Wikipedia

Marc Gafni

(Redirected from Center for World Spirituality)

Marc Gafni (born Marc Winiarz; 1960) is an American philosopher, writer, and former rabbi who became a New Age spiritual teacher with a focus on integral theory, eros, and "outrageous love".[1][4][5][6][7] He is the president of the Center for Integral Wisdom, which he co-founded with Ken Wilber, and he is the co-founder and co-president of the Office for the Future.[8][9] He is the author of Radical Kabbalah and Your Unique Self: The Radical Path to Personal Enlightenment,[10] which won USA Book News Awards in 2012.[11]

Doctor
Marc Gafni
Marc Gafni
Born
Marc Winiarz

1960 (age 63–64)
Pittsfield, Massachusetts, U.S.
Other namesMordechai Gafni, Mark Gafni, Mordechai Winiarz, Mordechai Winyarz
Occupation(s)Philosopher, writer
Spouse
Chaya[2]
​
​
(m. 1998; div. 2004)​
[3]
Children3[1]
Academic background
EducationQueens College, Oxford University
Alma materOxford University
ThesisThe Theology of Acosmic Humanism: Mordechai Lainer of Izbica (2006)
Academic work
DisciplineTheology, Religious Studies
Sub-disciplineNew Age spirituality
InstitutionsCenter for Integral Wisdom
Websitewww.marcgafni.com

Gafni's teachings, often described as integral or world spirituality, aimed to transcend traditional religious boundaries and offer a modern, inclusive approach to spiritual practice. In the late 1990s, Gafni made a significant impact in Israel by founding the Bayit Hadash spiritual center in Jaffa and hosting a popular television program, Tahat Gafno, on Israel's Channel 2.[5][12] His work during this period was characterized by a blend of traditional Jewish teachings with contemporary spiritual themes, appealing to a diverse audience seeking a deeper connection to spirituality outside conventional religious frameworks. Gafni's 2003 book, Mystery of Love, further established his reputation as a provocative thinker on the subjects of eros, sexuality, and relationships.

However, Gafni's career has been marred by serious allegations of sexual misconduct.[4][5][6][7][13] In 2004, he faced accusations of sexual assault during the 1980s from two women who were teenagers at the time. Despite Gafni's denials and attempts to frame the relationships as consensual,[14][15] the allegations led to significant fallout, including the return of his rabbinical ordination to Rabbi Shlomo Riskin.[4] More allegations emerged in 2006 from attendees of the Bayit Hadash center, resulting in its closure[16] and further tarnishing Gafni's reputation.[17][18][19][20] In 2016, further fallout was triggered in part by an article in The New York Times.[5][21][22]

In recent years, Gafni has continued to be a polarizing figure. He co-founded the Center for World Spirituality, later the Center for Integral Wisdom, with support from prominent figures like Ken Wilber and John Mackey. Despite ongoing allegations and public disavowals from former supporters, Gafni has persisted in his spiritual and philosophical work, publishing books such as Radical Kabbalah and A Return to Eros.

Early life and education

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Marc Winiarz was born in 1960[5] to Holocaust survivors in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.[1] He was educated at Modern-Orthodox yeshivas in the New York City area. In the 1980s, while attending Yeshiva University,[1] he worked with Jewish Public School Youth (JPSY), an organization providing Jewish social clubs in public schools.[23] He majored in philosophy as an undergraduate at Queens College and earned his Doctorate in Philosophy from Wolfson College at Oxford University.[1][8][24] His doctoral thesis was entitled, The Theology of Acosmic Humanism: Mordechai Lainer of Izbica.[25]

Early career in Israel

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In 1988, Winiarz first worked as a rabbi in Boca Raton, Florida.[4] After making aliyah, he moved to Israel[26] and Hebraicized his name.[a] Once in Israel, Mordechai Gafni served as rabbi of the West Bank settlement of Tzofim.[18] He received[when?] Orthodox semikhah from Rabbi Shlomo Riskin[4] and Renewal semikhah from[when?] Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi.[7]

