Articles on rabbi Gafni, born Marc Winiarz.

My personal experience with rabbi Gafni. I heard him lecture for an hour at UCLA in 2002. I saw him hustle to get a half hour on Dennis Prager's radio show the next week. I considered what Gafni had to say worthless. I read about half of his book Soul Prints. I considered it worthless. Just New Age nonsense.

I have an ex-girlfriend who was deeply moved by his book. I've found that women, and men who think like them, are most moved by Gafni's teaching.

I understand that Rabbi Gafni's greatness as a religious teacher, such as it is, is not in coming up with original material, but in taking other people's ideas and restating them more clearly than the original thinkers.

This is not a bad quality so long as one attributes one's sources. Dennis Prager is a popularizer of other people's ideas, but he attributes. Rabbi Gafni frequently takes without attributing (as does Dr. Laura Schlesinger, who takes a lot from Prager without attribution). Many of his Renewal followers, who are so ignorant in Torah that they don't know any better, think he's a genius. He certainly knows more Torah than 99% of Renewal Jews.

He's been to yeshiva. He's well read. He knows how to speak. He's charismatic. They're dying for a guy like him.

Rabbi Gafni's main problem is not his sexual philandering, say his critics. Those sexual sins are but a symptom of a larger problem -- he's a creep.

Rabbi Gafni, and Rabbi Arthur Green and his other supporters, are convinced that there is a small group of people who are destroying his career. They are right. There is a small group of people destroying his career (well, he's destroyed his own career with his creepy behavior). They pushed Gary Rosenblatt to write that expose in The Jewish Week.

They are also the group of people who have known Rabbi Gafni best and longest.

If Rabbi Gafni has truly done teshuva, why hasn't he contacted the long list of innocent people he hurt and made restitution?

Gary Rosenblatt writes: "Avraham Infeld, now the president of Hillel, was heading an educational program in Israel called Melitz when he hired Gafni in the late 1990s, despite pressure not to do so. Infeld has said he had no regrets. Rabbis Saul Berman, who heads the Modern Orthodox group Edah, and Joseph Telushkin, the writer and ethicist, also defended Gafni, asserting that he is a gifted teacher and that they have heard no credible reports against him of improper behavior in the past 15 years or so."

Rabbi Gafni has gone through more reinventions (not to mention name changes, marriages and relationships) than any rabbi I know.

When he was young (mid '70s), he saw himself as the next rabbi Shlomo Riskin. He was delivering rabbi Riskin's talks, word-for-word, better than rabbi Riskin. Rabbi Riskin didn't mind this. On the contrary, he was flattered to have a protege. Rabbi Riskin speaks personally, as if he is giving you some secret (with the way he uses his delivery and moves around the room). Mordecai imitated him exactly.

Then R. Gafni graduated from Riskin and decided he was going to be the second coming of Rav Yosef Soloveitchik. He claimed to be the Rav's disciple. Probably another of rabbi Gafni's exaggerated claims. Perhaps Gafni heard a lecture or two of the Rav's in person.

The Rav was completely out of R. Gafni's range, but he used his terms.

This didn't last long. Next (around 1980) R. Gafni wanted to become the next Shlomo Carlebach (including Carlebach's creepy history of sexual abuse, including of underage girls).

In The Jewish Week article, R. Gafni admitted to committing statutory rape. He said "She was 14 going on 35, and I never forced her." That's an argument Luke Ford would use.

It's true people won't leave Mordecai alone. It's because of what he has done.

He's been married three times. He was engaged for a fourth time. He walked out on his first wife when she was three months pregnant.

He ran an organization called JPSY (Jewish Public School Youth). He was hired by Ellen Lieberman (who is now married to South African rabbi Ian Azizolohof). When Ellen left on maternity leave, Gafni took the organization from her. He seduced the board. She came back from leave to find she was out of a job.

Rabbi Gafni is insatiable for power and his sexuality is just a part of his power thing. Some of his supporters, such as Mark Belzberg (wealthy Canadian family) have said, "Yeah, Mordecai has a yetzer hora." As the Talmud says, the greater the man, the greater the yetzer hora.

Once in control of JPSY, Mordecai Gafni self-destructed. On his second marriage, he got caught molesting an underage girl. I understand that a similar problem broke up his first marriage.

When Mordecai was in high school, he was accused of various crimes and misdemeanors and use of credit cards. But how could the good rabbi effectively preach against sin if he hadn't experienced the pleasure of it first hand?

It's the people who know him longest and best who are most scared of what he can do. People he went to high school with. Today they are high profile Orthodox educators. They have made sure he can't get jobs in the Orthodox community, which is probably why he drifted out of Orthodoxy in the past four years and into Renewal, a place with loose enough standards to take someone with his history.

Also, he probably ploughed through the furrows of available Orthodox girls and women and he needed the type of female refreshment (Wilt Chamberlain understands what I'm saying) that is more easily available outside of Orthodoxy.

After he sexually abused this 16 yo Judy girl in JPSY a couple of times (and after that she turned him down), he hounded her for about a year. He went on a preemptive strike against her. He tried to destroy her life. He spread rumors that she was crazy. That she had a crush on him. That she was trying to destroy him.

Judy told her story to rabbi Shlomo Riskin. He chose to believe R. Gafni instead and discounted her story. R. Riskin told her to stop bothering the good R. Gafni.

Judy told one of her counselors in JPSY. She confronted R. Gafni. He sexually assaulted her as well.

A Beit Din was convenened in New York. He was told to quit his job and move from New York to some unsuspecting community and make a new life (this is how these things were handled until recently, the new community of these sexual predators never got warned what hurricane was headed their way).

