This article is an essay published in Marc Gafni’s English language book The Mystery of Love, and discussed in his audio series, On the Erotic and the Holy. In recent study, Marc Gafni has added and revised this article. In Talmudic Textual Koa ...
Archive for the ‘Essays & Articles’ Category
Sexually Incorrect
Introduction to Sexually Incorrect by Marc Gafni The following article is still under construction. It is an expanded version of the article Spiritually Incorrect found in that section of this website. This article raises some initial questions in re ...
Evolutionary Spirituality
by Marc Gafni Thirty years ago I became seriously interested in the writing of Abraham Kuk. Kuk was a great Kabbalist and revolutionary thinker, who lived a paradoxically and often beautiful conservative lifestyle. In my recent work on Mordechai Lain ...
The Judah Moment
by Marc Gafni Back in 1893 there was a reading contest in London. People gathered to hear Shakespearean actors read Psalm 23, “The Lord is My Shepherd,” competing for the substantial prize to be awarded for the best recitation. As the eve ...
Author’s Preface to A Certain Spirit
The following articles are from the second book Marc Gafni published in 2000 on the topic Certainty and Uncertainty. The book is called Vadai in Hebrew and A Certain Spirit in English. The core theme of the book on certainty is a re-understanding of ...
The Fifth Gate: Completing the Circle
Chapter 21: Ruth, the Moabite from the book by Ohad Ezrachi and Marc Gafni When Boaz decides to marry Ruth, the Moabite, the elders of Bethlehem, who sit by the gates of the city, bless him with an exceptional blessing: All the people at the gate and ...
The Fourth Gate: Reincarnations
Chapter 16: Reincarnation as a Sifting of Good and Evil from the book by Ohad Ezrachi and Marc Gafni According to Lurianic Kabbalah, the holy sparks that exist inside every one of us are almost invisible to the naked eye. One ventures upon the spirit ...
The Third Gate: Upper Leah and the Women of “Binah”
Chapter 10: Leah, The Scholarly Woman from the book by Ohad Ezrachi and Marc Gafni In this gate we will look at how the Ari defines the unique nature of partzuf Leah. We will observe how, by sanctifying the image of partzuf Leah, the Ari facilitated ...
The Second Gate: Leah is Lillith
Chapter 5: Biblical Figures Unlock the Divine from the book by Ohad Ezrachi and Marc Gafni Those who see Lillith as the first feminist are following in the footsteps of the Ari. For, in the writings of the Kabbalists who preceded the Ari, Lillith is ...
The First Gate: Why Lillith?
The following is a translation of the Hebrew Book, Lillith; A Re-Reading of Feminine Shadow, by Ohad Ezrahi and Marc Gafni, published in 2005. In regard to the nature of this partnership, see the note below. Ohad has written a note about this on his ...