The Mystery of Love

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Summary: A non- Jewish approach based on Jewish sources
Review:

In this work Rabbi Marc Gafni speaks as a kind of guru to mankind who bases his teaching on an original reading of Jewish sacred literature. His focus is in reading of Hasidic and Kabbalistic sources. Gafni tries to connect these sources with the teachings of other religious faiths, mainly of Buddhism. Thus his work has a New Age flavor and in a sense works in both the direction of opening traditional Jews to other religious traditions, and helping non- Jews and assimilated Jews more deeply appreciate the depth and importance of the Jewish religious tradition. In this regard it is important to note that Gafni has been a central figure, in efforts to reach out to the secular public in Israel. And in this regard he has both been the moderator of a television program focusing on Jewish spirituality, and has created his own retreat center in the Galilee region of Israel.
All this is commendable, but the actual nature of Gafni's text, and the values he teaches in it raise certain questions for the traditional observant Jew. Gafni's focus is on the individual, and the individual's path to a higher spiritual life. This approach avoids incorporating much which is central to the whole Jewish tradition in spiritual life. Gafni does not talk about Halachah, or Mitzvot, and never uses the concept of `obligation'. Communal values are not at the heart of is enterprise. This immediately casts a certain shadow over the work. This shadow deepens when in the course of the reading there is no mention made whatsoever to specific connection or loyalty to the land of Israel, to the people of Israel, to the G-d of Israel.
Now it can be argued that it is precisely this narrow Jewish particularistic approach that Gafni is seeking to overcome. He is speaking as a man to mankind, and as it were individual Jewish spiritual teacher to individuals of all faiths and kinds. Therefore, the kind of communal and particularistic obligation which he omits is perfectly logical and the context. The question however is then one of whether Gafni is really teaching Judaism or in fact teaching is his own particular brand of the faith, Gafni-ism which however inspiring and instructive does not seem a genuine possibility for those with traditional Jewish religious commitment.
Gafni elaborates his own theory of the special spiritual connection that the individual must have with God, and life. Gafni calls this key relationship, an erotic one. He says it has four components, and models the relationship on that which was held to be the fundamental experience in Jewish Temple worship, the relation of the cherubs. For Gafni this erotic relationship( which he says is not encompassed by, but is `modeled ` by the sexual relationship) is the key to the mystery of love.
In the one passage of the book where he talks about the four faces of the erotic together he does so in relating them to sexual experience. The four faces of the erotic are "Being on the inside", Intense yearning, fullness of presence, the interconnectivity of being." In the key passage he writes, All these qualities are essential to great sex." Being on the inside" means not on the inside of your sexual partner, for that is limited to the masculine sexual experience. Rather it is about being on the inside of the experience itself.. Yearning is the essence of the sexual. So much so, that it is often thought by poets and psychologists to be more pleasurable and intense than the fulfillment itself. Interconnectivity is nowhere more clearly manifested than in the sexual drive. We are born with an urge to merge. Finally, it is in the sexual where -in its ideal expression-we are most fully present to each other. Every gesture, fragrance, sigh and whisper ripples through us as we listen deeply to the erotic instructions that well up from the depth of our soul's body."
The claim that the " sex models the erotic" would be more persuasive had he more richly dealt into other realms of experience. But somehow the `model ` the ` sexual experience' gets a great deal of space here, almost as if what we are hearing is that we can make all life a ` peak experience'.
In one sense it is possible to understand and sympathize with what Rabbi Gafni is trying to do. He is trying to awaken the bored, and the tired of which there are plenty in traditional religions, including the Jewish religion. He is trying to shake up the complacent and the dead inside and waken them to a sense of life `s exciting possibilities. He is trying to move us away from the profane to an experience of life in which the meeting with God, and the participation in the sacred, is central.
All this is admirable. So too are many of the individual passages, and small essays which constitute the work. So too are many of the ideas in which Rabbi Gafni urges us to become creators of our own story, and participants in the Divine story. All this is admirable were it presented as one kind of remedy, or one kind of mood and motion in life. It does not however make much sense as a theory of the all- and- all in regard to living in this world, meeting our obligations in it, overcoming the practical difficulties of life, confronting the many negative experiences and people we must face.
The book has many wonderful passages, beautiful and deep insights. It is highly recommended on these terms, and also highly recommended as the work of an interesting and original Jewish thinker. It is not however what it tries to be, the new formula for the holy life which somehow replaces the `old'.Gafni-ism will have to wait a while for those of us for whom Judaism is the center of life.





Rating:
Summary: Truly Revolutionary; A Society-Transformer
Review: I do not tend to go towards books with such titles as this one totes. But the name of the author drew me in. I had known Marc Gafni's fantastic teachings and read his first book "Soul Prints" with a gusto...so I gave this book a try. Once I got past the title, there were not another 4 words of the book that I didn't find masterful and moving, even enlightening. Plus, as someone with knowledge of Jewish sources, I was gratefied by the pages of endnotes at the back; revealing just how deeply rooted -and all the more revolutionary - Gafni's ideas are. He shuttles the reader into a new era of thought and spirituality. But this is not just a book that transforms individuals; it is a book with the ability to transform whole swaths of society...if its teachings were heeded. I greatly look forward to the next Gafni book, and the next, and the next....

