Call To Action: Gafni Alert - Omega Institute (Being Fearless)

From: The Awareness Center's Daily Newsletter

Rabbi Marc Gafni is scheduled to present at the Omega Institute conference in New York City on March 31 - April 2, 2006.
Please contact Stephan Rechtschaffen and Skip Backus at the Omega Institute and let them know how you feel about Marc Gafni presenting.

Please provide them with background information and the history of Rabbi Mordecai Gafni (AKA: Marc Gafni, Mark Gafni, Marc Winiarz, Mordechai Winiarz, Mordechai Winyarz).

Born as Marc Winiarz, went to New York from the Midwest for high school and college, became a youth leader and rabbi, was accused of sexual assaulting two teenage girls, and attempted sexual assault of a young adult woman. He was also accused of cult like practices. In 1991 he left the Unitied States to start a new life in Israel, changing his name to Mordechai Gafni.

Marc Gafni: "I was a stupid kid and we were in love," the rabbi said. "She was 14 going on 35, and I never forced her"

Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, the spiritual leader of the Israeli community of Efrat, was going to revoke the rabbinic ordination he gave Rabbi 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.

Omega Institute Contact Information:
Stephan Rechtschaffen and Skip Backus
Toll Free: 800-944-1001
Direct Number: 845-266-4444
Fax: 845-266-3769
registration@eomega.org

You may also want to contact the other presenters at this particular conference and let your voice be heard. Scroll down on this page and click on each link for contact information.

Faculty Profile
Rabbi Marc Gafni is the founder and head of Bayit Chadash, an international spiritual retreat center committed to Jewish renaissance in Israel. Gafni is the author of Soul Prints: Your Path to Fulfillment, which was the subject of a nationally aired PBS special. Translated into many languages, it received the NAPRA Nautilus Award as Best Spirituality Book of 2001. His second book, The Mystery of Love, draws from the ancient texts of the Kabbalist tradition to explore the relationships between sex, eros, love, and holiness.

Along with Erica Fox, Rabbi Gafni is developing the Harvard Negotiation Insight Initiative at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School. This project engages cutting-edge conversation between the fields of conflict management and wisdom traditions.

Currently completing a doctorate program through Oxford University, Rabbi Gafni is also a contributing editor to Tikkun magazine, and Chayim Acherim, Israel's leading spiritual magazine.


Upcoming Conferences:
Being Fearless - New York, NY
March 31, 2006 - April 2, 2006