Around 1984, R. Gafni had problems with the IRS.

R. Gafni moved to Boca Raton around 1985. He did a great job in outreach. He was charismatic. He touched people deeply with Torah and other things. He built up the community (Boca Raton synagogue) that rabbi Kenneth Brander is leaving for YU. R. Brander inherited the community from Mordecai in 1987.

R. Gafni left the Boca Raton community suddenly. There were rumors that he'd had an affair with a married woman. There were a string of sexual allegations against him. He had to pick up in the middle of the night and move to Israel (and then took on the name Mordecai Gafni?).

Before the scandal broke, he was considering moving back to New York to run for Congress going into politics. The guy is obsessed with power.

He also wanted to become a television anchor man. He knew he spoke well and he was just looking for ways to put his face before a lot of people.

He kept a scrapbook with clippings from every article he was in.

He kept coming up with various schemes for getting the most love.

There was a wealthy Jew in Boca Raton, the late Jerry Hahn, a big Aish Ha Torah donor who loved Mordecai.

Gafni took the three day Aish Ha Torah Discovery seminar around 1987. He then went into the office and took all the original Discovery files. A week later, R. Gafni started teaching the Discovery seminar in Israel.

R. Gafni was confronted on this. He said to Aish -- you guys don't own this. It's Torah. Anybody can teach it.

R. Gafni went around and taught the Discovery seminar for a year month or two. He was a great teacher. He started parroting the teachings of Aish Ha Torah founder R. Noach Weinberg. R. Weinberg, when he found out, was amused.

R. Gafni decided to follow R. Riskin's blueprint of becoming chief rabbi of his own town. R. Riskin became chief rabbi of Efrat by creating his own town with his own community.

In Israel, to become a rabbi of a city, it takes a lot of political savvy and support. If you wanted to become the rabbi of Jerusalem, you'd have to hire a PR firm and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars and have major support in political places. Major Torah scholarship won't be enough to make it happen.

R. Gafni cut a deal with the contractor so he could become the rabbi of Beit Tzufim.

He got a job in the Israeli city of Kfar Saba. Every fourth shabbatot, he was the guest rabbi. People loved him. He was charismatic. He made friends.

One man approached him for help with his 22yo daughter. She needed counseling. She was dating a guy the father considered inappropriate. Mordecai agreed to counselor.

He shaved off his beard. He got up in front of the synagogue and said he had found the woman of his dreams. He was leaving the rabbinate. He was leaving his wife. He was going to spend the rest of his life with this 22yo.

His second marriage came to an end. The father of the 22yo went berserk. He contacted the Chief Rabbi's office and filed a complaint.

Mordy's relationship with the 22yo broke up quickly.

Mordy left the rabbinate for about a year. Rabbi Shlomo Riskin was still in Mordy's corner.

At this point, around 1992, no American or Israeli institution would take R. Gafni. So Mordecai Gafni left for Australia. Rabbi Riskin had funding there. Rabbi Riskin wanted to spread his empire to Australia.

R. Gafni was caught in some obvious lies and his credibility down under was shot.

R. Gafni has no contact with his child from his first marriage. He has three kids from his second marriage. He's now married for five years in his third marriage and I don't think he has any kids this time around.

Mark Belzberg hired Mordy (they'd known each other from high school, Mark was a surrogate older brother for Mordecai) as a software salesman. Mark had a business partner, a wealthy lawyer baal teshuva who moved to Israel. He's reported that Mordecai used the company credit card for all kinds of immoral things on business trips (that he was made to pay back out of his own pocket).

Mordy walked into this guy's office and said he wanted to be president. The guy said Mordy would have to buy him out (Mordy doesn't have any money). The guy went away on a business trip for three weeks. He finds out that Mordecai Gafni had told everybody that he was president. So he fired him on the spot.

Mordecai couldn't stay away from teaching Torah. He couldn't stay away from the limelight. R. Riskin helped Mordecai get a job around 1996 with R. David Aaron from Israel (Isralight).

R. Aaron's web site uses a promo from that litigious, and in my opinion, nogoodnik Deepak Chopra (who successfully sued the Weekly Standard and the New York Post for saying he patronized hookers): "Inspirational, wise, warm and witty... David Aaron gives us a down to earth understanding of the Kabbalah, revealing the secrets to living a soulful, happy, and more meaningful life."

R. Gafni had one or two flings with his Isralight students. R. David Aaron won't speak about it. R. Gafni got fired from Isralight.

He got a job with a group called Milah (Jerusalem Institute for Education). He became high profile in Jerusalem around 1998. He got fired because of money and power issues.

(A source writes: "Milah was an adult education ulpan for Americans and ethiopians who finished the regular ulpan and were still not comfortable in Hebrew. Gafni used this role as head of the organization, not to teach Hebrew, but to teach his theories of pagan Judaism and a parashat hashavua class.")

A rabbinical student at Hebrew University around this time had a moral dilemma. He worked for a famous rabbi as a research assistant. "I listen to tapes of other well-known rabbis. I write them up for him. Then he gives over their classes."

It was obvious the student worked for R. Mordecai Gafni.

So whose tapes was he stealing these days? R. Noach Weinberg among others.

R. Gafni would often give over the teachings of other rabbis word-for-word, without attribution.

There was an eccentric, a Yaakov Fogelman, a Harvard-educated lawyer, who ran around the old city of Jerusalem. He swore by Mordecai. He publicized whenever Mordecai would speak. He thought Mordecai was a genius. 'He's the most brilliant educator of the past 500 years. I heard Soleveitchik. I heard this rabbi and that.'