In the late 1990s, Gafni opened the Bayit Hadash (Hebrew: בית חדש, lit. 'new home') spiritual center in Jaffa.[17] From 1999 to 2002, Gafni also hosted Tahat Gafno (Hebrew: תחת גפנו, lit. 'under his vine'), a television program broadcast on Israel's Channel 2.[1] Gafni also did a series of weekly television spots with Israeli comedian Gil Kopatch on biblical wisdom for everyday life.[27]

Gafni's teachings during this period have been described as integral or world spirituality, incorporating traditional religious studies with contemporary themes, aimed at spirituality for people who do not identify with one specific religion.[1][19] Gafni described himself and his students as "dual citizens" of both their native traditional religion and the broader themes of "world spirituality".[1] He wrote an essay, "A Hundred Blasts Shatter the Somber Silence", which appeared in Arthur Kurzweil's Best Jewish Writing 2003.[28] His 2003 book, Mystery of Love, advocated for a new set of teachings centered around eros, sexuality, and relationships.[29][30]

Allegations of sexual assault

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In 2004, Gafni was accused by two women of sexual assaulting them during the 1980s when they were teenagers. In 2004, he acknowledged a nine-month relationship with a 14-year-old girl when he was 19.[4] He denied the relationship was abusive, describing it as consensual.[14][31][32] As a result of these allegations, Gafni returned his rabbinical ordination from Rabbi Shlomo Riskin to spare his former teacher "any further embarrassment" after Riskin expressed he wanted to revoke Gafni's ordination on the grounds that Gafni's theology had extended "beyond the bounds of Orthodoxy".[4]

Bayit Hadash allegations

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In 2006, Gafni was accused by five women who attended the Bayit Hadash (Hebrew: בית חדש, lit. 'new home') spiritual center in Jaffa, which Gafni had opened in the late 1990s.[17] Gafni acknowledged relationships with some of the women.[23] However, he characterized the relationships as consensual and supported this by posting polygraph results on his website.[33] Because of the allegations, and because Gafni fled the country to avoid prosecution,[18][19] he was dismissed from Bayit Hadash,[20] which closed within days.[16] The Bayit Hadash co-founders and other prominent leaders expressed that they felt betrayed by how deeply Gafni had misled them as well as regret for having supported him.[34] His rabbinical ordination by Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi was revoked,[7] and the Alliance for Jewish Renewal condemned Gafni's behavior, stating that "Marc Gafni is not a rabbi or spiritual leader recognized by ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal."[7]

Once back in the United States, Gafni sent a remorseful letter to his congregation saying he regretted his actions and added "Clearly all of this and more indicates that in these regards I am sick. I need to acknowledge that sickness and to get help for it."[23][17][20]

Center for World Spirituality

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In 2011, Marc Gafni, Sally Kempton, and Lori Galperin founded the Center for World Spirituality, which later evolved into the Center for Integral Wisdom.[citation needed] At the Center, Gafni and Ken Wilber founded a Wisdom Council to envision a spirituality based on Integral Principles.[35] The Wisdom Council, which is no longer active[citation needed], included members such as Gafni, Wilber, Tony Robbins, Warren Farrell, Lori Galperin, Sally Kempton.[36] The co-chair of Center for World Spirituality was Whole Foods CEO John Mackey.[37]

Gafni was a Scholar in Residence at the Integral Institute and the Director of the Integral Spiritual Experience but was asked to leave after allegations of sexual involvement with a student were raised.[38] Integral Life, one of Gafni's promoters, deleted his contributions from its website and announced that it was distancing itself from him.[38] Tami Simon, CEO of Sounds True, canceled her planned publication of Gafni's book, Your Unique Self, and issued a statement denouncing him.[39]

The board of directors of the Center for World Spirituality, issued a statement of "unequivocal support" for Gafni.[40] Ken Wilber, after taking "a 90-day leave of absence",[41] published a formal statement saying that he will "rejoin the Wisdom Council of The Center for World Spirituality", describing Gafni as a "gifted teacher" and a "genuine spiritual leader".[42][43]

