and a master’s from Florida State University. She is a Ph.D.candidate at Saybrook University in the College of Integrated Medicine and Health Sciences. Laurie spent the last 20 years practicing various holistic, energetic, and spiritual modalities, which included studying Jewish Mysticism with Dr. Rabbi Shaya Isenberg, and receiving a Muqadim Ijaazah in Tijaniyyah Sufism, which is a Hebrew-based Sufiorder out of Algeria and Morovco. Laurie is certified to teach basic Tai Chi, Qi Gong, and Meditation from Dr. K.A. Shakoor, D.A.O.M., L.A.C. Inspired by the Prophetess Miriam, she is studying frame drumming under various teachers. She holds several leadership positions in her community: American Universal Medicine (AUM) Institute of Energetic Medicine, Mental Health Coalition of North Central Florida, and the Program Manager for the Whole Health Program at the North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Health System. Laurie was a radio host for a community radio station WMBT 90.1 FM, bringing a multitude of guests in the areas of health, arts, education, and politics for four years. She is a lifelong vegan that enjoys playing the crystal bowls, training dogs, riding horses, and creating customized spiritual jewelry through her company, Blessed Beads. Her greatest and proudesaccomplishment is raising a child to adulthood.

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Lois Gaylord

My underlying purpose in everything I do is to “Weave Oneness”. It comes from the idea that we all come from the same Source and that we are all expressions of the Divine. Our most important work during our lives is to find our true authentic selves and become the best version of ourselves that we can be. When we heal ourselves from pain, and trauma, we are healing the world.

Lois is an artist working primarily with textiles and fiber. She has a BA in textile design from the University of Washington and an AS degree in industrial model building. She ran a freelance model making business for over 30 years and has taught weaving in the Seattle area for the past 5 years. Spirituality is the current focus of both her fiber art and functional pieces such as tallit, small altar cloths and bags for magical tools. She sells her work online, at local shows and by commission. Lois received ordination from the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Training Program in August 2020. Her Kohenet priestess title is Oreget Yichud, Weaver of Oneness. She lives in Seattle, WA with her husband Kevin Cain

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