So what genius things did Mordecai say? Yaakov would quote something that Mordy had stolen from some other rabbi.

Mordecai has great taste. He knows how to steal things from great people.

Another man had a moral dilemma. His wife had moved to Israel two months before him. He suspected that she had had an affair with a rabbi. Guess who he suspected of cuckolding him?

A lot of high profile Orthodox rabbis (until this Gary Rosenblatt article) did not know that Marc Winiarz was Mordecai Gafni. His name change worked. He succeeded in reinventing himself.

In the past four years, R. Gafni had developed an effective new strategy of admitting he did some bad things when he was a kid. Confession gains credibility. "I've done teshuva. I have a good marriage. There are people who are stalking me." He turns the accusations around.

A healthy baal teshuva is one who can forgive himself for his sins. In this sense, Marc is very healthy. A part of me admires him for everything he's been able to get away with, like the Tom Hanks crook in Catch Me If You Can.

R. Gafni is great at identifying people with big money. And what they believe, he will believe and preach. He's a purported TV star in Israel. It's paid television. He's paying (or his backers are paying, such Shari Arison, then the richest resident of Israel) for him to be on TV. It's like 6 a.m. for three minutes.

For a while, R. Gafni defined himself as post-denominational. Let others fight these petty fights between Reform and Orthodox. R. Gafni is beyond such things.

According to the recent Haaretz profile, it sounds like R. Gafni's latest theology comes straight from the Da Vinci Code -- the best-selling novel that claimed that ancient Christianity believed in two divinities, Jesus and Mary. In R. Gafni's enlightened theology, he claims the Jews have gotten rid of the erotic and chased away the female deity. He makes his brachot using the name of the shekhina to re-unite the male and female sides of God.

My sources tell me that the Master of the Universe mightily appreciates R. Gafni's good works in this respect, and the Holy One, Blessed Be He and She, feels much more united and whole since R. Gafni adjusted his brachot.

And what's a few molestations by Gafni compared to the Almighty's wholeness? Shall we talk of the things of girls or of the things of G-d?

R. Gafni is mighty different in private than in public. In public, he's full of love and cheer and performance. In private, he curses and talks like a slob.

R. Gafni is a terrific actor, and for that, I salute him.

I am, however, skeptical of his claims of credentials.

I talk by phone October 10, 2004 to the Susan in Gary Rosenblatt's article:

A woman named Susan, who at the time was a 22-year-old adviser in JPSY, said she believed Judy’s account. She said that when she took Judy’s side, Gafni made harassing phone calls and threats against her.

“He told me I would regret it,” Susan said, adding that the rabbi made inappropriate advances to her, as well.

Susan: "I became an advisor for JPSY (Jewish Public School Youth) in 1985. I was 21. I was responsible for a club at a high school in Queens, NY. Mordecai Winiarz was the head of JPSY. There were Shabbatonim -- weekends when all the Jewish public school kids were invited to experience a Shabbat together.... The goal was to help these young adults become connected with Judaism.

"My initial impressions of Mordecai Winiarz was that he was charismatic, appealing to kids, successful as a speaker. He's engaging. It is characteristic of people who have been accused of the things he has been accused of. He knows how to capture people's attention. The kids were enthralled by him.

"I developed a relationship with one of the kids quoted in the [Gary Rosenblatt article] named Judy."

Gary writes:

The second woman, Judy, said that when she was 16 and deeply unhappy at home, she joined a popular Orthodox outreach group for teens that Gafni was leading called JPSY (Jewish Public School Youth), and was drawn to his charisma and concern for her.

During a two-week period when she ran away from home and was staying with Rabbi Gafni, who was then 25 and married, Judy said he abused her sexually on two occasions. Even more upsetting, she said, was that afterward, the rabbi tried to convince her the encounter did not happen, and then harassed her for many months. He threatened to keep her out of Jewish schools (she was seeking to transfer from public school to a yeshiva), called her home at all hours of the night and then hung up, mailed pictures to her home of naked men and had her followed.

“He attempted to destroy my life for a year and a half,” she said.

Gafni said that Judy was a troubled, unstable teenager who fabricated the story after he rebuffed her advances.

Susan: "She came from a troubled home, so she was excited about JPSY. Mordecai took a great interest in reaching out to her.

"At that time, Mordecai had married his second wife, Lisa Stern. They lived on 13th Street in Brooklyn. They took Judy into their home. Judy was happy living in their basement. It gave her a feeling of worth. Wow! She was living with Mordecai.

"Mordecai's first marriage was to Shifra Pasternak. I believe she is now married to Murry Sugarman. He lived in Kew Gardens for a short while. I remember he spoke at the pulpit at my synagogue and I remember thinking of him then what you wrote in one of your articles. Yes, he was charismatic, but there was something about him that culty and creepy.

"I remember hearing from people that he and Shifra had an ugly divorce. They had a daughter. He walked out on her when she was pregnant.

"When I started working at JPSY, I heard from people that he was known for being creepy. When you wrote that he's a creep, I thought wow, I've heard that word [applied to Gafni] so many times.

"Lisa had been a JPSY adviser. He had started out there as single. So many people were warning Lisa to stay away from him. That he was a dangerous person. That he had a dark side. That he had a sordid past. It was something that all the JPSY advisers were talking about -- that people were taking her aside and warning her not to marry the guy.

"They married November 13, 1985. They invited all the JPSY kids to the wedding. I took a group of kids to the wedding. It was at the Washington Hotel in Bell Harbor. I remember this aura of disbelief. People were worried for Lisa.