Radical Kabbalah and Your Unique Self

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Gafni wrote Radical Kabbalah, a two-volume work published by Integral Publishers in 2012. Zak Stein wrote a review of Radical Kabbalah in Integral Review calling it "a work that comes along once in a generation".[10]

In 2012, Your Unique Self: The Radical Path to Personal Enlightenment was published by Integral Publishers,[44] with a foreword written by Ken Wilber,[45] It won a 2012 USA Best Book Awards in Spirituality: General category.[11]

Further allegations and repercussions

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In January 2016, Judy Mitzner said that she was one of two teenage girls whom Gafni allegedly molested in New York City in 1986.[46] She reiterated those assertions on the Dr. Phil show of January 19, 2018, in which Gafni appeared.[47] Mitzner was 16 and Gafni was 24 and he was her Jewish Youth Leader at the time.[48]

Also in January 2016, a woman wrote that she was married to Gafni from 1999 to 2004 in an anonymous opinion piece in The Times of Israel. The article was in response to a New York Times article about Gafni the preceding week.[5] She catalogued what she described as her story of abuse and wrote that she had gone public to "Protect some girl. Protect some woman. Some student. Some unsuspecting soul."[49]

Within two weeks of the publication of the piece in The Times of Israel, Sara Kabakov revealed in The Forward that she was the other formerly unnamed teenage girl who had been abused by Gafni in the early 1980s, beginning when she was thirteen years old.[50] Gafni commented, "she was 14 going on 35, and I never forced her."[6] In a subsequent article, The Forward published Gafni's response together with the analysis of sexual abuse experts. Gafni states they were 14 and 19 year old teenagers and describes their relationship as "a mutual expression of teenage love."[14][b] Afterwards, Kabakov responded to Gafni's comments and reiterated her assertion that the relationship was not consensual.[53]

A number of new-age spiritual leaders, who had previously worked with and endorsed Gafni, publicly withdrew their support and wrote a public statement disavowing him, including Deepak Chopra, Joan Borysenko, Andrew Harvey, Jean Houston, and Stephen Dinan.[54] Also in 2016, triggered in part by an article in the New York Times, as well as by a petition from over 100 rabbis denouncing Gafni,[21] a group of Gafni's close former students published a public letter disavowing him as a teacher, accusing him of multiple forms of abuse, deceptions, and betrayals, and explaining why they consider him to be dangerous.[22]

Protesters also targeted Whole Foods due to the involvement of its CEO, John Mackey, with Gafni. Gafni wrote: "This group of protestors, led by many of my competing adversaries, is using Mackey as a platform to continue their smear campaign designed to destroy my reputation and career."[55] Mackey issued a public statement, saying: "While combating sexual abuse or harassment is essential and something I fully support, so is providing a fair forum for those being wrongly accused. Publicly [sic] lashing out against someone based upon false or distorted information about sexual events is itself a form of abuse."[55] John Mackey rejected the demands that he should distance himself from Gafni with the following statement: "Loyalty and the presumption of innocence are important values to me, so I will not join those who are condemning him. I am, at once, presuming Marc's innocence and firmly standing against what he's accused of."[56][57] In April 2016 it was learned that John Mackey had stepped down, as he had completed his role as chairman of the Center for Integral Wisdom board.[58]

In February 2017, the National Coalition for Men published an article by Gafni in which he defended himself, calling the allegations "a long-standing smear campaign".[15] In 2020, Kabakov and Mitzner filed suit against both Gafni and Yeshiva University under the recently passed New York Child Victims Act.[26][59][60]

A Return to Eros

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In 2017, Gafni published A Return to Eros: The Radical Experience of Being Fully Alive, co-authored with Kristina Kincaid.[61]

