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US women: Gafni assaulted us too
Eitan Amit
Published: 22.05.06, 10:45
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33 Talkbacks for this article
1. Sick rabbis Lanner & Gafni
Talula ,   Israel   (05.22.06)
13 years old!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! These two rabbis (and countless others) are sick, perverted evil people. And those people that make excuses and protect them (and there are quite a few here on ynet), are equally sleazy, sick and perverted. Feh!
2. So sad for all the victims:(
Jerusalem,Israel   (05.22.06)
With g-d's help, gafni will be brought to justice sooner than later and will hopefully remained behind bars for life! What a monster!
3. Mysticism without Mussar
David ,   Jerusalem, Israel   (05.22.06)
He should have studied more Tanakh and Talmud and Mussar and left the Zohar nonsense aside. Spending time on morality and tikun haolam rather than mysticism is what will bring the Messiah.
4. Talula
David ,   Jerusalem, Israel   (05.22.06)
What does this have to do with being rabbis. There are evil men and holy men in all professions. Rabbis are not immune from being flawed human beings and only a naive fool would think they were super-saints. You know a real rabbi when you meet him - not because of a piece of paper he has (far too many people have those), but because of who he is. If you ever considered this man a rabbi you don't know what a rabbi really is.
5. 4
Talula ,   Israel   (05.22.06)
Clearly you were not involved in the conversation where I was told here that a rabbi would never ever do anything like this. They are on some fictitious higher moral ground than the rest of us. HA HA HA HA that's funny!
6. Gafni
tzippi   (05.22.06)
I ditto what David said!
7. No David!
eddie ,   london UK   (05.22.06)
These wer rabbis, and many more, including roshei yeshivot. The point is that the rabbis claim that Talmud study perfect a person ad makes them great, but thats nonsense. In fact, sometimes the oppsoite, the various strict laws i talmud , which are not natural, or Divine, creat repression which leads to violence and perversion. these cases are proof
8. YNET
eddie ,   London UK   (05.22.06)
will Ynet still publish Gafni's column?
9. #1 Sick tayassim
Kyle ,   Southpark, CO, USA   (05.22.06)
13 years old!!!!! The IAF officer who used his authority to assault a subordinate and "Talula" defended this scumbag saying they were "in love." Those IAF flyers who gang raped a 13 year old are sick, perverted evil people. And those people that make excuses and protect them are equally sleazy, sick and perverted. Feh!
10. Where is the outrage from the Religious?? Just silence....
realitygaps ,   Jerusalem   (05.22.06)
Where is the outrage from rabbis and religious leaders in Israel and elsewhere, why do they never speak up on these issues and ignore them time after time. What about Rabbi Riskin who ordained this guy and supported him when these allegations first emerged years ago? As usual, sexual abuse in the religious Jewish communities is ignored and shunted to the side, so it will keep happening again and again... It makes me ashamed to wear a kippah.
11. #10 outrage from the religious
Kyle ,   Southpark, CO, USA   (05.22.06)
The outrage from the religious came a long time ago in the form of warnings that this putz was a huckster, a charlatan, a fraud, an apikuris, an imposter, and a bad dude. Now he is busted and shown to be everything they warned about, and the religious community is blamed because nobody listened?
12. Sick Kyle
Talula ,   Israel   (05.22.06)
Dear Ignorant, I will NEVER defend ANYONE who has sex with a minor. It's disgusting and it's repugnant. The difference being between the 14 year old on the air force base was that she was lapping up the attention. She made it very clear they were welcome to visit. It's still repugnant. I really don't think this has anything to do with a rabbi sexually assaulting a minor. Pilots and soldiers are not rabbis. YOU put a rabbi on the high moral ground, saying they are honorable and above such disgusting behaviour, but we can all see, they are not. These rabbis forced themselves on these girls. I mean, how stupid are you, really.
13. To #7
Joan ,   Haifa   (05.22.06)
I don't think the Tanakh and Talmud advocate any unnatural things. Are you sure you weren't thinking about the sex scandals which have rocked the Roman Catholic church in the U.S.? Now, as horrible as that was, I was sadly not too surprised because I can see how that celibacy rule priests have would attract some men with, shall we say, troubled, sexuality. The massive scale did shock me though, I must say. As David says, there are sick and evil men to be found in all walks of life. But I think what is so tremendously shocking here is when a person who is 1)in a position of trust , 2)dealing with a lot of vulnerable people and 3)supposed to be a spiritual leader turns out to be this way.
14. To #10: Hear, hear!
Joan ,   Haifa   (05.22.06)
15. Sick Talula
Kyle ,   Southpark, CO, USA   (05.22.06)
Talula, I never claimed that being a rabbi makes a person above reproach. You, however, defended the IAF scumbags who gang-raped the 13-year-old, by claiming that she was asking for it, calling her a "disgusting little tart" and demanding "she should be accountable." (your own words). Then you try to change the subject by going off on a wild screechy diatribe against the Orthodox boogey monster. Don't deny it, your words are right here: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3245593,00.html Religious people are human beings, there are good and bad among them just as there are good and bad among the seculars. You, however, trumpet your bias by proclaiming that ALL religious are ALL BAD and minimizing evil when it is committed by your crowd.