"I didn't have that much to do with him. He was always very warm and friendly. He always had a way of looking at people and making them feel important. He would joke around a lot with me. He's witty and I can be witty. We would have our repartee. I was never interested in him. It was never an issue.

"We were having a meeting in Kew Gardens at 6 p.m. one Sunday in May 1986. Mordecai was supposed to be there as the head of JPSY along with several other advisers and me. About 4:30 p.m., I was the only one at home. I hadn't gotten ready yet. I was wearing a robe. Just a regular robe. I wasn't wearing a g-string. And the doorbell rang. I got the door. Mordecai was standing at my front door with a big gemara in a suit with a yarmulke on his head. I just looked at him, 'Mordecai, what are you doing here? Our meeting is at six o'clock.' He said, 'Oh, I was the neighborhood. I figured I'd stop by early. Don't mind me. I have my gemara. I'll just learn while you're getting ready.'

"I was shocked. I was uncomfortable. I had no idea what was going to happen. I didn't know how to say, no, leave, I am uncomfortable. I said, ok, Mordecai. Please stay in the living room. I didn't know you were coming this early.

"I put him in the living room. I closed the living room door. My parents had French doors. I went back to my room to get dressed. No sooner did I get to my room than I turned around because he said to me, 'Susie, Male Sexual Health.'

"He had taken a book off the shelf right near my room. My father was a psychologist and had five zillion books in the hallway right near my room. Mordecai had taken a book off the shelf entitled, Male Sexual Health. He held it in front of me and said, 'Susie. Male Sexual Health. I bet there's a lot you could teach me about that.

"I was shocked. There he was standing being so inappropriate and looking at me with a very inappropriate look. I didn't know how to handle it. I just looked at him and said, 'Mordecai, what are you doing here? You were supposed to stay in the living room. I'm trying to get ready.'

"So he put the book back on the shelf and walked a few steps closer to me. He said, 'You really shouldn't be wearing that robe because it shows me your shape.'

"I just felt this shudder go through me. I said, 'Mordecai, please leave right now.' He was just trying to get a response from me to see if there was any interest.

"He ended up leaving for the back room. I closed the door. I threw on my clothes.

"I was uncomfortable throughout the meeting. Did I approach Mordecai afterwards about it? No. Because nothing happened. I was scared.

"I remember afterwards discussing it with someone called Lenny Solomon who now lives in Israel.

"Soon after that, Judy called me. 'I'm shocked. Mordecai came downstairs to the basement and he started touching me.' She ended up crying to me about an experience she had. As soon as she started telling me the details about what happened to her, which did involve a lot of contact, everything but actual intercourse... I think he was smart enough to know that she was 16. He asked her when she had last gotten her period.

"Judy was enthralled by him. She was getting attention in a way that she had never gotten before.

"It immediately clicked with me that this guy is so capable of that because I knew how he had been with me. I realized what could've happened had I shown any interest.

"I asked her, yes, it was inappropriate and wrong, but why she was complaining about what happened, given that she was enthralled by the guy. What are you unhappy about?

"She said that she was angry and hurt and terrified because he had initiated a sexual encounter with her. It was exciting and shocking for her. A first experience and with the rabbi... He went upstairs and then came back downstairs and said to her, Judy, I'm worried about you. I think you're imagining that something is going on between us.

"If he hadn't played mind games with her and made her think that she was crazy and fabricating the whole thing, it might not have been something that was abhorrent to her. That infuriated her. He started to threaten her. I don't know what you think happened here, but you will be sorry and I will destroy you if you tell anyone stories about what you think happened. I will make sure that you will never get into any Jewish school. Your reputation will be destroyed.

"Of course I wasn't in the room when this happened. People in his position do not invite witnesses to observe their behavior. They don't sell tickets for the event. But as an intelligent person who had experienced something that gave me the tools to recognize that this guy was capable of what Judy described.

"To validate my thoughts, Mordecai called me. 'Susie, it's Mordecai. I need to talk to you. It's really important.' This was right after I had hung up with Judy. 'Susie, you're one of my top advisers. You're terrific. I'm really worried about Judy. Lisa and I took her in.... I'm a friendly guy. I went downstairs to say goodnight to her one night. She thinks that something happened. Something physical. Some sort of a relationship. If she says anything to you, please let me know.'

"I began to plead with other rabbis in the Jewish community [to do something about Mordecai]. Rabbi Kenneth Hahn is a buddy of Mordecai's. I believe that Mordecai must have something over him. Given that there are many people who have come forward [to describe creepy experiences with Mordecai]. Mordecai raped one of the people in the [Rosenblatt] article. Judy was under-age and he was threatening her. It was clear that Mordecai was dangerous and needed to be stopped.

"Rabbi Hahn called me to stop what I was doing, which was taking Judy and my experiences to the appropriate people at Yeshiva University, the main group supporting JPSY. I was crying on the phone to rabbi Hahn. I told him exactly what happened to me.

"Rabbi Hahn knew me and my family. There was no reason for me to fabricate a story. I had heard of all these other stories of people who had had bad experiences with Mordecai. Rabbi Hahn said to me in his deep voice, 'Sometimes the bigger person is one who can just let things go.'

"I was shocked and disgusted. He knew I was trying to reach the right people [to do something about Mordecai]. I did not have a lot of support. People were telling me be quiet.

"There was a Rabbi Adler in Jamaican Estates who told me to move on. That I wasn't there [when Judy says Mordecai got sexual with her]. That I had no right to spread lashon hara.