Gafni expresses that "the sexual is the ultimate Spiritual Master" and has written "I was convinced from an early age that religion had lost what I believed must have been its original erotic vitality. I knew that the sexual, if liberated and ethically expressed, must somehow hold the mystery of return to the much larger-than-sexual Eros."[62]

Zak Stein wrote an academic review of A Return to Eros, published under the title "Love in a Time Between Worlds: On the Metamodern 'Return' to a Metaphysics of Eros" in the journal Integral Review.[63] Stein writes: "At the heart of A Return to Eros is a new metaphysical narrative about love and sex."[63]

Personal life

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Gafni has married multiple times.[3] He has three children from his first marriages.[1] He married his third wife, Chaya,[2] in 1998.[3] They divorced in August 2004.[3]

Publications

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  • Gafni, Mordechai (October 1, 2000). "Shofar of Tears". Tikkun. Vol. 15, no. 5.
  • Gafni, Marc (2001). Soul Prints: Your Path to Fulfillment. Michael Joseph. ISBN 978-0-7434-1700-6.
  • Gafni, Mordechai (2003). "A Hundred Blasts Shatter the Somber Silence". In Kurzweil, Arthur (ed.). Best Jewish Writing 2003. Josey-Bass. pp. 200–205. ISBN 0-7879-6771-8.
  • Gafni, Marc (2003). The Mystery of Love. Atria Books. ISBN 978-0-7434-4220-6.
  • Gafni, Mordechai (April 1, 2003). "On the Erotic and the Ethical". Tikkun. Vol. 18, no. 2.
  • Gafni, Marc (2012). Your Unique Self: The Radical Path to Personal Enlightenment. Integral Publishers. ISBN 978-1-4675-2277-9.
  • Gafni, Marc (2012). Radical Kabbalah: Book 1. Integral Publishers. ISBN 978-1-4951-5912-1.
  • Gafni, Marc (2012). Radical Kabbalah: Book 2. Integral Publishers. ISBN 978-1-4951-5913-8.
  • Gafni, Marc (2014). Tears: Reclaiming Ritual, Integral Religion, and Rosh Hashanah. Integral Publishers. ISBN 978-0-9896827-4-9.
  • Gafni, Marc (2014). Self in Integral Evolutionary Mysticism. Integral Publishers. ISBN 978-0-9896827-8-7.
  • Gafni, Marc; Maloney, Kate (2014). Your Unique Self: An Integral Path to Success 3.0. Integral Publishers. ISBN 978-0-9904419-3-9.
  • Gafni, Marc; Kincaid, Kristina (2017). A Return to Eros: The Radical Experience of Being Fully Alive. BenBella Books. ISBN 978-1-944648-18-3.

