I’ve been interviewing R. Gafni about his life.
Today I asked him:
Luke: "Are you a Zelig for our time?"
Marc: "No. Zelig means someone who doesn’t have depth or a personal center. He’s someone who shifts to please a crowd. My story is one of evolution and unfolding. Over the years, I’ve read and studied hundreds, perhaps thousands, of books. I’ve studied wide and broad in my own search for an authentic and living teaching. Naturally, I evolved beyond a narrow Orthodoxy to a much broader worldview. That was a hard walk."
Luke: "What does Mordecai Gafni the teacher today have in common with Marc Winiarz the teacher from 25 years ago?"
Marc: "A passionate love of Judaism and its texts and practices. I remain committed to Hebrew practices. To miztvot. I remain in love with mitzvot. At the same time, the way I practice them has changed from when I was living in a narrow insular Orthodox mindset. My horizons have broadened. A number of important systems of thought I’ve engaged have challenged some of my original Jewish understandings."
Luke: "So what are the most important challenges?"
Marc: "The particularity of the Jewish people. The notion that Judaism is the superior system.
"The highly rigid vision of family and sexuality, which has great beauty and great shadow.
"The shadow of the gorgeous Jewish ethical commitment is an enormous amount of self-righteous judgment, verbal violence and ugly ways of conflict. I’m strongly drawn to more holistic and inclusive ways of dealing with each other."
