Case of Rabbi Mordechai Gafni
(aka: Marc Gafni, Mark Gafni, Mordy Gafni, Marc Winiarz, Mordechai Winiarz, Mordechai Winyarz)
Campaign Against Edah - Justice for Survivors of Rabbi Mordecai Gafni
Zanzeon Zen Center of Salt Lake, Big Mind, Inc. - Salt Lake City, UT
Bayit Chadash Center - Jaffa and Poriya, Israel
Stephen L. Weiss Temple - Los Angeles, CA
Isabella Freedman - Falls Village, CT
Elat Chayyiim Center For Jewish Spirituality - Falls Village, CT
Edah - New York, NY
San Francisco, CA
Isralight Program - Israel
Aish Ha Torah / Discovery Program - Jerusalem, Israel
Boca Raton Synagogue - Boca Raton, FL
Stamford, Connecticut
JPSY (Jewish Public School Youth) - New York, NY
WARNING:
Marc Gafni Should Be Scene As A Danger to Women and Children.
Born as Marc Winiarz, Marc Gafni changed his name several times using multiple spellings. Winiarz is also known as Mordechai Winiarz, Marc Gafni and or Mordechai Gafni..
Winiarz/Gafni grew up in the midwest, yet went to both high school and college in New York. After college he became a Rabbinical student at Yeshiva University, yet did not get his rabbinical ordination (smeicha) from YU. Instead, Mordechai Gafni obtained his ordination from Rabbi Shlomo Riskin.
In 2004, Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, the spiritual leader of the Israeli community of Efrat, was going to revoke the rabbinic ordination he gave Rabbi Winiarz/Gafni many years ago when they had a close rabbi-student relationship. When Gafni heard of Rabbi Riskin's wishes, he wrote a letter "returning" his semicha to spare his former teacher any further embarrassment.
In the early 1980's, when Mordechai was nineteen he sexually abused a thirteen-year-old girl in her home. It wasn't until many years later that Marc Gafni confessed to the molestation while being interviewed by Gary Rosenblatt, editor of the New York Jewish Week. Marc stated: "I was a stupid kid and we were in love," the rabbi said. "She was 14 going on 35, and I never forced her"
In 1983 Mordechai Winiarz was married to his first wife. He was also a youth leader for a group called "JPSY" (Jewish Public School Youth). The group involved working with at risk teenagers. It was during this time he was accused of molesting a fifteen-year-old girl and an attempted sexual assault of a young adult woman. At the time the rabbis accused him of cult like practices. Both women went to various rabbis looking for help, yet nothing was done except he was chased out of town, moving to Boca Raton, Florida. There was some sort of scandl and he fled Florida suddenly.
In 1991 he left the Unitied States to start a new life in Israel, changing his name to Mordechai Gafni.
May, 2006 new allegations were made against confessed child molester Rabbi Mordechai Gafni . This time the allegations were made by three women who filed a complaint with the police in Haifa (Israel). The new claims were of professional sexual misconduct / clergy sexual abuse. The alleged offenses occurred during Torah lessons given by Gafni.
Immediately after the charges were filed Rabbi Mordechai Gafni confessed and fled Israel for the United States. He first landed in Boston, MA, where it is believed he stayed with one of his many female friends. There were rumors that soon after arriving in Boston he continued on to Boulder, CO and stayed with a colleague and then moved on to Salt Lake City, Utah.
Marc Gafni is involved with the Buddhist community of Salt Lake City. It is believed that he is in the process of trying to reinvent himself again as he did back in the 1980's after the first allegations were made against him of child molestation. Marc Gafni is considered dangerous to women and to both male and female children. Rumors are floating around that he is involved in BDSM community (Bondage, Discipline, Domination, Submission, Sadism, Masochism).
The Awareness Center is seeking justice for all of the survivors of Rabbi Mordechai Winiarz (past and present). If you have any information regarding the current location of Rabbi Marc Gafni please notify The Awareness Center, Inc.
The Awareness Center, Inc.
443-857-5560
e-mail: VickiPolin @ aol.com
Disclaimer: Inclusion in this website does not constitute a recommendation
or endorsement. Individuals must decide for themselves if the resources meet
their own personal needs.
If you are a journalist doing a story -- The Awareness Center, Inc. asks that you mention our organization in your article if you found this web page helpful. The Awareness Center, Inc. is the international Jewish Coalition Against Sexual Abuse/Assault.
Timeline
1987
1989
Controversial Rabbi Starts Jewish Outreach Organization (01/05/1989)
1990
Letter by Rabbi Causes Flap in House Race (11/02/1990)
2000
Lessons From The Lanner Case (07/20/2000)
2001
2002
No None Articles
2003
2004
Protocols Blogspot (05/05/2004)
Protocols Blogspot (05/07/2004)
Gary Rosenblatt (06/24/2004)
Update: Rabbi Marc Gafni (AKA: Mordechai Gafni, Marc Winiarz. Mordechai Winyarz, etc.) (10/03/2004)
Wisdom Chair - Jewish Studies at Stephen S. Wise Temple (09/21/2004)
The Re-Invented Rabbi (09/22/2004)
A Time to Publish? (09/24/2004)
Herscher: Gafni Still Welcome in L.A. (10/01/2004)
Articles on rabbi Gafni, born Marc Winiarz (10/03/2004)
Gafni has no PHD from Oxford (10/03/2004)
Stories From three Survivors of Rabbi Mordechai Winiarz (of Rabbi Mordechai Gafni (aka: Marc Gafni, Mark Gafni, Marc Winiarz, Mordechai Winiarz, Mordechai Winyarz)
Susan's Story (10/10/2004)
Rabbi Mordecai Gafni's Teachings to a Teenage Girl (10/13/2004)
If at first you aren't heard... (Judy's memories of Rabbi Mordechai Gafni) (10/17/2004)
Rabbi Yosef Blau On Mordecai Gafni (10/14/2004)
Letter from: Rabbi Saul J. Berman & Rabbi Joseph Telushkin (10/13/2004)
2005
Ways of Pleasantness or view it in Hebrew Maariv Article in Hebrew (10/15/2004)
Rabbi Marc Gafni andAndrew Cohen (01/01/2005)
Gafni and Walmart (03/01/2005)
Eric Yoffe regarding Marc Gafni (03/09/2005)
Why am I not a Buddhist? (06/02/2005)
CALL TO ACTION: UJA Federation of NY Sponsors Event with Rabbi Marc "Mordechai" Gafni (09/11/2005)
CALL TO ACTION: Rabbi Marc Gafni (Winiarz) - How can any paper publish an article by this man anymore? (12/05/2005)
CALL TO ACTION: Omega Institute (12/26/2005)
2006
CALL TO ACTION: All Rabbis and Rabbinical Organizations - Rabbi Marc Gafni (AKA: Rabbi Mordechai Winyartz) (01/16/2006)
CALL TO ACTION: Gafni and Worch Speaking in Chicago? (04/20/2006)
CALL TO ACTION: Jerusalem Post - Three days of purple haze (05/09/2006)
Gafni Strikes Again (05/11/2006)
Mordechai Gafni/Winiarz Accused of Rape (05/11/2006)
Rabbi Arthur Waskow issues a letter on Marc Gafni (05/14/2006)
Ken Wilber - Rabbi Marc Gafni and Sexual Improprieties (05/15/2006)
Letter from Mordechai Gafni to Aleph regarding the recent allegations of sexual assault (05/15/2006)
History Channel - Bible Code II: Apocalypse and Beyond (05/16/2006)
Rabbi Marc Gafni & Andrew Cohen (05/17/2006)
Faith and Values on TV - Marc Gafni (05/17/2006)
CALL TO ACTION: Rabbi Marc Gafni and the News Media (05/17/2006)
Rabbi Gafni accused of sexual assault (05/18/2006)
Rabbi Mordechai Gafni accused of sexually exploiting women (05/18/2006)
Rabbi dogged by sex scandal (05/18/2006)
Note From The Awareness Center Regarding the Articles from the Forward and the New York Jewish Week (05/18/2006)
Facing Up To Abuse (05/18/2006)
Bayit Hadash leader fired for sexual misconduct (05/18/2006)
Facts in Gafni case must be brought to light (05/18/2006)
Fiend Rabbi on Run: Victims in U.S., Israel (05/21/2006)