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ "Winiarz", Polish for "vintner", is related to the Hebrew word gefen (גפן), which means "grape"—thus the name "Gafni".
  2. ^ Gafni included polygraph results to support his claim that his relationship with Kabakov was consensual. It was completed by Gordon Barland, the former director of polygraph research for the Department of Defense. Barland concluded that Gafni had answered each question truthfully although confidence in his conclusion was lower than would otherwise be the case due to the time elapsed.[14][51][52]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Livneh, Neri (March 4, 2004). "Post-Orthodoxy Journey". Haaretz. Archived from the original on November 4, 2016.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  2. ^ a b Hubbard, Barbara Marx. "SPEAKING OUT for the Evolution of Public Culture". Center for World Religion and Philosophy. Retrieved May 14, 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d Gafni, Chaya (May 9, 2006). "Deposition Of Rabbi Dr. Marc Gafni's Third Wife". The Awareness Center. Archived from the original on April 5, 2017.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Rosenblatt, Gary (September 24, 2004). "The Re-Invented Rabbi". Between the Lines. The Jewish Week. Archived from the original on September 25, 2004. Retrieved January 11, 2008. Alt URL
  5. ^ a b c d e f Oppenheimer, Marc (December 25, 2015). "A Spiritual Leader Gains Stature, Trailed by a Troubled Past". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 28, 2015. Retrieved November 22, 2022.
  6. ^ a b c Friedman, Gabe (December 29, 2015). "4 quotes by ex-Orthodox rabbi Marc Gafni not in The NY Times article". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved January 3, 2016.
  7. ^ a b c d e JTA (December 31, 2015). "US Jewish group spurns ex-rabbi over his sexual behavior". The Times of Israel. Retrieved November 29, 2021.
  8. ^ a b Matousek, Mark (September 8, 2015). "Evolutionary Love: An Interview With Dr. Marc Gafni". Psychology Today. Retrieved October 12, 2021.
  9. ^ Ellsberg, Michael (January 12, 2014). "John Mackey, Co-CEO of Whole Foods, and Marc Gafni on 'The Unique Self of Business'". Forbes. Retrieved April 18, 2022.
  10. ^ a b Stein, Zak (March 2014). "On Spiritual Books and their Readers: A Review of Radical Kabbalah" (PDF). Integral Review. Retrieved April 9, 2024.
  11. ^ a b "2012 Results" (PDF). USA Book News. Retrieved December 19, 2016.
  12. ^ "The Gafni Show: Tachat Gafno". IMDB. Retrieved December 2, 2021.
  13. ^ Chang, Sophia (March 5, 2020). "Influential New Age Guru Sued Over Allegations He Molested Child While At Yeshiva University". Gothamist. Retrieved November 28, 2022.
  14. ^ a b c d Gafni, Marc (November 3, 2016). "Marc Gafni Tells His Story — and Experts Respond". The Forward. New York. Retrieved December 15, 2016.
  15. ^ a b Gafni, Marc (February 10, 2017). "NCFM Member Marc Gafni, Fake Facts: Unchecked Falsehoods that Destroy Lives". National Coalition for Men. Retrieved March 26, 2017.
  16. ^ a b Ner-David, Jacob (December 1, 2006). "Genug: Time for a Change". Sh'ma: A Journal of Jewish Responsibility. Boston: Sh'ma Institute. Archived from the original on October 8, 2008. Retrieved December 28, 2016.
  17. ^ a b c d Siegal, Jennifer (May 19, 2006). "Rabbi Fired Over Sex Claims, Defenders Offer Mea Culpa". The Forward. Retrieved December 2, 2021.
  18. ^ a b c Raved, Ahiya; Cohen, Avi (May 18, 2006). "Rabbi Gafni accused of sexual assault". News. Ynetnews. Retrieved December 28, 2016.
  19. ^ a b c Ganihar, Tomer (June 7, 2011). "Death of the spirit". Haaretz.
  20. ^ a b c Singer-Heruti, Roni (May 19, 2006). "New-age Rabbi Mordechi Gafni accused of sex crimes". Haaretz. Retrieved March 20, 2013.
  21. ^ a b Kustanowitz, Esther D. (January 6, 2016). "Petition against ex-rabbi Gafni gains Jewish community support". The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. Retrieved December 5, 2022.
  22. ^ a b Rosenblatt, Gary (January 13, 2016). "Former Gafni Students Speak Out Against Him". The Jewish Week. Retrieved December 5, 2022.