"I am learned. I have a strong Judaic background. I went to yeshiva. I grew up in an Orthodox home. My father and grandfather [had Orthodox rabbinic ordination]. I know the laws of lashon hara. I know when it is permitted and not permitted to speak ill of someone. There are certain situations when it is required [to bring up harmful details about somebody's past to protect innocent people in the present].

"[In the summer of 1986] I was on an Israel program. I went to Efrat, where rabbi [Shlomo] Riskin was rabbi. He revoked Mordecai's ordination [after earlier being a big supporter of Mordecai]. I told rabbi Riskin everything. He was extremely unsupportive. I think that these rabbis were afraid of what it might mean for them. He listened to me and I think he believed what I told him, but for some reason he didn't want to do anything about it.

"I met with JPSY advisers and filled them in on what I knew. There was a meeting at YU. Shalom Lamm, the son of the president of YU, Norman Lamm, was there. Judy and I told our stories. Soon after that, Mordecai was ousted from JPSY. Throughout the process, as soon as he knew that I was making known what he had done, I received harassing and threatening phone calls at my phone at home. One came from Mordecai's home. The others came from pay phones. I would get heavy breathing. I would get the sounds of someone smashing a hammer into something.

"He would also call me and say that he was going to make sure that I was sorry. That he was going to sue me for libel and slander. I remember thinking, for an intelligent guy, why are you using the word 'libel'? I haven't written anything.

"He said I was trying to destroy his marriage. That I had no basis. That I was making everything up. I was truly scared.

"I became friendly Shlomo Stochel. He's now a rabbi at Ramaz. We used to spend hours discussing everything. He was extremely supportive. He had gone to school with Mordecai and knew what a sicko he was and knew a lot of the things in his past. Tzvi Bernstein, now of Stamford Connecticut, also knew of Mordecai's shady ways."

10/4/04

I got an email from Dr. Norman Solomon, a retired professor in Oxford's Oriental Studies department, in reply to my questions:

Dear Luke:

Re Gafni's claims:

1) teaching graduate seminars on mysticism at Oxford University in England

Gafni has spoken on mysticism at my seminar, at my invitation. It could be misleading to describe this as "teaching graduate seminars", since this might be taken to imply that he is or has been a member of staff here, which is incorrect.

2) a fellow at the Oriental Institute of Oxford University

Gafni is not and never has been a fellow at the Oriental Institute (in fact there is no such category).

3) an Oxford-trained scholar

He has worked towards a D.Phil (we have no degree of Ph.D.) under my supervision, but has not not submitted.

4) he also holds a Ph.D. from Oxford

He does not hold a Ph.D. from Oxford. Should it be confirmed that he has made such a spurious claim it would be regarded here as an extremely serious breach of discipline.

Oxford professor Joanna Weinberg emails me back: "Gafni taught a seminar which was not part of the university curriculum - he simply used the premises of the Oriental Institute."

Oxford professor Hugh Williamson writes me:

Gafni is registered here as a D.Phil. (=PhD) student. There have been some stumbles in his progress, and as I am no longer Director of Graduate Studies, it is just possible that I am slightly out of date. My understanding, however, is that he has yet to pass through the 'Coinfirmation of D.Phil. Status' stage, which is the final hurdle before he is allowed to sbmit his thesis for examination. He is emphatically NOT a fellow of the Oriental Institute, nor does he hold a PhD here. Whether he took part in a graduate seminar I do not know; he is being trained (when he allows himself to be) as an Oxford scholar, but we could not yet certify him, so to speak! He is rarely present in Oxford, so that input from this end is minimal. Gafni has been told before not to make such representations of himself and has agreed not to do so; it is there very disappointing to learn that he is still at it.

Professor Martin Goodman writes: "He is Norman's student (Marc Gafni). Norman has been supervising him jointly with Moshe Idel (Hebrew U). Gafni is a member of Wolfson and was around for 2 years or so, but is now in Jerusalem (I think). So far as I know, he has not finished his D.Phil. (but Norman should know!)."

............

Jacob Ner-David, Avraham Leader, Neil Markowitz -- board members of Bayit Chadash -- emailed other board members of American Friends of Bayit Chadash:

As we shared with you recently a group of people -who for the past twenty years have been sadly but determinedly antagonistic to Rabbi Gafni and all he represents - viewing him as a threat to the future of Orthodoxy - have done all they could to remove him from public discourse. Their accusations are simply not true; they have been looked at carefully and dismissed by every fair minded person who has encountered them.

Attached please find a letter to the Editor written by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, Rabbi Saul Berman and Rabbi Tirzah Firestone which summarized and rebuffs the false accusations leveled in the Jewish Week article.

We are in fully constructive Bayit Chadash mode...engaging in all of our forms of teaching; television production, student classes, book projects, public festivals and events and of course funding raising as well.

As you can imagine - in this trying time your support of Bayit Chadash in general and of Rabbi Gafni personally is essential. We will walk past this break in the road, gently and confidently and with God’s help reach heights we never dreamed were possible.

To the Editor,

Words can elevate and words can destroy.

There was a time when the Jewish community too glibly and carelessly disregarded words of accusation of sexual abuse against clergy. That was clearly wrong, and Gary Rosenblatt of The Jewish Week helped to correct that. The pendulum has now
swung to the opposite extreme, as evidenced in Rosenblatt’s column (The Re-Invented Rabbi, 9/24/04).

The column reports an allegation concerning a relationship from twenty-five years ago – when Rabbi Mordechai Gafni was 19 and 20 and not yet a rabbi – in a situation where he had no pastoral relationship with the person in question. Rabbi Gafni has a completely different account of what happened which was not clearly related in the article (including the fact that nothing even vaguely resembling sexual relations took place).

