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“However,’ says Marc Gafni, “if I never realize myself fully enough to be a Heart Master, I will be more than pleased to be a Heart Servant.”
“So, if asked what I am, I would say, ‘I am Marc Gafni, the Heart Servant.'”
Gafni’s Rabbinic Ordination, Academic Background, and Teachers
First Person: I received Ordination many years ago from a well-regarded Orthodox institution in New York. Contrary to some rumors, that Ordination was never revoked. I retain a letter on my computer in which I wrote the president of the institution stating that our spiritual paths had parted in such a significant way that I no longer wished to hold Ordination from them.
I also passed a several-hour oral exam with one of the great Rabbinic minds of Israel today, representing the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and authorizing me to be a rabbi?particularly what is termed a Rav Yishuv. I retain that document in my records as well.
I have been asked whether I had, or have, Ordination from Reb Zalman Schachter. I retain in my records a document that Reb Zalman wrote for me several years ago. The document is not an Ordination, but rather an affirmation of my previous Ordination from the Orthodox institution mentioned above. When I returned that Ordination in 2004, Reb Zalman’s letter, which was based on my first Ordination, ceased to be valid. I have never held, nor do I seek, independent Ordination from Reb Zalman.
I am not a student of Reb Zalman’s nor have I ever been. I have in some very important ways benefited from his work, and I have publicly and privately thanked him for all this. I appreciate and respect the important contributions that he made to Jewish teaching.
I have tried in many ways,