  23. ^ a b c Montefinise, Angela (May 21, 2006). "Fiend Rabbi On Run; Victims in U.S., Israel". New York Post. p. 25. Retrieved November 29, 2021.
  24. ^ Oxford University (2008). "Gafni's Oxford University Doctorate" (PDF). College of the University of Oxford. Retrieved June 26, 2022.
  25. ^ Gafni, Marc (2006). The theology of acosmic humanism: Mordechai Lainer of Izbica (PhD dissertation). OCLC 321018589.
  26. ^ a b DeGregory, Priscilla; Lapin, Tamar (March 4, 2020). "Popular New Age author Marc Gafni molested 13-year-old girl in 1980, lawsuit says". New York Post. Retrieved December 2, 2021.
  27. ^ Kopatch, Gil (June 2, 2005). "Why Am I Not a Buddhist?". Haaretz. Retrieved December 28, 2016.
  28. ^ Gafni, Mordechai (2003). "A Hundred Blasts Shatter the Somber Silence". In Kurzweil, Arthur (ed.). Best Jewish Writing 2003. Josey-Bass. pp. 200–205. ISBN 0-7879-6771-8.
  29. ^ Wall, Alix (May 9, 2003). "Let love, sex and holiness make your life full, says rabbi". J Weekly. Retrieved December 2, 2021.
  30. ^ Rosenblum, Jonathan (July 13, 2006). "Think Again: 'Sexualizing' the public square". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved December 28, 2016. See also Gafni, The Erotic And The Holy: Kabbalistic Tantra for Everyday Living
  31. ^ McShane, Larry (January 2, 2016). "New Age guru Marc Gafni allegedly molested two NYC teen girls during the 1980s, denies sexual misconduct allegations". New York Daily News. Retrieved December 29, 2016.
  32. ^ JTA (November 9, 2016). "Marc Gafni: I never molested 13-year-old girl". CT Jewish Ledger. Retrieved November 29, 2021.
  33. ^ Barland, Gordon H. (October 30, 2007). "Report of Polygraph Examination: Marc Gafni" (PDF). MarcGafni.com. Retrieved November 29, 2021. In my opinion Mr. Gafni answered the relevant questions truthfully. This opinion is tempered by the fact that I had no access to the original complaints.
  34. ^ Rosenblatt, Gary (May 25, 2006). "Rabbi Gafni Ousted for Misconduct". The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. Retrieved December 7, 2022.
  35. ^ Caplan, Mariana (2011). "Los Angeles Makes Movies. San Francisco Makes Movements" (PDF). Common Ground Magazine. No. December 2010/January 2011. Mill Valley, California: Rob Sidon. pp. 64–65. Retrieved December 19, 2016.
  36. ^ "Wisdom Council". iEvolve. Archived from the original on March 7, 2013. Retrieved March 14, 2013.
  37. ^ "What is a purpose-driven business?: John Mackey and Marc Gafni in Dialogue, Part 2". iEvolve. October 19, 2012.
  38. ^ a b Rosenblatt, Gary (September 13, 2011). "New Sexual Complaints Against Marc Gafni". The Jewish Week. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
  39. ^ Rosenblatt, Gary (September 14, 2011). "Marc Gafni, Again: Faces Complaints From 'Spiritual Wisdom' Community". The Jewish Week. Retrieved December 5, 2022.
  40. ^ Alexander, Sam (January 17, 2017). "Speaking Out For Integrity and Dr. Marc Gafni". Patheos. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  41. ^ Wilber, Ken (October 7, 2011). "Ken Wilber's Response to the Marc Gafni Debacle". Integral Life. Archived from the original on July 9, 2013. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  42. ^ Wilber, Ken (December 27, 2011). "Ken Wilber Statement on Marc Gafni and the Center for World Spirituality". Ken Wilber. Archived from the original on February 9, 2012. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  43. ^ Wilber, Ken (December 27, 2011). "Ken Wilber Statement on Marc Gafni and the Center for Integral Wisdom". Marc Gafni. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  44. ^ Gafni, Marc (2012). "Your Unique Self: The Radical Path to Personal Enlightenment". Integral Publishers. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  45. ^ Gafni, Marc (2012). Your Unique Self: The Radical Path to Personal Enlightenment. Integral Publishers. ISBN 978-1-4675-2277-9.
  46. ^ Prince, Cathryn J. (January 6, 2016). "Controversial ex-rabbi Gafni and an alleged victim square off". The Times of Israel. Retrieved February 7, 2018.
  47. ^ Pink, Aiden (January 21, 2018). "Accused Child Molester Marc Gafni Defends Himself On 'Dr. Phil'". The Forward. New York City. Retrieved February 7, 2018.