LA Gafni Event Canceled (05/25/2006)
Rabbi Zalman Schachter Shalomi Speaks on Gafni (05/25/2006)
Rabbi Gafni Ousted for Misconduct (05/25/2006)
Rabbi Gafni's spiritual community still in shock (05/26/2006)
Helping Gafni's Victims (05/28/2006)
Campaign Against Edah - Justice for Survivors of Rabbi Mordecai Gafni (05/28/2006)
The new Sabbateans (05/30/2006)
Charisma's shadow Jewish Renewal community grapples with ethics in wake of Gafni affair (06/01/2006)
Charisma and its Dangers: Mordechai Gafni as Nazirite (06/12/2006)
Deconstructing The Gafni Case (06/09/2006)
Is Gary Rosenblatt reinventing history when it comes to the case of Rabbi Mordechai Gafni? (06/16/2006)
Deposition Of Mordecai Gafni's Third Wife (06/27/2006)
Nuns' accomplishments don't deserve ridicule (08/16/2006)
Call To Action: Locating Rabbi Mordechai Gafni and His Return To Israel (09/20/2006)
2007
Call To Action: Protect Women From Rabbi Mordechai Gafni (05/01/2007)
2007
Other Cases Connected to Rabbi Mordechai Gafni
Also see:
Rabbi Saul Berman - By Levi Ford
Background Information and The History of Rabbinical Ordinations
Rabbi Mordecai Gafni aka Marc
Winiarz
© (2003) By Levi Ford
The first story about Gafni/Winiarz's sexual escapades with
a minor was broken by Gary Rosenblatt in the September 24,
2004 issue of The Jewish Week. Many of the Gafni critics Gary spoke to
felt let down by his article. They say Gary either doesn't get it or he went
easy on Gafni to make Gary's own life easier. By focusing on sexual incidents
that happened 20 years ago instead of Gafni's ongoing creepy behavior, Rosenblatt
delegitimized his own article, not to mention the concern that Gafni is dangerous
to people today.
Here is my personal experience with rabbi Gafni: I heard him lecture (Gafni's a friend of UCLA Hillel rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller) for an hour at UCLA during Passover week 2002. I considered what Gafni had to say worthless. I read a long section of his book Soul Prints. I considered it worthless. Just New Age nonsense.
Gafni struck me as a charlatan.
I saw him hustle Dennis Prager to get a half hour on Prager's radio show the next week. I listened to the show. Neither Prager nor I could figure out what Gafni was talking about.
I have an ex-girlfriend who was deeply moved by Gafni's book -- Soul Prints. She said it was the best book she'd ever read on Judaism.
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. He's an excellent mimic and actor.
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 his sources. Rabbi Gafni frequently takes without attributing (as does Dr. Laura Schlesinger, who takes a lot from Prager without attribution). Many of Gafni's Renewal followers think he's a genius. He probably knows more Torah than 99% of Renewal Jews.
Winiarz'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 Winiarz's 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. Rabbi 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."
On October 21, 2004, I left messages with Rabbis Berman and Telushkin on their home phone numbers to talk about their defense of Gafni and their attacks on The Awareness Center They've yet to return my call.
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.
Winiarz wore a suit. His hair was cut short. He always wore a white shirt. He looked like a respectable Orthodox rabbi.
Then Winiarz 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. It's probably another of Winiarz's exaggerated claims. Perhaps Winiarz heard a lecture or two of the Rav's in person.
The Rav was completely out of Rabbi Gafni's range, but Gafni used his terms.
This didn't last long. Next (around 1980) Rabbi 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, Rabbi Gafni admitted to committing statutory rape. He said, "She was 14 going on 35, and I never forced her."
He's been married three times. He was also engaged to a woman he never married. He walked out on his first wife when she was three months pregnant. His third marriage seems to be one of convenience. His current wife lives in San Francisco while Winiarz lives in Israel.
Winiarz ran an organization called JPSY (Jewish Public School Youth). It was funded by such major Jewish philanthropists as Michael Steinhardt and Mark Belzberg (who seemed impressed by Winiarz).
Winiarz 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 predatory sexuality is just a part of his power thing. Some of his supporters, such as Mark Belzberg (from the wealthy Canadian family) have said, "Yeah, Mordecai has a yetzer hora."
Once in control of JPSY, Mordecai Gafni self-destructed. On his second marriage, he got caught molesting a 16-year old girl (called Judy in Rosenblatt's article). 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 illicit use of credit cards.
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.
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 rabbi Gafni instead and discounted her story. Rabbi Riskin told her to stop bothering the good rabbi Gafni.
Judy told one of her counselors in JPSY, Susan. She confronted Rabbi Gafni. He tried to seduce her. She was appalled and rejected him.
A Beit Din was convenened in New York. Winiarz was told to quit his job and move from New York to some unsuspecting community and make a new life (that was how these things were handled until recently).
Around 1984, Rabbi Gafni had problems with the IRS.
Rabbi 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. Rabbi Brander inherited the community from Mordecai in 1987.
Rabbi 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 Winiarz
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, Rabbi Gafni started teaching the Discovery seminar in Israel.
Rabbi Gafni was confronted on this. He said to Aish -- you guys don't own this. It's Torah. Anybody can teach it.
Rabbi 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 Rabbi Noach Weinberg. Rabbi Weinberg, when he found out, was amused.
Rabbi Gafni decided to follow Rabbi Riskin's blueprint of becoming chief rabbi of his own town. Rabbi 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.
Rabbi 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 22 year-old daughter. She needed counseling. She was dating a guy the father considered inappropriate. Mordecai agreed to counsel her.
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 Rabbi Gafni. So Mordecai Gafni left for Australia. Rabbi Riskin had funding there. Rabbi Riskin wanted to spread his empire to Australia.
Rabbi Gafni was caught in some obvious lies and his credibility down under was shot.
Rabbi 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 Belzberg's partner fired him on the spot.
Mordecai couldn't stay away from teaching Torah. He couldn't stay away from the limelight. Rabbi Riskin helped Mordecai get a job around 1996 with Rabbi David Aaron from Israel (Isralight).
Rabbi 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."
Rabbi Gafni had one or two flings with his Isralight students. Rabbi David Aaron won't speak about it. Rabbi 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 Rabbi Mordecai Gafni.
So whose tapes was he stealing these days? Rabbi Noach Weinberg among others.
Rabbi 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, Rabbi 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.
Rabbi 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, Rabbi Gafni defined himself as post-denominational. Let others fight these petty fights between Reform and Orthodox. Rabbi Gafni is beyond such things.