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Summary: Radical Wonderful Wild Bible!
Review: Important. An Important book. A book that takes ancient mystical teachings and reveals their overwhelming relevance for today. Especially when our world is so busy making war...this book is busy making love...and shows that making love is not about having sex but about creating meaning and living passionately. If you thought that the Bible was boring or prudish - think again. Gafni - a Rabbi and mystical adept - gives the reader a treasured glimpse into the mystical Biblical tradition. His re-readings are radical but wonderfully footnoted; well-grounded and wildly mind expanding!

Rating:
Summary: 5 stars entertaining reading, 3 stars morality lesson
Review: Marc writes an interesting and romantic notion of sex. There's two kinds-1.Love inside 2.Lola from the bathroom wall bible. Marc distinguishes between the two, but..
I'm glad another,especially a woman-Karen Bentley review-had the same mixed signals that I did when reading this. It's not really fear as much as the notion that something doesn't ring true with our modern easy come easy go attitude of marriage when the romance leaves and love not sexually really matters. The beginning captures puppy love pureness that should be the focus of our relationship with God. But it can be misconstrued if a guy falls in love with all women with the same cosmic pure love that Marc describes. I guess a sort of collective memory experience of having 1000 wives except what about the MODERN notion with equality for women? What if one of Marc's wives loved as many more men as strong as she loves him, sexually, whether on the inside or the outside? I guess we have to bank on the Jewish notion of things that it isn't chemically possible for most women. Some parts of the Jewish faith CAN be wrong. Divorce is a bad thing whether with love or not. I do give him credit for bringing it out with a rosy smell because it is Christian like to understand a whole population that struggles with our new divorce ethic. But hey maybe Satan and God are the same person and it's all just part of the game to experience good and evil. Because by turning on the love with everyone as Marc explains DOES lead to some jealous laden and angry moments which Marc leads so truthfully to the question of ETHICS, only at the end of the book when you're almost believing that loving everyone sexually in the mind or body, may not be such a bad thing as long as I can accept the pathology as myself. Interesting how he explains how Orthodox Jews pray swaying back and forth with a THROBBING penis as Marc describes. But I'm not judging him, just knowing it's not good even when I do it! Good book Marc, it made me feel the love, but like the saying goes, being kind can hurt someone sometimes also. But Marc does a good job of explaining the penalty of loving too much--ironically is being alone until every penny is paid for the pain caused. Maybe this is truer than most perfect notions of love.

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Summary: Comments from The Spiritual Reviewer
Review: Sex sells soap. It sells cars. And now it sells God! Author Marc Gafni uses sex and eroticism as an allegory to teach how to live in a holy way. Says Gafni "...the sexual in all of its intense pleasure is the model for all spiritual wisdom." (pg 48)

The very best and most titillating feature of this book is the assertion that when we cry out "oh God" at the climax of sex, we are engaging in a form of mystical orgasm. Priests call out God's name when they perform holy rites, and couples likewise call out God's name when they engage in the holy and sacred ritual of joining with each other.

The Mystery of Love is interesting as an example of Kabbalistic thought and practice. But readers should be aware that there is a difference between an uncompromisingly spiritual perception of love and a more earthbound, ego-based perception of love. Spiritually-oriented love leads you away from the body and towards that which is unseen and therefore eternal and real. Earthly ego-based love leads you toward the body, which is seen, but temporary and therefore unreal. The Mystery of Love is a persuasive attempt to reconcile spiritual and earthly love into one cohesive system. The reader is taken down a provocative and sensational path, but one that is ultimately misleading. From a spiritual perspective, joining has nothing whatsoever to do with bodies. We are joined with God and with each other whenever hate/fear is overridden (or transcended) in the mind. It is also useful to remember that the ability to extend and express love is done in an infinite number of ways. Sex is just one of them.

This book received a score of 2 on a scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high) from The Spiritual Reviewer.

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Summary: Mystical Approach to Christian and Jewish Concept of Love
Review: The Mystery of Love by Marc Gafni is a most unusual and fascinating approach to the esoteric teachings of the ancient Jewish Mystics, which apply also to the Christian Old Testament, since it is contains the Jewish Holy Texts. In an, at first shocking, simile Rabbi Gafni explains that the Shachina love is the feminine side of God, and that the Holy of Holies and the Temple of Solomon were filled with male and female embracing figures to demonstrate that to be whole we must be in touch with both our male and female aspects of love. For centuries the great Western religions have divorced themselves from the Shachina and embraced only the masculine concept of God. Gafni uses human sexuality to reveal his points of emphasis of the need for us as humans and as Religious Traditions to unite the masculine and feminine in our concept of God and of the world, in order to promote the highest good for humankind and the Earth. This is a beautifully written, thoroughly documented and researched book by a Rabbi of great wisdom, knowledge, and faith. It is a powerful acknowledgement for our times and can have important influence on Wester Faith today. It is great wisdom and insight in pleasant to read text, good reading for a trip or for daily meditation.