  48. ^ "Alleged Victim Of Former Rabbi Marc Gafni Tells Her Story". Dr. Phil. January 19, 2018. Retrieved November 29, 2021.
  49. ^ Anonymous (Chaya Lester) (January 1, 2016). "A voice for Gafni's victims, from one who was there". The Times of Israel. Retrieved January 3, 2016.
  50. ^ Kabakov, Sara (January 12, 2016). "'I Was 13 When Marc Gafni's Abuse Began'". The Forward. New York City. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
  51. ^ "Report of Polygraph Results October 2007". 2015. Retrieved November 29, 2021.
  52. ^ Barland, Gordon H. (December 14, 2007). "Report of Polygraph Examination: Marc Gafni" (PDF). MarcGafni.com. Retrieved December 28, 2016. ...this was a poor issue for the polygraph. The polygraph is believed to be most accurate when a person denies committing a specific physical act...It would be more appropriate to examine Sarah as to whether she had written a letter, than him as to whether he had read it. More importantly, testing on the contents of a letter received nearly 30 years ago is inappropriate because memory is easily modified over time – often significantly – based on additional knowledge and experience....Mr. Gafni was adamant that he had a very clear memory of that letter. We agreed that if he wished to be tested on this issue, I would have to include a caveat to the effect that because of the complexity of the issue, one could not have as much confidence in the results as one would have if the issue was unambiguous. That notwithstanding, Mr. Gafni asked to be examined on this additional issue....We discussed his recollection of the letter from Sarah Kabakow. He said his memory of that letter is very vivid to this day. He received it after he had broken off his relationship with her. It was a sweet, tender letter in which she said she loved him, she knew he loved her, they were meant to go through life together, and only thus could they be happy....Conclusion It is my professional opinion that Mr. Gafni answered the relevant questions truthfully. Because of the nearly three decades that have elapsed since Ms. Kabakow's letter would have been received, confidence in this conclusion is necessarily somewhat less than would otherwise be the case.
  53. ^ Kabakov, Sara (November 14, 2016). "Marc Gafni Told His Side of the Story. Now His Accuser Responds". The Forward. New York City. Retrieved April 20, 2017.
  54. ^ Rosenblatt, Gary (January 5, 2016). "Gafni Faces Fallout From New Age Community". The Jewish Week. Retrieved November 29, 2021.
  55. ^ a b Moyer, Justin Wm. (May 25, 2016). "Protesters' problem with new Whole Foods concept: An ex-rabbi's alleged sex scandal". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on October 12, 2020.
  56. ^ Kestenbaum, Sam (June 15, 2016). "Whole Foods CEO Remains Loyal to Marc Gafni Despite Abuse Claims". Forward. Retrieved April 13, 2023.
  57. ^ Kestenbaum, Sam (June 16, 2016). "Whole Foods CEO Stands by Jewish Spiritual Guru Accused of Improper Sexual Conduct". Haaretz. Retrieved April 13, 2023.
  58. ^ Oswald, John A. (April 6, 2016). "Whole Foods CEO John Mackey Leaves Marc Gafni's Think Tank". Forward. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  59. ^ Feldman, Ari (August 23, 2019). "Marc Gafni Named In Latest Sexual Abuse Lawsuit Against Yeshiva University". Forward. Retrieved December 28, 2019.
  60. ^ ""Jane Doe" against Yeshiva University and Marc Gafni, previously known as Mordechai Winiarz; Plaintiff's Affidavit". Supreme Court of the State of New York. August 14, 2019. Retrieved December 28, 2019.
  61. ^ Gafni, Marc; Kincaid, Kristina (2017). A Return to Eros: The Radical Experience of Being Fully Alive. BenBella Books. ISBN 978-1-944648-18-3.
  62. ^ Kestenbaum, Sam (August 2, 2016). "Former Rabbi, Accused Molester Marc Gafni Teaching at Tantric Sex School". The Forward. New York. Retrieved April 20, 2017.
  63. ^ a b Stein, Zak (2018). "Love in a Time Between Worlds" (PDF). Integral Review. Retrieved April 12, 2023.

Further reading

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