According to the recent Haaretz profile, it sounds like Rabbi 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 Rabbi 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 Rabbi Gafni's good works in this respect, and the Holy One, Blessed Be He and She, feels much more united and whole since Rabbi 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?
Rabbi 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.
Rabbi Gafni is a terrific actor, and for that, I salute him.
I am, however, skeptical of his claims of credentials.
I believe that one of Gafni's biggest financial supporters is Israeli Jacob Davidson, whose wife (active in the protest group Women at the Wall) tried to get acceptance to Yeshiva University to become a rabbi.
In November, 2004, rabbi Gafni spoke in a tent in the Modern Orthodox German colony in Jerusalem. Gafni was surrounded by girls as he spoke about erotic Judaism. A source says that Gafni looks like a cult leader. He now wears long hair. He looks like a hippie.
Bayit Chadash
Rabbi Mordechai Gafni, Spiritual Director
http://www.bayitchadash.org/staff.shtml
Reb Gafni is the Rosh Bayit of Bayit Chadash. His primary
affiliations include being a Visiting Fellow at the Hartman Institute in
Jerusalem and Senior Scholar at the Melitz Educational Institution. Additionally,
Reb Gafni was a fellow at the Oriental Institute of Oxford University, he
is currently completing the writing of a commentary on the Hasidic text "Mei
Ha'Shiloach." Reb Gafni serves 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.
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 a best seller and is now being 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.
Board of Directors and Founders - Bayit Chadash
Founders
http://www.bayitchadash.org/staff.shtml
Jacob Ner-David - Board Chairperson. Social activist and entrepreneur.
Avraham Leader - Melamed-in-Residence. One of the founders of "Amiqa d'Bira" (also known as "The Leader Minyan"). Currently studies, teaches, and translates.
Haviva Ner-David - Educational Director, Author, feminist activist, teacher, and scholar.
Rabbi Mordechai Gafni - Rosh Bayit. Student, Rebbe, author, and scholar.
Board of Directors - US
http://www.bayitchadash.org/board.shtml
Rabbi Mordechai Gafni - Spiritual Director
Jacob Ner-David - International Chair
Suzy Rogovin - Israel Chair
Metuka Benjamin - U.S. Chair
Marcia Wexberg - Treasurer
Neil Markowitz - Secretary/U.S. Coordinator
Board Members at Large
Yosef Abramowitz, Alex Abrams, Michael Appel. Bruce Arbit, Erica Fox, Sam Fried, Jon Friedenberg, Stephen Friedlander, David Friedman, Chaya Gafni, Tamar Geller, Rabbi Micah Greenstein, Robert Jaffe, Gary Kaplan, Cheryl Kaplan, Avraham Leader, Jessica Korn Leibowitz, David Kunin, Patti Niehoff, Bradley Rauch, Shridhar Steven Silberfein, Barbara Silverman, Devin Sper, Rabbi Michael Zedek
Board of Advisors
Rabbi Daniel Abrams, Rabbi William Berk, Rabbi Marcelo Bronstein, Zivit Davidovitch, Martha Doty, Rabbi Leonid Feldman, Rabbi Tirzah Firestone, Rabbi Arthur Green, Dr. Admiel Kosman, Arthur Kurzweil, Rabbi Rolando Matalon, Doctor Daniel Matt, Doctor Hannah Matt, Dr. Peter Pitzele, Chava Rimon, Rabbi Jeff Roth, Rabbi Joe Schonwald, R Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Rabbi Daniel Siegel, Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Rabbi Avi Weiss, Elie Wurtman
195 words, BOCA RATON, Fla.
The Associated Press - August 17, 1987, Monday, PM cycle,
Rock News & Notes, This Elvis Rellica
ain't Nothing But a Sound Doll
Daily News of Los Angeles (CA) - August 21, 1987
Elvis Presley sang of his desire to be a teddy bear, but the late rock legend will have to settle for being a battery-operated doll. Starr Associates of Greenvale, N.Y., will market a 20-inch replica of the King in his famous white, rhinestone-studded jumpsuit and mounted on a sound stage. The doll, which is being marketed as "Elvis in Concert," features multicolored lights that flash as a built-in cassette player plays one of Elvis' original RCA gold records with "true...
Complete Article, of 682 words
Los Angeles Times - August 18, 1987
http://jewishwhistleblower.blogspot.com/2005/01/rabbi-mordechai-gafni-series-part-3.html#comments
Arts and entertainment reports from The Times, national and international news services and the nation's press Entertainment Desk
An Orthodox rabbi in Boca Raton, Fla., is reaching out to young people in an unorthodox way--with rock 'n' roll. Mordechai Winyarz, 26, paid New York songwriter Lenny Solomon $30,000 to write songs with contemporary Jewish themes and hired young Jewish musicians to perform and record an album for $12,000. The album, "Jewish Pride," set for release Sept. 1, includes a rap song "Rappin' Jewish" written by Danny Furst. A sample of the lyrics:
La-die-doo, I'm a Jew 'cause I think it's cool
Yeah, I eat kosher meat 'cause I ain't no fool
Ask me anything you want to, but I will repeat
I say being Jewish makes me groove to the beat.
The San Diego Union - August 18, 1987
Dead days Wed head Couch potato alert
So you think Lt. Col. Oliver North is a hero? Fine. Color him red, white and blue. Or maybe you're sure he's a crook. That's OK, too. You can give him fangs and facial hair if it will make you feel better. In fact, you can do whatever you want with Ollie North -- now that he's got his own coloring book. Although it is just getting to bookstores this week, Mort Drucker's "The Ollie North Coloring Book" already is in its third printing because 200,000 copies...
Rabbi's Rap Sings Praises of Judaism - Jewish
Rap
Sun-Sentinel - August 28, 1987
By Carol Brzozowski, Staff Writer
Imagine hearing a Jewish rap song to the beat of ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch, boom, ch-ch boom.
Imagine it played full blast from the stereos of the cars of Jewish teens as they cruise around town.
An Orthodox rabbi from Boca Raton is content in imagining that. He helped to make the album on which the song appears.
Imagine that!
Rabbi Mordechai Winyarz, a freshly ordained transplant from New York and the first rabbi for the newly established Boca Raton Synagogue, is in the sanctuary, playing the music at full volume, making motions with his hands as if he were beating on drums.
The album, Jewish Pride, is scheduled to be released on Tuesday in Palm Beach County and then in New York.
''This is going to have an impact!'' he exclaimed. ''Take cantorial music and throw it out the window!''
Later, Winyarz conceded that he liked cantorial music, but added that he thinks it cannot reach out to young Jews the way modern music can, if set to ''Jewish'' lyrics.
''I like cantorial music, but it doesn't express Jewish pride
in the '80s,'' Winyarz said. ''Ritual expression is critical, but it's not
the end-all. If it doesn't create a certain kind of person, a certain kind
of society, then what is ritual for?''
To know a bit about Winyarz' history is to understand why an Orthodox rabbi would be backing a project to reach out to unaffiliated Jews through rock music.
Winyarz, 26, was responsible for initiating an outreach into New York schools. He would walk into a school holding a shofar -- the ram's horn used in sacred services -- and would recruit any Jewish child into his youth programs who recognized the shofar.
He became the second rabbi of the Boca Raton Synagogue, leaving behind the program in New York after building it into a host of youth groups with a budget of $500,000.
The album was done through the cooperation of JPSY, an acronym for Jewish Public School Youth, a program Winyarz initiated in New York. Winyarz and his small group of musicians scouted for young Jewish musicians to perform on the album.