16. first linda, then daisy, then gabrielle, now talula
mike ,   israel (formerly usa   (05.22.06)
just when you think the quality of these talkbacks can't sink any lower.
17. US Schools
NH, USA   (05.22.06)
We have NO Jewish public schools in the USA. All of our public schools are non-denominational and were in the 1980's. I wish that you had provided a link to the NY Post article, since I am positive that they are well aware of that fact. This sounds like a fabrication to me.
18. substandard rabbi even less Jew
Yudaleh ,   Israel   (05.22.06)
How can you refer to this man as a rabbi? is this the way a teacher should act? Is this the way a Jew acts? How does this man have the nerve to misrepresent himself as being a rabbi when he is not even a good Jew!
19. New York Post article NOT FOUND
Kyle ,   Southpark, CO, USA   (05.22.06)
There is no current or archived article on the NY Post site matching the information cited by YNet. A Google search turns up a number of blog articles, including "The Awareness Center" and "jewishwhistleblower" (the same person) but there is nothing in the NY Post. So who is feeding YNet these scoops?
20. Gafni
leah amdur ,   Jerusalem Israel   (05.22.06)
I warned people on many email lists to avoid these fake rabbis. I was called bigoted
21. yes, Mike, it may be worse!
Shai ,   T-A   (05.22.06)
Trust them : they can still go lower. When you reach the bottom, you can dig.....
22. The reform rabbi Mark "Gafni"
Yariv ,   Tel Aviv   (05.22.06)
He was a reform rabbi, very secular and anti-religious. That was the reason he was employed by left-wing papers. I don't think they employed him because he was rapist but people knew very well that he was a rapist so may be that was a reason he was employed by the Left.
23. VERY GOOD POINT
ABIE ,   NYC   (05.22.06)
Yariv very good point. There are many types of rabbis and i doubt he is under the category as an orthodox. If he was so into kaballah where the hell is his beard. He is a phony and fraud. I am disgusted.
24. Kyle
Abie ,   NYC   (05.22.06)
I am going to have to agree with you on this because Talula is arguing with you. Talula stop generalizing a whole group of people beacuse of one so called unorthodox rabbi.
25. Repentance
Marcel Abel ,   Thoiry, France   (05.23.06)
« I will declare my iniquity; I will be sorry for my sins. » Psalm 38 « If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. » 1 John 1 : 9 Judge not : you are not God.
26. Yeh, but where is the Torah section now?
Steve ,   USA   (05.23.06)
B"H YNET, I do admit that there are some quotes here and links there that now do warrant more investigation. This is brighter than normal journalism from this paper, and congradulations for that clear admission rather than sweeping it under the carpet. However, I do miss the Torah section, although frankly I did not read it all that often. Just having the link there somehow made YNET a special paper unlike those found in the United States. It is like Hamas. A lot of people think they are evil and violent. But is the Israeli government going to take the place of Hamas over Arabs it does not want to control? Of course not. Similarly, this man had a role, and he has no replacement found yet even though he is incapable of filling that role now because of the active suspicions as well as his suspected behavior. I think the mature move would be to continue to publish Torah commentary, but to aquire a different source while this source is being investigated. That would be separating the Torah from the person under suspicion. There are so many synagogues in Israel, and no saints high enough for YNET's standards? Or what specifically are you accusing the Torah of to have it also dismissed from your site? I see no clear link anymore to Torah commentary. I feel though that a man's possible shortcomings are being set on the Torah, and I feel this is unbecomming of YNET.
27. Happy Rabbi
Anon ,   No Place   (05.23.06)
Popular guy this Rabbi with the ladies ! I shall stay anon on this one, I might get into serious trouble with Kyle.
28. Response to Kyle (#19)
Moshe Z. Matitya ,   Jerusalem, Israel   (05.23.06)
Here's the link to the New York Post article: Fiend Rabbi On Run
29. A Real rabbi
Shlomo Silverstein ,   Ma'ale Adumim   (05.23.06)
Gafni was about as Orthodox as Aviv Gefen, just not as honest. Ynet wasn't honest either. The Orthodox community did warn everyone that he wasn't kosher yet you insisted on calling him Orthodox. Why doesn't Ynet have the guts to ask a * REAL * English speaking Orthodox Rabbi to write a weekly parsha page? What are you afraid of? That thousands of your readers will have a tiny bit of Jewish spiritual content into their lifes? Horrors of Horrors! You know, its not forbidden for Ynet to print something that makes us better people.
30. 15 Someone get Kyle a job!
Talula ,   Israel   (05.23.06)
What a truly sad and pathetic person you are. You clearly have no life whatsoever, to remember every single thing that someone said a week ago or more, and find it and add the hyperlink, really, how sad and pathetic can you get. You are not even proving a point. You are just soaring to stratospheric heights of ignorance. Before you say anything else to anyone here, I suggest you go and get a life, preferably in the USA. You also say things here that clearly show your ignorance, you know nothing about life in Israel, this is very obvious from the way you blabber on. And if you want to discuss things, you discuss you don't twist. I have ZERO patience for you, LOSER! But I do believe that imitation is the highest form of flattery, so, thanks for that. Well, either that or you can't write a sentence by yourself.
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