MAY 4 • 2023 | 21
t’s been almost 22 years to the day
since the Detroit Jewish News intro-
duced then Rebecca Perelman, a
24-year-old medium, to the Metro
Detroit Jewish community in a cover
story titled “Spiritual Messenger.
”
Since that time, Rebecca Rosen has gone on
to build a worldwide reputation as a spiritual
medium, speaker and author of four books.
She’s been seen on national TV shows such
as Extra, Nightline and The Rachel Ray Show.
Rosen, who just released her fourth book,
What’s Your Heaven?, will be coming “home”
to the Berman Center at the JCC May 17 for
one night only.
“I do consider Metro Detroit to be my sec-
ond home,
” said Rosen, who lives in Denver
with her husband and children. “It was there
that I discovered my gift. It was where I got
the start to my career. My Michigan audi-
ence is the most loyal and has stood behind
me all these years. Now, I’ll be getting to
connect face-to-face with them again.
”
Rebecca was living in West Bloomfield
with her father, who had moved to the area
from Omaha, Nebraska, to start a mortgage
business when she was 20. She was suffering
from depression, when she tapped into her
deceased grandmother’s energy. She had
begun journaling, and her grandma came
through to Rebecca and spoke to her about
the depression and suicide that had claimed
her own life.
By 2001, Rebecca was 24, doing readings
out of a little coffee shop on Orchard Lake
Road when she met Gail Zimmerman, an
editor at the Jewish News.
“
A friend told me about her and said she
would make a great story for the paper,
”
said the now-retired Zimmerman. “I wasn’t
convinced. I didn’t really believe all that stuff,
but I arranged for me and a writer to meet
her at the coffee shop, where she gave us
each a reading.
”
During that reading, Zimmerman said
Rebecca related very specific things about
her aunts and uncles and relayed a comment
from her late father about a conversation
she and her husband had the night before.
“It was very interesting, and I was intrigued
that she came from a Jewish family — her
mom worked at the Federation in Omaha,
her brother was a rabbi — so I began doing
some research.
”
Zimmerman found out that Rebecca
wasn’t the only one talking about getting in
touch with lost loved ones or spirit guides.
Although more observant Jews frown on
mediums and psychics as it is forbidden in
the Torah, there were plenty of Jewish people
who thought it could be helpful to tap into
“the other side,
” including a rabbi who had
TOP: Rebecca Rosen at a group reading.
ABOVE: Her debut in the JN, April 27, 2001.
continued on page 22