Gershon Winkler
Rabbi Gershon Winkler is a Danish, non-denominational Rabbi, a scholar, teacher and author whose special interest is indigenous Judaism. Early life Winkler was born in Denmark in 1949, where his grandfather and grandmother, Rav Michael Shalom Winkler and Fru Doktor Rabbiner Esther Winkler served as the spiritual leaders of the Haredi community of Machzikei Hadas. He was ordained as a rabbi in 1978 by the late Musar Master Rabbi Eliezer Benzion Bruk, Founder and Dean of Yeshivat Bais Yosef Novhordok (Russia) in Jerusalem. He has devoted most of his life to teaching and writing about the lesser promulgated ancient Hebraic and Aramaic mystery wisdom and is a pioneer in the restoration of the shamanic traditions of ancient Israel. He has also devoted much of his life to visiting state and federal prison camps, mostly across Colorado and West Virginia, and currently serves as the Jewish chaplain for a forensic state hospital in Southern California. In 1997, he founded the Walking Stick Foundation, an educational entity dedicated to the restoration of what he calls "Aboriginal Judaism," conducting retreats and seminars as well as special "Jewish Shamanic" tours across the Land of Israel. Author of fourteen books on Jewish law, lore, history