The group worked six hours during the weekdays from midnight to 6 a.m. for two weeks at Eastside Sound Studio in New York.
In making the album, Winyarz convinced Lenny Solomon, an accountant, to go into Jewish rock music full time.
''His mother is real thrilled,'' Winyarz said, tongue in cheek. Solomon has dropped his job to lead the organization's musical outreach program.
Not every song on Jewish Pride is the type that's only understood when played full-blast from an oversized radio. Some have the traditional Hebrew folk music beat. Some talk of familiar themes in Judaism.
Minyan Man is about a group of nine Jewish men in search of a 10th man to have a minyan, the ''quorum'' needed to conduct Jewish worship.
The title song is Jewish Pride.
Winyarz said that the album is a pioneering one in Jewish music, and representatives of national Jewish music organizations say they can't argue one way or another.
Although he concedes that Jewish music has been ''updated'' with every generation, the rabbi said the album is a first in its combination of a variety of modern styles and its use of Jewish messages for lyrics.
He hopes it will start a trend such as the one Christians began in the 1960s with religious rock music, featuring such musicians as Randy Stonehill, Larry Norman and Amy Grant.
Winyarz will introduce the album through Jewish cultural radio programs and in Jewish book and record stores, but he has his eyes set on secular radio as well.
''This is religious music, there's no question about it,'' Winyarz said of Jewish Pride.
Jews' pride in themselves is shrinking, Winyarz says. He said that many Jews are ''trying to be WASP-y'' in an attempt to cover their Jewish heritage, following the cue of their parents who have done so in order to assimilate.
''We're saying, 'Don't do that. Chuck it,''' Winyarz said. ''The 11th commandment of a Jew in America has been, 'Thou shalt melt (into the melting pot).'
''We've ... been comfortable in our Judaism and pay lip service to Judaism. Our direction is complete confrontation -- in the most positive way.''
Winyarz figures that confrontation is done best through music.
The lyrics from Rabbi Mordechai Winyarz' new Jewish rap song, Rappin' Jewish, which is on his album Jewish Pride.
''La-die-do I'm a Jew 'cause I think it's cool
Yeah I eat kosher meat 'cause I ain't no fool
Ask me anything you want to but I will repeat
I say being Jewish makes me groove to the beat.
Got a son who's a doctor, a daughter who's a lawyer
My wife teaches English and reads Tom Sawyer
Each morning I sit at my breakfast table
Eatin' 'filte fish with lox and bagels.
I'm a Jewish man been all over the map
That's why I'm singing my Jewish rap
Y'see I've been rappin' since the age of three
When my home boys rocked across the Red Sea.
Chorus: Jewish Pride keeps ya going strong
Makes our people last real long
So don't ignore what comes from inside
Let it grow, 'cause it's Jewish Pride.''
Rabbi To Mark Papal Visit By Walking A Picket
Line
by Dexter Filkins - Herald Staff Writer
The Miami Herald (FL) - September 10, 1987
When Pope John Paul II meets with Jewish leaders Friday, Rabbi Mordechai Winyarz will greet him, but not like everyone else. Instead of waving and cheering, the rabbi will shout and walk a picket line -- in the uniform of a concentration camp survivor.
Winyarz, who will join 15 other rabbis in the Miami International Airport protest, has some questions for the pontiff, and he wants them answered:
Why did the pope meet with and praise Austrian President Kurt Waldheim, the former Nazi? Why was the Vatican silent during the Holocaust, when six million Jews perished? Why does the Vatican refuse to open formal diplomatic relations with Israel? Why did the pope embrace the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization, whose group is dedicated to the destruction of Israel?
Winyarz said he is not angry; just suspicious, and driven.
"The pope is playing on both sides of the fence," said Winyarz, 26, rabbi of the orthodox Boca Raton Synagogue. "This is not pope-bashing. I just want to know where he really stands."
To find out, Winyarz and others will don concentration camp uniforms and get as close as they can to the pope when he lands. Tonight, the group will lecture on "the history of church anti- Semitism" outside the Omni Hotel, where the pope and several Catholic leaders will gather. And when Jewish leaders meet John Paul II Friday at the Cultural Arts Center, Winyarz will be outside.
"It is important that the Jewish leaders are there," Winyarz said. "But it is just as important that we are there to let our leaders know that there is a constituency outside."
To the rabbi, the pope is wading in murky moral waters. Past actions of the church and the pope, he said, raise the specter of anti-Semitism, and as the spiritual leader of 900 million Roman Catholics, the pope is obliged to put the questions to rest.
"(Yassar) Arafat's methodology is killing women and children. Waldheim is a documented Nazi," said Winyarz, whose mother survived the Holocaust. "What does that say when the pope welcomes these men and embraces them?"
For Winyarz, the heart of the matter is whether the church is anti-Semitic. On this, Winyarz is undecided, but he asserts that some actions -- such as the Vatican's refusal to recognize Israel -- suggest that it is.
"The recognition of Israel is, I think, a theological problem," Winyarz said. "The church used to teach that the Jews, as the killers of Christ, are condemned to eternal damnation."
What could Pope John Paul do to placate Winyarz? Simple, said the rabbi:
Recognize Israel, repudiate Arafat and Waldheim and explain the Vatican's behavior during the Holocaust.
Winyarz doesn't think that will happen, but to him, the pope must know. The rabbi does not claim to speak for his congregation, but he is certain that many Jews share his views, and that he won't be ostracized.
"We all have to take the path that our consciences dictate," Winyarz said. "I don't think my fellow Jews will be offended by that."
Caption: photo: RABBI Mordechai Winyarz
Promised Protests Fall Flat Amid
Festivities
Miami Herald, The (FL) - September 11, 1987
by LUIS FELDSTEIN SOTO And RODRIGO LAZO Herald Staff Writers
The traffic, a sudden illness and the sheer joy of a papal visit all took blame Thursday for dampening -- and in some cases washing out -- a series of demonstrations by TWA flight attendants, AIDS activists and Mariel refugees.
The day's loudest demonstration, an afternoon of sign waving and fund raising for AIDS victims, drew as many journalists as protesters, 75 of each. And only a handful of out-of-work TWA flight attendants turned out to protest the pontiff's use of TWA jets during his 10-day visit to America.
"We had a party and nobody came," said Sonny Wax, an organizer of the Cure AIDS Now demonstration at Vizcaya. "I'm very unhappy. With all the work we put into it, all the days and weeks, nobody came out."
"If someone had told Martin Luther King to give up when he only had a handful of people, we wouldn't have the civil rights act," said TWA flight attendant Sherry Cooper, who said the fear of traffic kept other attendants at home.
The biggest surprise -- and biggest relief to police -- was the daylong calm at clinics that perform abortions. After weeks of threatened pickets and sit-ins, a national anti-abortion group called off its plans Wednesday.
The Rev. Patrick Mahoney, local spokesman for We Will Stand Up, claimed there was no need for protests because Miami would be "abortion-free" during the pope's two-day visit. He said Metro and Miami police confirmed that clinics would either close or not perform abortions during the pope's visit.
Spokesmen for the two police agencies said later that they made no such guarantees. They said only that an informal, incomplete survey of clinics found no evidence of abortions scheduled.
Even so, Mahoney said that was good enough for his group. Instead of demonstrating, We Will Stand Up decided to unfurl a 40-foot, anti-abortion banner near the airport. But the banner didn't appear when the pope passed through the airport.