Furthermore, we can attest first hand that several years ago Rabbi Gafni made serious attempts to contact this woman in a therapeutically-mediated context—to clarify the huge gulf in their understandings of what happened and, if necessary, to apologize for any way in which she felt hurt. This offer was rejected and the decision was apparently made that the press was a more appropriate vehicle for conversation.

The story also reports unsubstantiated allegations which are twenty-years old. The story critically omits the fact that the professional to whom Rabbi Gafni (then Winiarz) was responsible at the time conducted an investigation, and drew the following conclusions in a formal report which was accepted by his superiors:

“I’ve known Rabbi Winiarz for the past six years, and I believe I speak of his character from a position of knowledge and reliability… In his work as director of Jewish Public School Youth, allegations were made as to his improper conduct with a teenage girl and a young female adult [referred to in the article as Judy and Susan]… For several months, in the spring and summer of 1986, I delved into the accusations and had numerous conversations with a number of people who were associated with Rabbi Winiarz both professionally and personally. I also talked to the accusing parties as well as members of their families, rabbis close to them and agency personnel involved in the work of JPSY. I also, of course, spoke at length to Rabbi Winiarz about these matters. It was my conclusion, based on clear and compelling reasons, that the accusations were not true and were not substantiated. I might add that this was also the view of a clinical psychologist who interviewed Rabbi Winiarz and the teenager after the alleged incident.”

We have collectively looked at this issue again in the last six months, and come to a similar conclusion. Further, Rabbi Gafni has long expressed his desire to meet with any of the parties who feel he has wronged them—even when he has a completely different account of the situation.

We, like Gary Rosenblatt, have struggled with the question of what gravity to assign to persistent rumors. Our conclusion differs from that of Mr. Rosenblatt. We have collectively, over many years, spoken to virtually everyone who would speak to us who was directly involved in order to examine the accusations against Rabbi Gafni. We have found them totally not convincing. Further, there is simply no evidence that Rabbi Gafni’s public role constitutes a risk to Jewish women, or to anyone for that matter.

We pray that this unfair scandalous moment will soon be forgotten and that Rabbi Gafni will be able to free his spiritual energy and formidable intellect in order to help build Jewish consciousness and commitment.

Rabbi Saul J. Berman, Director of Edah
Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, author of Jewish Literacy and The Book of Jewish Values
Rabbi Tirzah Firestone, Congregation Nevei Kodesh, author of With Roots in Heaven and
The Receiving

Dan Ehrenkrantz from the Reconstructionst Rabbinical College writes:

To Whom It May Concern: Arthur Green left the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC) in 1994. Since that time he has had no formal affiliation with RRC and is indeed the Dean of another rabbinical program entirely. The use of the term "rodef" to describe people seeking to publicly discredit another person is inflammatory and therefore, in our opinion, ill advised. Dan Ehrenkrantz

A poster by the name of "Me" (who represents TheAwarenessCenter.org mentality) writes:

Rabbi [Yosef] Blau said he has spoken with a number of women "from the past who said they were victimized, and in no case do I know of his admitting direct responsibility or contacting them to express regret. So what teshuvah has he done?"

Gafni is a violent sexual predator. Why would anyone subject themselves to any process he controls that involves him or any of his enablers as those in charge of the process. People went through that in the sham investigation at YU in the 80's.

It is not appropriate for a psychologist to conduct an investigation into serious allegations of child molestation. They don't have the proper training. Either do the "keystone cop" Rabbis here either.

Two groups in the Renewal movement, Aleph and Elat Chayyim, looked into the allegations against Rabbi Gafni and found "no evidence of wrongdoing," according to Rabbi Arthur Waskow. (The three women with whom I spoke said they were never contacted.) And that's an investigation?

MG writes:

I heard rumors that the Jewish Renewal folks attempted to "investigate" the claims made against Gafni several months ago. Rabbi Pam Frydman Baugh headed this "investigation." I've been told by a reliable source that Rabbi Baugh spoke at length to one of the three survivors named in the Jewish Week article, and attempted to silence her. The survivor was told NOT to tell any one of what happened to her, for fear it would contaminate the Jewish Renewal investigation. I was curious, what kind of forensic training or experience does Rabbi Baugh have, or any of the other members of the Jewish Renewal's tribunal? How many other cases of alleged abuse have they handled? What were their outcomes? I guess I should also ask the same question regarding the honorable Rabbi Saul Berman?

From Orshalomsf.org:

Rabbi Baugh is a high ranking official in the Jewish Renewal Movement. Pamela Frydman Baugh was ordained a Jewish Renewal Rabbi in 1989. She has been a Jewish educator since 1966. Her universal approach comes from years of study with Jewish, Sufi, Buddhist and Theosophical teachers. She is a member of Aleph: Alliance for Jewish Renewal, the Aquarian Minyan of Berkeley and the Board of the San Francisco Interfaith Council. Pam is presently President of the Association of Rabbis for Jewish Renewal.

Here's a response to Telushkin, Berman and Firestone by someone who claims to have been a victim of Gafni.

