MARC GAFNI EXPOSE – PART 2

MARC GAFNI EXPOSE – PART 2

AKA (Personal): Marc Winiarz, Mordechai Gafni
AKA (Business): The Center For World Spirituality, The Center For Integral Wisdom Location: Monterey Bay and San Francisco, CA
Websites: www.Marcgafni.com, www.centerforintegralwisdom.org EIN: 46-1051882

For ex-rabbi turned guru Marc Gafni, the last 30 years of his life have been filled with scandal and controversy. Complaint after complaint has been filed against him, especially regarding sexual abuse (including with minors as young as ages 13 and 16).

The allegations started when Gafni was 19, where he had repeated sexual encounters over a nine-month period with a 13 (and then 14) year old girl. Mr. Gafni was quoted as saying that they had been in love and that “she was 14 going on 35, and I never forced her.” In a recent interview, the victim, who asked not to be identified, said that the encounters were not at all consensual. She publicly testified that he repeatedly and forcibly molested her, while Gafni stated that he was physically intimate with her but claimed that the relationship was based on consensual puppy love. “He believed it was a mutually consensual relationship,” she said. "Which was really horrifying because it was sexual violence, it was physical."

Later, when Gafni was 26 and married, he was accused of molesting a 16-year-old girl. When she spoke up at the time about what happened, he discredited her calling her a liar, and then persuaded prominent leaders to sign documents saying he was innocent. He said that it was “a one-time event” and that she, who was “highly initiatory,” came on to him. “I never initiated anything with him,” she said. It started with compliments and extra attention, eventually leading to the night when the rabbi appeared in her basement bedroom. “You look like you need a hug,” he told her. Gafni wound up on top of the stunned 16-year-old, his hands wandering under her nightgown, despite her repeated protestations, she said. Their second encounter went further, with Gafni removing their clothes before he “took my hand and forced me to help him climax. I had never even seen a man naked before.”
She said the abuse left her suicidal. “I was a victim of this horrible man’s sexual, emotional, psychological and spiritual abuse,” she stated in a recent petition started against Gafni. “The reason nobody else talks about it is because they are petrified of him. He’s a sociopath, there’s this fear of him.”

For these poor victims there is no closure and no chance for true justice (statute of limitations). They must live with the horrors inflicted upon them for the rest of their lives. We certainly applaud their courage to stand up against Gafni in an effort to educate and warn potential victims. So few victims do, allowing their perpetrators to continue exploiting and abusing others.

PART THREE COMING TOMORROW on the “Bayit Chadash” scandal. Stay tuned…


Sources:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3253650,00.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/26/us/marc-gafni-center-for-integral-wisdom.html
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/marc-gafni-denies-sexual-misconduct-allegations-article-1.2483567