A group of Cuban exiles, who planned to call for the release of Mariel refugees held in U.S. prisons, canceled its protest at the last minute. The mother of one of the group's leaders had suffered a stroke, one member said.
The most successful protest occurred hours before the pope arrived. At 8 a.m., nine hard-line rabbis danced, recited psalms and blew three ram's horns -- known as shofars -- in a call for "true dialogue" between Catholics and Jews.
The rabbis strongly criticized last week's Rome meeting between John Paul II and nine Jewish leaders, saying the pope "ducked the issues," said Rabbi Mordechai Winyarz of Boca Raton. The rabbis recited a litany of beefs against the pope -- his audience with Austrian President Kurt Waldheim, his refusal to establish diplomatic relations with Israel, his "old charges of the Jew being a Christ-killer," Winyarz said.
Caption: photo: Bob Klein sets up tombstones in aids protest (JOHN PAUL TRIP MIAMI*)
"Never Again!' Pope Says Holocaust Condemned in Talk
to Jewish Leaders
Sun-Sentinel - September 12, 1987
By James D. Davis, Religion Editor
MIAMI -- Pope John Paul II, in a major address on Catholic-Jewish relations, gave his clearest statement thus far that Jews were the primary targets of the Holocaust.
The pontiff, in a historic speech Friday to 175 national and South Florida Jewish leaders at the Center for the Fine Arts, passionately called the World War II Nazi slaughter a ''ruthless and inhuman attempt to exterminate the Jewish people ... only because they were Jews.''
The remark was an apparent attempt to allay Jewish fears that the Vatican was trying to ''universalize'' the Holocaust and play down its special victimization of Jews. Many Jews have voiced concern that such an approach might make Catholics less sensitive to anti-Semitism.
The statements were the ''first time any Vatican official has said it with such clarity,'' said Burton Levinson, national chairman of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, in a news conference afterward.
In his second summit-style meeting with Jewish leaders in a week and a half -- the first was at Castel Gandolfo, his summer home in Italy -- the pope pledged to have his church fight bigotry, teach positive Jewish images in Catholic schools, and explore the historical roots of anti-Semitism.
As for the Holocaust horrors, ''Never again!'' he vowed, to spontaneous applause, the only time his address was so interrupted. The phrase has become a standard rallying cry for world Jewry.
The pope also defended Pope Pius XII, who reigned during World War II, against charges that he remained silent during the Holocaust.
Pope John Paul II said he was ''convinced that history will reveal more clearly and convincingly how deeply Pius XII felt the tragedy of the Jewish people, and how hard and effectively he worked to assist them.''
The pontiff spoke on a raised dais in the center, eye-level with Rabbi Mordecai Waxman, head of a group that keeps in touch with Vatican officials. It was a symbolic departure from the pope's usual raised throne.
In his own talk, Waxman mentioned ''recent tendencies to obscure the fact that Jews were the major target of Nazi genocidal policies.'' However, he also said Jewish-Catholic talks are ''one of this century's most positive developments.''
The delegates were a cross-section of mainstream Jewry. They represented the Synagogue Council of America, an umbrella of most U.S. Jewish groups; and the interdenominational American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Congress and Anti-Defamation League.
The Catholic side included several Vatican cardinals, including its secretaries of state, education and interfaith relations. Also present were Archbishop Pio Laghi, the Vatican's ambassador to the United States, and four American cardinals.
A small group of people demonstrated outside the Spanish-style center. The protesters, some wearing concentration camp garb, waved Israeli flags and placards with slogans such as ''Arafat, Waldheim, what next?''
The protest was over an audience granted by the pontiff on June 25 to Austrian President Kurt Waldheim, who has denied accusations that he helped deport Jews and partisans when when he was a German army officer in World War II, and one granted in 1982 to Palestinian guerrilla leader Yasser Arafat.
In his address, the pope made no reference to the Waldheim affair, which Waxman said still causes ''pain and distress.'' But the pontiff told reporters on the trip from Rome that it had been his duty to meet Waldheim, since he came ''as a president, democratically elected, of a people, of a nation.''
Although the pope said the Jewish people ''have a right to a homeland,'' the delegates greeted with stony silence his assertion that this ''also applies to the Palestinian people, so many of whom remain homeless and refugees.'' Delegates were only slightly more receptive when he mentioned the ''state of Israel,'' with which the Vatican still has not exchanged ambassadors.
The response was warmer when the pontiff said that the suffering of Israel's children reminds the church of its common bond with the Jewish people. It was a clear theological rationale for making Holocaust studies a Catholic priority.
The pope repeated his announcement of last week that he was planning a major document on the Holocaust. He also reminded the listeners of a Jewish-Catholic workshop on the significance of the Holocaust, set for December in Washington, D.C. He said it would explore ''religious and historical implications of the Shoah'' for both faiths. ''Shoah,'' which means ''destruction,'' is the Hebrew word for the Holocaust.
Rabbi Waxman's talk was more specific, urging more attention to ''the Christian roots of anti-Semitism.'' He said the Holocaust was the climax of centuries of bigotry ''for which Christian teachings bear a heavy responsibility.''
Waxman voiced Jewish concern at the lack of full Vatican diplomatic relations for Israel, a matter that many Jews take as a lack of Catholic understanding of what Israel means to them. The Jewish state often is called a last refuge for persecuted Jews worldwide.
''Obviously, the differences have not been resolved,'' Waxman said. But he acknowledged a Vatican promise to keep in closer touch with Jewish leaders on actions that might affect them.
''We live in an historic moment. The last quarter-century has irreversibly changed the way we perceive and act towards each other,'' Waxman said.
But even among the mainstream Jewish groups, there were signs of divisions. An Orthodox rabbinical group boycotted the Friday dialogue because the previous talks failed to mention the Holocaust and recognition of Israel.
The Orthodox group also forbade Synagogue Council president Gilbert Klaperman to read the main statement to the pope Friday. Waxman, a Conservative, got the job instead.
Klaperman came to the meeting, anyway, because ''I felt the process is important and that it must continue.'' Saying that the church had specifically acknowledged Jewish anger, he said the dialogue now must get beyond that.
Caption: (Papal pool photo/BRIAN SMITH)Umbrellas shield Pope John Paul II during a rainy Mass that was cut short on Friday in Tamiami Park.
Pontiff listens as Rabbi Mordecai Waxman, of Great Neck, N.Y., a leader of the (Staff photo: Robert Azmitia) Rabbi Mordechai Winyarz of Coalition for Concerned Zionist Activists protests meeting with Jewish leaders. PHOTOS (2, One Color)
Sun-Sentinel - September 18, 1987
By Carol Brzozowski, Staff Writer
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South Palm Beach County rabbis who attended Pope John Paul II's meeting with Jewish leaders say they are encouraged by the dialogue and add that they will participate in plans for increasing dialogue between local Catholics and Jews.
''It was heartwarming,'' Rabbi Sam Silver said of the meeting. ''It is part of the process of strengthening the bond between Jews and Catholics. I was impressed by the pope. No person of Catholic faith can now sink into bigotry without knowing how their leader feels.''
Silver, of Temple Sinai in Delray Beach, was one of two south county rabbis selected by the Archdiocese of Miami to attend the pope's meeting Sept. 11 with Jewish leaders.
The meeting was jeopardized following the pontiff's audience with Austrian President Kurt Walheim, accused of participating in Nazi war crimes against Jews. But even before the pope arrived in the United States, many Jews had decided to go on with the meeting in Miami.