Books by Gafni:

• The Mystery of Love, Atria Books – a Division of Simon and Schuster, 2003
• The Uncertain Spirit – Towards a New Theology, (reclaiming uncertainty as a spiritual value) winter publication, 2000 in Hebrew - Modan Publishing; tentative Publication in English – Shocken, Scribbner 2001
• The Certain Spirit – winter publication, Hebrew Modan. English Publication, Summer 2001
• Soul Prints- a Philosophy of Individualism - Lead Spring Catalogue, Pocket Books, 2000 Division of Simon and Schuster USA
• PBS, Public Television; national network special on Soul Prints, March 2001
• An Academic translation and Study of Mei Hashiloach by Mordechai Lainer of Ishbitz, accepted for publication Jewish Publication Society (with Dr. Don Seeman –Harvard University)
• Lilith and Leah: A Biblical Lurianic Paradigm, with Ohad Ezrahi, for Summer publication 2001 in Hebrew with Modan, in English, Shocken Scribner
• On Laughter and Tears: Re-visioning Ritual, first draft written, anticipated publication, 2003 – no decision taken yet by Curtis Brown – the Agency responsible for publication
• Personal Myth Essays with Ohad Ezrahi, for Winter Publication 2001, in Hebrew - Modan Summer Publication, in English with Harvard or Shocken

Articles by Gafni:

• Lead Essay in Tikkun Magazine on The Erotic and the Ethical, March 2003
• “Walking Together; New Models for Community”, Conservative Judaism, Summer þ2000 (Published)
• Essays in Tikkun Magazine 1999-2003
• Lead Essay in Tikkun Magazine on Philosophy of Individualism – March 2001
• “Nachman of Breslav; Living in the Void”, Dimui, for fall publication.
• Contributor of columns - Jerusalem Post, Jerusalem Report and Chayim Acherim (Alternative Living)
• “On the Commandment to Question”, Azure, Summer Issue, 1996.
• “An Annotated Bibliography of Joseph Soloveitchik”, Da’at, Journal for Jewish Thought and Philosophy, 1992.
• “Against Fundamentalism”, Nekudah Magazine, January 1991.
• “Religious Secular Symbiosis - Philosophical Perspectives”, Nativ, March 1991.
• “The Sacred and the Profane - Legal Perspective”, Machanayim, 1991.
• First Steps in Judaism, (book) recommended by the Ministry of Education of the State of Israel.
• “Left-Right-Left-Attention - Halt! - A Sociological Analysis”, Nekudah Magazine, May 1990.
• “The Conversion Issue, Models for Pluralism”, lead article in Proceedings of the Fellowship of Traditional Orthodox Rabbis, 1989.
• “The Wisdom of Distinctions,” Emunah Magazine, 1989.
• “I Cannot be Silent”, Palm Beach Jewish World, 1989.
• “Jewish Pride”, Palm Beach Jewish World, 1988.
• “Is Religion for the Happy-Minded? Tradition, 1981

..........

Mordecai Gafni biographies (I assume he wrote or approved all of these below):

http://www.judaism.com/12paths/hebrew&yiddish.htm

Rabbi Gafni is the director of Minad, a Torah think-tank teaching organization, and serves as the Melitz Scholar-in-Residence. Described as a cross between Rabbi Soloveitchik and Shlomo Carlebach, Rabbi Gafni has attracted huge numbers of students in Jerusalem and TelAviv ranging from secular Israelis to black hat yeshiva students. He is currently completing a book tentatively titled The Benefit of Doubt.

Where is this book?

http://www.templechai.com/Pages/rabbi_refections/rabbi_ref_mar03.html

Rabbi Mordechai Gafni, currently lecturer in mysticism at Oxford,

http://www.ujf.net/ga_speaker_bio.html?SectionID=42&id=115&list=g&bread=0

Mordechai Gafni, Bait Hadash Rabbi Mordechai (Marc) Gafni has emerged as an exciting new voice in Israeli and international religious life and spirituality. In addition to teaching graduate seminars on mysticism at Oxford University in England, R'Gafni is the founder and head of Bayit Chadash. Overlooking Israel's Sea of Galilee, Bayit Chadash is an international spiritual community retreat center committed to Jewish renaissance. Additionally, Gafni is the host and creator of a highly acclaimed national Israeli television program on ethics and spirituality. The show, with hundreds of thousands of viewers, has become an important weaver of the Israeli spirit. Besides contributing to a number of American journals, R'Gafni is contributing editor to Chayim Acherim, Israel's leading spirituality magazine. An acknowledged master of the ancient texts as well as the texts of the heart, Gafni has published two works of Jewish thought in Hebrew with two more forthcoming in the next year. A third book, Soul Prints, written for a broader English-speaking public, was the subject of a National PBS Special. The book hit the bestseller list, has been translated into many languages and was chosen for the prestigious Napra Nautilus Award for the Best Spirituality Book of 2001. Gafni has also just come out with his second English book, entitled "The Mystery of Love". Gafni's work has deservedly earned him the reputation as a modern philosopher: wise, compassionate, accessible, and universal.

http://www.aleph.org/teachers.html Rabbi Mordechai Gafni is founder of Bayit Chadash (Israeli spiritual community /movement), Rebbe, Scholar, Teacher at Oxford University;Host/creator of leading Israeli TV show on ethics and spirituality. Author of several books of Neo-Hasssidic thought (Hebrew and English) as well as National Best Selling "Soul Prints", with accompanying PBS TV Special. Winner of Napra Award for Best Spirituality Book of 2001. Plus newly-released book - "The Mystery of Love".

