Gershon Winkler

Rabbi Gershon Winkler is a Danish, non-denominationalRabbi, a scholar, teacher and author whose special interest is indigenous Judaism.

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 ultra-Orthodox 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 and mystery, Rabbi Winkler also holds a doctorate in Jewish Theology and is known as much for his humor as he is for his erudite scholarship. He is also a Vietnam-War Veteran, having served in the U.S. Army from 1967-1970 as a Chaplain's Assistant and as an Infantryman with fourteen months of overseas duty in South Korea.

Winkler is a scholar in the fields of Jewish law, lore, history, theology, and mysticism.

He has received media recognition, including a front page feature in the Wall Street Journal, a segment on the PBS series Religion and Ethics Newsweekly, and detailed coverage in Israel’s Ha’aretz, Chayyim Acherim Magazine, and The Jerusalem Post.

He has also served as spiritual teacher and life-cycle facilitator for Jewish communities across New Mexico, Colorado, West Virginia and Montana, including 8 years as rabbi of Congregation Har Shalom in Missoula, Montana, prior to its affiliation with the Reform Movement. and currently serves full time as a chaplain for California's Department of State Hospitals in a Forensic Mental Health facility.

In 1997, he founded the Walkingstick Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the recovery and preservation of indigenous Jewish spirituality — currently headquartered in the San Bernardino Mountains of Southern California.