''I believe it was a moment of spiritual reconciliation,'' said Rabbi Merle Singer of Temple Beth El in Boca Raton, who also was present at the meeting.
''The pope called for an understanding of our diverse ways and a respect for the integrity of various religions. He called on Jews to understand his motives and reasons for talking with the president of Austria and we called upon the pope to understand the Jewish community's sensibilities regarding his meeting with a member of the Nazi party.
''His remarks spoke of the joint responsibility the Jewish and Christian community have in righting the social wrongs of our time.''
Silver and Singer agree that is unrealistic of those analyzing the meeting to expect that the pope would have made an official announcement of recognition of the state of Israel during his whirlwind tour of the U.S.
But both say the pope's statements set the groundwork for what they feel will be an eventual establishment of Vatican diplomatic relations with Israel.
Silver was especially encouraged by the speech of Cardinal Johannes
Willebrands, the Vatican's top interfaith officer, presented at an
interfaith dinner Sept. 10 at the Omni Hotel in Miami.
Willebrand ''elaborated at great length on the fact that these contacts precipitated by the Waldheim encounter will continue to produce a number of documents (from the Vatican),'' Silver said.
''The reaction against the pope on the meeting involved not only protests from the Jewish community, but from Catholics as well, including bishops,'' he said. ''I'm quite confident the Vatican will establish ties with the state of Israel.''
Singer said the meeting ''did not soften any negative feelings in the Jewish community'' among those who boycotted the meeting.
''But that's their agenda,'' he said. ''I feel the appropriate agenda is to open the door for dialogue; not to stand on a street corner and protest.''
While Singer was in the meeting, another Boca Raton rabbi, Mordechai Winyarz, stood on the street corner to protest on behalf of an organization he chairs, the Center for Justice.
Winyarz said he is not against participating in dialogues with Catholics, but would not do so under the conditions of last week's meeting, which he said was ''theatrics'' and not a session of ''true conversation.''
He pointed out that the speech of the Jews' spokesperson, Rabbi Mordecai Waxman, had to be submitted to the Vatican prior to its delivery last week, which Winyarz called ''censorship.''
Winyarz also criticized the pope for ''ignoring the Waldheim issue'' and called the pope's comments ''ambiguous.''
There already are signs of the meeting having an impact in South Florida, which has the second-largest Jewish population in the United States and is home to one of the largest Catholic populations in the country.
''The relations here are improving through that remarkable school, St. Vincent de Paul,'' Silver said, referring to the Catholic seminary west of Boynton Beach. ''They've offered lectures and meetings and I've spoken there as a representative of the Jewish community.
''Bishop (Thomas) Daily couldn't be more amicable. He's already sponsored dialogues in the cathedral between Catholic and Jewish leaders.''
Singer said he has met with Monsignor John McMahon, pastor of St. Joan of Arc parish and vicar for social services for the Diocese of Palm Beach, to prepare a program of dialogues on Jewish-Catholic relations.
A joint Catholic-Jewish statement released prior to the papal visit expressed encouragement over the meeting, while recognizing ''that there continues to exist mutual unresolved problems and prejudices.''
The statement acknowledged an ''environment of mutual respect'' in the local community and called for measures to continue fostering that environment.
Controversial Rabbi Starts Jewish Outreach
Organization
The Palm Beach Post - January 5, 1989
An Orthodox rabbi whose activist style has sometimes made him the center of controversy is starting a Jewish outreach organization with classes and other programs designed to draw more people into Jewish life. Rabbi Mordechai Winyarz will kick off the new enterprise, called the Center for Jewish Living, with a lecture at 7:30 tonight at Spanish River High School, 5100 Jog Road, in Boca Raton. "What we're offering is real Jewish exposure to real Jewish ideas which make a...
Complete Article, of 417 words
Rabbi Urges "Revolution" In Values Winyarz's Controversial
Speech Part of Classes
The Palm Beach Post - January 6, 1989
Nothing less than a "revolution" will stir south county Jewry out of complacency and into a life devoted to Judaism, Rabbi Mordechai Winyarz said Thursday night. Speaking to about 250 people at Spanish River High School, Winyarz said: "To my mind, there is no greater tragedy than South Florida. . . . We'd like to start a revolution of Torah values." Winyarz, who left the pulpit of the Orthodox Boca Raton Synagogue last year amid differences with...
Complete Article, of 436 words
Boca Rabbi Accepts Job On West Bank
The Palm Beach Post - July 22, 1989
An Orthodox rabbi whose activist style won both friends and enemies among local Jews has accepted a religious post in the Middle East. Rabbi Mordechai Winyarz, 28, said he will leave in September or October for a two-year post as rabbi of Zufim, a Jewish settlement on the West Bank. The new community is on the western edge of the occupied territory, about 2 miles east of the Israeli city of Kefar Sava. Winyarz said the community has only 10 families now, but has plans for about...
Complete Article, of 322 words
The New Orthodoxy: The New Rabbi of the Boca Raton
Synagogue Expects to Make Waves
Sun-Sentinel - July 24, 1987
By Carol Brzozowski, Staff Writer
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The name Mordechai Winyarz may not ring a bell in Palm Beach County yet.
But as the Orthodox rabbi settles into his new position as the first full-time rabbi for the Boca Raton Synagogue, he has hopes of being a ''clanging cymbal'' for God.
Winyarz, 26, just may do that. If he were a Christian, his style would be called evangelical.
Winyarz immediately is forthright about his lifestyle, should there be any questions on the topic: ''I'll be making about $40,000 to $44,000, I drive a 1984 Topaz and I own eight suits.''
Winyarz has come from New York to the fledgling Boca Raton Synagogue, the only Orthodox synagogue in Boca Raton, and one of three in Palm Beach county.
Its construction is the bloodline for the Orthodox body. Orthodox Jews walk to the synagogue on the Sabbath and its construction has made it easier for the Jews to worship.
''People were moving here because they knew we were here,'' said Dr. Gary Lieber, a spokesman and founding member of the synagogue.
Just a few weeks into his position, Winyarz is making plans in an effort to get involved. He is constantly on the telephone, talking with religious and secular community leaders. On the drawing board is a plan for some type of ''demonstration'' in regards to the papal visit.
''Judaism has got to be a moral and social force,'' Winyarz said. ''Not just to make pronouncements, but to become involved.''
''We were looking for someone to shake the bushes, to make the synagogue a dynamic place,'' Lieber said of the search for a rabbi. ''We're looking to make the congregation the Jewish center in south county. With a mouthpiece like him, we want to let people know we're here. We've essentially done the groundwork.''
Winyarz ambitiously speaks of a few of his plans, one of which is to create a national Jewish retreat center on the synagogue's property.
''Why not?'' he said. ''The assumption is that everything operates out of New York. (Studies show) there are 75,000 Jews in Palm Beach County.''
Yet South County Jewish Federation studies also show that the affiliation rate of local Jews is 13 percent, half the national average.
''Boca in general is extremely materialistic and completely self-involved,'' Winyarz said in interpreting the statistics.
''Younger people come to Florida to escape and be unaffiliated.''
Winyarz said he doesn't condemn the acquisition of material goods and adds that Hebrew scriptures show that God created the world and the world is to be enjoyed.
As a spiritual leader, Winyarz said he will attempt to guide his congregation into emphasizing aspects of life that transcend material goods.