http://www.spiritwalk.org/bom0304.htm#Author

Marc Gafni, a profound thinker, philosopher, and spiritual guide, is the author of the national bestseller Soul Prints, which was adapted into a national PBS special and received a NAPRA Award for Best Spirituality Book of 2001. It was also a main selection of the One Spirit Book Club. In the last ten years, Gafni has emerged as a premier voice in Israeli and international religion and spirituality. He teaches graduate seminars on mysticism at Oxford University and is the founder of Bayit Chadash, an international spiritual movement based in Israel on the hills overlooking the Sea of Galilee. He leads retreats around the world on spiritual thought and practice and is the author of three Hebrew works of philosophy

http://www.bayitchadash.net/staff.shtml

Rabbi Mordechai Gafni, Spiritual Director Reb Gafni is the Rosh Bayit of Bayit Chadash. His affiliations include being a fellow at the Oriental Institute of Oxford University, as well as serving as a contributing editor to the American "Tikkun" magazine, a bimonthly journal critiquing politics, culture and society from a Jewish perspective. He is also a contributing editor of Chayim Acherim, Israel's leading spirituality magazine. He is currently completing the writing of a commentary on the Hasidic text "Mei Ha'Shiloach." Together with colleagues, Reb Gafni is developing a new school of Jewish thought which is coming to be called "The School of Personal Myth". This proposes a marked shift from national to personal myth as the center of Jewish consciousness. Reb Gafni is reformulating and extending the core constructs of Post-Lurianic thought in a modern Neo-Hasidic context. Also the host and creator of a highly acclaimed national Israeli television program on ethics and spirituality, Reb Gafni's work has deservedly earned him the reputation as a modern philosopher: wise, deep, compassionate, accessible, and universal. His English book, Soul Prints: Your Path to Fulfillment was released by Pocket Books in 2001 and is accompanied by a national PBS Special of the same title. The book is an award winning best seller and have been translated into numerous languages. In Hebrew, his two volume set of New Jewish Thought -entitled Certainty and Uncertainty is published by Modan Publishers. Written in collaboration with Ohad Ezrachi, Lilith and Sacred Feminism is slated for release in 2005. The Mystery of Love was also recently released in English in the spring of 2003 by Atria books. Reb Gafni is married to Chaya Kaplan, his full partner in all endeavors, and he is the father of Eytan and Yair.

http://www.aquarius-atlanta.com/june03/eros1.shtml

The Eros of Imagination By Rabbi Marc Gafni Rabbi Marc Gafni, author of Soul Prints: Your Path to Fulfillment and his latest release, The Mystery of Love, is hailed as "an exciting new voice in Israeli and international religious life and spirituality." The Rosh Bayit of Bayit Chadash, a national, spiritual community retreat center, Gafni is a Visiting Fellow at the Hartman Institute in Jerusalem and a Senior Scholar at the Melitz Educational Institutions. He teaches graduate seminars at Oxford University and, with colleagues, is developing a new school of Jewish thought referred to as "The School of Personal Myth." His "Soul Prints" book became the subject of a PBS companion series that has taken the Jewish world by storm. -Editor Rabbi Marc Gafni Bayit Chadash Jerusalem Israel

http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:Xk5TKBCPiYIJ:www.synthesisdialogues.org /docs/BiosSynthesisIII.doc+gafni+rabbi&hl=en

Rabbi Mordechai (Marc) Gafni has emerged as an exciting new voice in Israeli and international religious life and spirituality. In addition to teaching graduate seminars on mysticism at Oxford University in England, R'Gafni is the founder and head of Bayit Chadash. Overlooking Israel's Sea of Galilee, Bayit Chadash is an international spiritual community retreat center committed to Jewish renaissance. Additionally, Gafni is the host and creator of a highly acclaimed national Israeli television program on ethics and spirituality. The show, with hundreds of thousands of viewers, has become an important weaver of the Israeli spirit. Besides contributing to a number of American journals, R'Gafni is contributing editor to Chayim Acherim, Israel's leading spirituality magazine. An acknowledged master of the ancient texts as well as the texts of the heart, Gafni has published two works of Jewish thought in Hebrew with two more forthcoming in the next year. A third book, Soul Prints, written for a broader English-speaking public, was the subject of a National PBS Special. The book hit the bestseller list, has been translated into numerous languages and was chosen for the prestigious Napra Nautilus Award for the Best Spirituality Book of 2001. Gafni has also just come out with his second highly acclaimed English book, entitled "The Mystery of Love". Gafni's work has deservedly earned him the reputation as a modern philosopher and spirit master: wise, compassionate, accessible, and universal.

http://cgi.www.limmud.org/cgi-bin/mylimmud3.cgi/zpages/pg.html

Mordechai Gafni Organisation: Bayit Chadash Spiritual Centre and Melitz[NL]Email: rmgafni@netvision.net.il[NL]Website: www.soulprints.org or www.bayitchadash.com[PARA]Rebbe, Scholar, Teacher at Oxford University, Head of Bayit Chadash (Israeli spiritual retreat center), Host of leading Isaeli TV show on ethics and spirituality. Author of several scholarly books as well as Best Selling "Soul Prints" with National American TV Special, winner of Napra's 2001 Award for Best Spirituality Book

http://www.tikkun.org/magazine/index.cfm/action/tikkun/issue/tik0303/article /030311a.html

Mordechai (Marc) Gafni is the leader of Bayit Chadash, a spiritual center in Israel, author of several philosophical works including Soul Prints, and a writer and teacher at Oxford University. This essay is based on his forthcoming book, The Mystery of Love (c) Atria, Simon and Schuster, March 2003.

http://64.233.179.104/search?q=cache:Ln6Vhq1Se6IJ:www.huc.edu/kalsman/projec ts/mining/program.pdf+marc+gafni+oxford&hl=en

Rabbi Mordechai Gafni Teacher of graduate seminars on mysticism at Oxford University in England...