KRAKOW, POLAND. On November 3, 2019, the night before the commencement of the 2019 Auschwitz-Birkenau bearing witness retreat and exactly one year since Bernie passed away, six successors of Bernie recognized Rami Avraham Mukyu Efal as a Dharma Holder in the Zen Peacemakers lineage. In Hotel Royal in Kraków Poland, Roshi Barbara, Roshi Paco Lugovina & Roshi Cornelius Collande performed a short ceremony recognizing Rami’s practice and contribution. They were joined by Roshi Roland Wegmüller,Roshi Genro Gauntt and Roshi Fleet Maull, and friends & family Sophie Leger, Iris and Tani Katz, Markus Heil, Miriam Eisenberger and Rami’s father, Benjamin.
Rami’s diverse experience weaves contemplation & communication, creativity & strategy. Israel-born, he served in the Israeli Defense Forces as a criminal investigator investigating crimes by soldiers including human rights violations. Now, a citizen of the USA, he has been a student of Zen Buddhism since 2006, has undergone intensive study and training while living for 2 years at Zen Mountain Monastery and 2 more years at Zen Center of New York Center Fire Lotus Temple.
He attended the Auschwitz retreat in 2013 where he met Bernie and the Zen Peacemakers community, as well as all six Roshis, for the first time. Bernie hired Rami as his assistant and attendant, and he was his last student. Following Bernie’s stroke in 2016, Rami stepped in as executive director as well as supported Bernie’s recovery.
Before joining Bernie, Rami has co-led multi-day workshops in Nonviolent Communication with the New York Center for NVC, studied peace-building at the School of International Training in Vermont USA and Illustration at the School of Visual Arts in New York. He is a fine artist, a published illustrator and has presented on the subject of art and peace-building at the Warsaw Museum of Modern Art, on National Public Radio (USA) and at the United Nations headquarters in New York City. He currently undergoes Rabbinical studies with Aleph Ordination Program.