''So you've got the Porsche, the pool and the boat. What happens when you die? What do you have then? What did life mean? There must be a purpose to life. Living a meaningful existence is more pleasurable than owning a Porsche.''
Thus, the synagogue becomes what he calls the ''pleasure center.''
Winyarz did not say how much membership in the synagogue will cost, but said, ''Any Jew can come to High Holy Days even if they can't pay. And no Jew ever will be turned away for lack of funds -- ever, ever.''
Although the Boca Raton synagogue structure is complete, Winyarz said there is still more work to do on the inside and the work that is being planned will introduce some new twists on established ideas.
For instance, men and women are seated separately in Orthodox synagogues and typically women are out of the sight of the men, either behind a screen or in the back of the synagogue.
Plans for Boca Raton Synagogue (the word ''Orthodox'' is intentionally omitted) still separate men and women, but women are not out of sight. Structurally, the synagogue is in a semicircle, focusing on the center of worship: the Torah and the Eternal Light.
''There will be an opportunity within the synagogue context for women to express themselves in a public manner, which is completely within the (Hebrew) law,'' Winyarz said. ''Men or women will be able to get up and give a talk about a religious issue.
''We will have orthodoxy with a small 'o' and Halakhah (Jewish law) with a capital 'H.' ''
He calls it the new Orthodoxy. Orthodox Judaism usually evokes the stereotypical image of long beards, curly sideburns and black coats -- and a separation from the rest of society.
The ''new'' Orthodox Jew is the upwardly mobile doctor, lawyer, stockbroker or other person integrally involved in society, yet set apart from others in similiar professions by a belief system that emphasizes religious law and spiritual values.
A prime example of that was Winyarz's ''outreach'' lectures on Wall Street. He once did a lecture on Wall Street called ''Jewish Sexual Ethics.'' He also conducted lunchtime scripture studies in a prestigious Manhattan law firm.
Orthodox Judaism is attractive to young Jews, Winyarz said, because ''young people are looking for something that's real. People intuitively sense that which is authentic and I think there's a desperate yearning for authenticity.''
Winyarz is an example of the attractiveness of Orthodoxy to young Jews. He had become so immersed in it that by 23 he was teaching Bible at Yeshiva University.
''There's nothing as exciting as traditional Judaism,'' Winyarz said. He wants to turn what he feels is a stereotype of Orthodox Judaism from ''backward, anti-feminist, anti-science'' to ''real exciting, progressive system of life.''
In New York, winyarz recruited young people by walking into public schools with a shofar (the administration did not know of his actions). Children who recognized the shofar -- a ram's horn used for ceremonies -- were targeted as recruits for his Jewish Public School Youth Project. He turned his efforts into a string of clubs with a budget of $500,000.
If Winyarz initiates the project in Florida, he won't be staging any press conferences.
''It would be difficult to do it in Florida schools,'' he said. ''If I do it, I won't announce it.''
Winyarz is critical of some other Jewish and non-Jewish religious groups (For instance, he asks, ''What's Jewish about Reform Judaism?'') although he adds that he believes he will have a good working relationship with other clergy.
''I believe we have the most correct system,'' he said of Orthodox Judaism. ''I believe there are moments of truth in others.''
Caption: (Staff photo/MARK RANDALL) Rabbi Mordechai Winyarz says Orthodox Judaism is attractive to young Jews because of its ''authenticity.'' PHOTO (1)
by Tracey Wong Briggs
USA Today - August 17, 1987
Rabbi Mordechai Winyarz of Boca Raton, Fla., has produced Jewish Pride, a rock album appealing to Jewish youth. The LP, set for USA-wide release Sept. 1, includes songs written by Lenny Solomon and performed by young Jewish musicians. Rappin' Jewish, by Danny Furst, says: ``La-die-doo, I'm a Jew 'cause I think it's cool/ Yeah, I eat kosher meat 'cause I ain't no fool/ Ask me anything you want to, but I will repeat/ I say being Jewish makes me groove to the beat.''
METRO AND STATE
Rabbi rolls out Jewish rock album
Associated Press/St. Petersburg Times - August 17, 1987
BOCA RATON - A 26-year-old rabbi is using rock 'n' roll to appeal to Jewish youth in a way they can understand.
Mordechai Winyarz, spiritual leader of the Boca Raton Community Synagogue, has produced what he calls the first Jewish rock 'n' roll album, set for national release Sept. 1.
I'm looking to create a revolution in Jewish life,he said. Music speaks to people. I want this to become a major outreach tool to bring young people back to Judaism.
The album, titled Jewish Pride, includes a danceable theme song of the same name, a ballad called Minyan Man and a rap song Rappin' Jewish written by Danny Furst.
A sample of the lyrics:
La-die-doo, I'm a Jew 'cause I think it's cool
Yeah, I eat kosher meat 'cause I ain't no fool
Ask me anything you want to, but I will repeat
I say being Jewish makes me groove to the beat.
Letter by Rabbi Causes Flap in House
Race
The Associated Press Political Service - November 2, 1990
BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) _ An endorsement letter sent to 50,000 Jewish voters was written by a controversial rabbi using a different name, the Republican congressional candidate has acknowledged.
Scott Shore faced a jeering political crowd Thursday when he confirmed the letter was written by former Boca Raton Rabbi Mordechai Winyarz. He was once censured by the local rabbinical association for inappropriate behavior, but the censure was later withdrawn.
The letter was signed by Rabbi Marc Gafni, a name Winyarz said he adopted when he moved to Israel two years ago.
It also was addressed to "my fellow Democrats" even though Gafni's last registration was as a Republican.
Shore refused demands from the audience at Temple Beth El that he apologize for the letter.
The audience of more than 250, including many supporters of the incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. Harry Johnston, hooted when Shore claimed he wasn't trying to deceive voters about Winyarz's true identity.
Johnston, who attended the forum to debate Shore, also noted Gafni said in the letter that he had been a supporter of John F. Kennedy. Winyarz was 3 years old when Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, Johnston said.
Gafni, who was Shore's rabbi while in Boca Raton, was active in protests such as one against Pope John Paul II's visit to Miami in 1987, where he dressed in concentration camp clothing.
Gary Rosenblatt - Staff Writer
The Jewish Week - July 20, 2000
.... Perhaps most disturbing has been the number of people urging me to investigate specific rabbis and Jewish educators in the Orthodox community, naming names and offering me details. One is said to be a pedophile with a history of arrests who is a principal in a Brooklyn yeshiva; another pedophile reportedly now works with Jewish youth in Florida; a womanizing rabbi has changed his name and moved to Israel, I was told; and a local rabbi is said to have an unhealthy interest in teenage boys.... (please see the entire article)
Rabbi Accused of Manipulation in Shore Campaign
Letter
Miami Herald, The (FL) - November 1, 1990
An orthodox rabbi censured two years ago by a local rabbinical association has penned a campaign mailing that charges U.S. Rep. Harry Johnston with ethical lapses while in Congress.The rabbi wrote the letter using his new name.Marc Gafni, previously known as Mordechai Winyarz, was Republican challenger Scott Shore's spiritual leader at the Boca Raton Synagogue from 1987 to 1989. In 1988, he was censured.Gafni, 30, introduces himself in the letter by saying he has supported...
Complete Article, of 412 words
Shore Refuses to Apologize Over Letter
The Palm Beach Post - November 2, 1990
Facing a jeering political crowd Thursday, Congressional candidate Scott Shore admitted that the rabbi who signed an endorsement letter mailed to 50,000 Jewish voters was actually controversial Boca Raton rabbi Mordechai Winyarz. Shore refused demands from the audience at Temple Beth El that he apologize for the letter, mailed under the signature of Rabbi Marc Gafni. Shore said Winyarz changed his name to Marc Gafni before he left last year to live in Israel. The audience of more...
Complete Article, of 560 words
Voters Revenge' On TV For Texans, DALLAS
The Associated Press - November 3, 1990, Saturday, PM cycle, Political News, 810 words
(If you have access to this article please e-mail it to us!)
PBS Special - Soul Prints - Your Path to Fulfillment
(DVD)
Starring Marc Gafni
Fox Lorber (Publisher) - April 10, 2001
http://dvd.idealo.com/prices/P20008840135K2.html
Soul Prints - Your Path to Fulfillment - MARC GAFNI 790658993808 Rabbi Marc Gafni compares a person's individual spirit to the uniqueness of their fingerprint, dubbing the former a "soul print." In this 73-minute lecture, he describes the principles and practical applications of his philosophy culled from his study of many religious and ethnic traditions. The essence is to better appreciate the life you have and redirect your energy in the parts that make you unhappy. He promises the viewer "access to the precise and gorgeous nature of your spirit," suggesting exercises like making a list of the 10 most important things in your life. He offers mantras and stories from Buddhism, Russia, West Africa, and his own ministry--even singing a short "soul print song" a cappella. Much of his advice is common sense (If you treat the waiter badly, he will treat you badly), but he presents it in an energetic and inspiring manner. However, this PBS Special is interrupted so frequently with shots of an enthusiastically applauding audience that one might think he was selling a food preparation gadget rather than inner peace. Unfortunately, the effect is that of a hard sell for material that should speak for itself. --Kimberly Heinrichs
Publisher Fox Lorber
UPC 790658993808
Release 2001-04-10
Format DVD
Mpaa rating NR (Not Rated)
Primary Contributor Marc Gafni
Features Color
Running Time 60
By Mordechai Gafni
Tikkun Magazine - March/April 2003
WARNING: The following may be found offensive
The Temple of the ancient Israelites is the
original Hebrew _expression of pagan consciousness. Now—as we will see
later in this essay—the difference between Temple and pagan consciousness
is very crucial. But it is a difference that is only important because of
their profound similarity. Both the Temple and the pagan cults shared an
intoxication with the feminine Goddess, symbol of sacred eros.
The relationship with the Goddess was not a hobby for the Israelites like modern religious affiliation often tends to be. It was an all-consuming desire to be on the inside, to feel the infinite fullness of reality in every moment and in every encounter—it was an attempt to fully experience eros. Because the ancients were so aware of the depth of reality, to live without being able to access the infinite in this erotic way was enormously painful. (For an example, read the story of the idolatrous King Menashe, as retold in the Talmud, Tractate Sanhedrin 92A.)
The prophets of the Temple period opposed paganism with all of their ethical fire and passion. For them, it was inconceivable that the ecstatic and primal Temple experience, religiously powerful and important as it might be, should become primary. When eros overrode ethos, the prophet exploded in divine rage. In moments of clash, the prophet taught that the ethical always needed to trump the erotic.
Modern Judaism has developed from the ethical teachings of the prophets. In the process, however, we have overlooked the erotic, present in the pagan consciousness of the Temple service. We have forgotten the Goddess, a vital presence in the life of ancient Israel. Hebrew liturgy reflects the virtually inconsolable longing of the Hebrew spirit for the rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem. This longing is not a dream of proprietorship over this or that hill in Jerusalem. Indeed, ownership and holiness are mutually exclusive. Instead, it is a yearning to reclaim sacred eros as part of the fabric of our lives. And, in the way of the circle, our longing for eros is also a longing for ethos. All ethical breakdown emerges from a dearth of eros. When we are overwhelmed by an erotic vacuum, ethics collapse.
Both the vitality and metaphysics of a pagan eros were understood by Israeli mystic Abraham Kook to be essential to the reclaiming of a religious sensibility which reflected both the depth and need of modernity. It is in large part for this pagan sensibility that we yearn when we speak of the dream of a re-built Temple.
To find our way back to eros and the feminine, we must yearn back and forward to the Hebrew mystical tradition, whose masters kept these ideas alive in the form of esoteric tradition, practice and lore.
Eros
In the kabbalistic tradition, as in Plato, the erotic is not a mere synonym for the sexual, but an _expression of inner passion which sexuality models but does not begin to exhaust. In Hebrew myth and mysticism, eros has four faces. The first face of eros is being fully present on the inside, traversing the chasm that separates subject and object. To use the imagery of the Zohar, the magnum opus of Hebrew mysticism, eros is to be in the flow of "the river which swells forth from Eden," the fountain of life; when I am not in the flow of my own life, I am not living naturally. The opposite of eros is alienation, the feeling that you are an outsider with no safe place to call home.
Kabbalah scholar Yehuda Libes suggests that the word "zohar" is roughly synonymous with the Greek word "eros." The authors of the Zohar were not dry medieval scholastics; they were rather men of great passion and depth who believed that by entering the inside of the moment, the text, or the relationship, they could recreate and heal the world. Eros is aroused whenever we move so deeply into what we do, who we are with, or where we are, that its interiority stirs our heart and imagination. Shechinah, the Hebrew mystical term for the indwelling feminine presence of God, is no less than the erotic merged with the Holy. Shechinah is the radically profound experience of being on the inside.
The second face of eros is the "fullness of presence." This is not a distinct and different quality from the first but flows naturally and even overlaps with the erotic quality of being on the inside. And yet it is not quite the same. Of course, being on the inside requires the fullness of presence. But we can experience full presence even when we have not merged with the moment or crossed over to the inside. Full presence is about showing up. You can show up and be fully present in a conversation without necessarily losing yourself in the encounter's flow. Full presence at work can mean that you derive joy, satisfaction, and self worth from your vocation. It means you feel full and not empty.
To live erotically is to be fully present to each other's richness, complexity, and ultimate grandeur. It is to fully wait for the other to appear. The Shechinah, say the mystics, is presence waiting for us to be present. She is eros, standing outside of our window, waiting. Waiting for us to run out and behold, with wonder, her face.
The third face of eros is desire. Eros is the yearning force of being. I yearn, therefore I am. As long as I am on the outside, I can ignore my deepest desires and stifle my longing. When I am on the inside, however, when I am fully present, I am able to access my yearning. For the Hebrew mystic, unlike his Buddhist or Greek cousins, desire and longing are sacred. To be cut off from the eros of yearning is to be left in the cold of non-existence. To yearn is to be aflame.
Depression is at its core the depression of desire. When we lose touch with our authentic desire, we become listless and apathetic. There is wonderful eros in desire. It is what connects us most powerfully with our own pulsating aliveness. Longing is a vital strand in the textured fabric of the erotic. It is of the essence of the Holy of Holies.
The fourth face of eros is the interconnectivity of being. Longing, desire, and tears remind us of the fourth strand in the erotic weave. They whisper to us that we are all interconnected. No human stands alone. The word "religion" traces its source to the Latin root ligare which, as we can hear in the word "ligament," is about connectivity. Religion's goal is to re-ligare—to reconnect us. Religion's original intention was to take us to that inside place where we could indeed experience the essential interconnectivity of all reality. All of existence is one great quilt of being and we are all patches in its magnificent intertextured pattern.
Eros is what allows us to move past the feeling of isolat
