Did David Bersin commit fraud?
“Total transparency has a tendency to reveal and expose those not really adding any value” – Ridderstrale and Nordstrom: Funky Business: Talent Makes Capital Dance
On Moshe’s Behalf…?
Several months ago, I ran across something that got me slightly nauseous when I read it. It was an archived post by David Bersin from a now-defunct online messaging system called the “Feldigest”*
Bersin’s post, originally distributed in 1999 reads, in part:
“In registering the service marks on his [Moshe's] behalf, I did nothing unethical or fraudulent…”
Whoa! That was news to me. David Zemach-Bersin wants the world to believe that he registered the service marks “on behalf” of Moshe Feldenkrais? How interesting. Does he have any evidence? Would it hold up in a court of law?
To The Guild, From David
For the sake of accuracy, it should be noted that David did not register the marks on Moshe’s behalf. Moshe Feldenkrais already owned his service marks. What Bersin did was register them – transfer them – on behalf of himself – to the Feldenkrais Guild. David was using legal means to take Moshe’s name and legacy and assign it to the Guild. David can try to reframe that any way he choses, but the facts are the facts: He was instrumental in giving the American Guild control of Moshe’s marks.
Did Moshe Want The Guild To Have His Marks?
I have not found any evidence that Moshe wanted the Guild to have his marks. I certainly I have not seen any historical documents in which Moshe specifically mentioned wanting to give the Feldenkrais Guild control of his work and legacy. Have you? If you have such documentation, please send it to me. (And I mean real documentation – not just someone’s recollection of a conversation 25 years ago).
And the idea that Moshe Feldenkrais wanted or needed anybody to register the service marks “on his behalf” is rather dubious. Moshe wasn’t an idiot. If he had wanted to give his service marks to the Guild, he had many years in which to do so. He could have easily transferred the marks during the San Francisco or Amherst trainings, when he was still healthy and in control. The fact that he did not do so is quite revealing.
Why David Bersin?
One could also wonder, “If Moshe wanted this done, why would he have chosen David Bersin?” Moshe had trusted students who had worked with him for decades, people such as Mia Segal, Ruthy Alon, Yochanon Rywerant and many others. If he had wanted someone to act on his behalf, wouldn’t he have chosen one of them?
I’m not going to accuse David Bersin of registering the service marks fraudulently. I simply do not have the evidence to do so. But there are many people in the community – some of Moshe’s original students from Israel as well as several from the San Francisco and Amherst trainings who have personally told me that they doubt his story. They do not believe that David Bersin acted in good faith, nor do they believe that Moshe wanted the Guild to have his service marks.
I will leave it at that for now. You can, of course, come to your own conclusions and do your own research if you choose. It seems to me, that as a community we need to ask for verification of the stories that are told about the origination of the various social structures that have been created.
Awareness is awareness. It doesn’t end when you get up from the floor or table.
Note:
*The Feldigest is no longer active, its function now served by the FeldyForum, a place where Feldenkrais Practitioners and trainees converse online.
Historical Note
Moshe Feldenkrals died in June, 1984. According to the United State Patent and Trademark Office, the service marks were originally filed for in the U.S. on June 2, 1983. This was 12 months before Moshe’s death. The marks were granted to the Feldenkrais Guild on December 3, 1985. Fourteen years later in November, 3, 1999 a lawsuit was filed challenging the service marks. It was settled out of court in November 17, 2000,
Hi Ryan,
You are asking some very interesting questions here, even if we put aside the possibility of fraud. I have often wondered about Moshe’s state of mind when he signed over control of the Service Marks to the Guild. From what I have heard, he was not fully himself after the strokes. Even though he wanted there to be a Guild, it is highly doubtful that he wanted to grant control over the structure and content of trainings to a group of his least experienced students. Did he realize that these relative newbies would become the final arbiters of the who and how of certifying newly minted practitioners to use the now Service Marked terms ATM, FI, and the Feldenkrais Method for the forseeable future? I don’t think that there is any doubt that this would not have been his intent.
I have spoken to many who were integral in creating the current structure of control that exists today. Each and every one of them believed that they were doing the best that they could at that time on behalf of the method. Those who are not invested in the status quo have serious questions about what they helped to create, those who have personal investments in the way things are believe that what was done was best.
Looking at how the Feldenkrais Method is utilized and seen in society today, how do you feel about how the Guild’s policy’s have served the method in the first 25 years after Moshe’s death? Do you see any changes on the horizon that will make the next 25 years better? Is the Feldenkrais community getting stronger or is it splintering and leaving society’s perception of the method less and less clear? Has the training community made trainings more clear, precise, and grounded? How many practitioners can explain what the method is today?
The past does matter Ryan. Thank you for bringing this to our attention. As individuals we all have compulsions which control our actions in some areas of our lives. In order to change, as the FM teaches us, we 1st have to stop doing what we have compulsively done in reaction to stimuli and turn on the bright light of awareness upon that which we do. The same is true for organizations such as ours. If we don’t bring the lessons of the method to our community’s actions it will continue to be a prisoner of its past just as our students who come to us for help.
Rob – Good to see your comments. I do think we are on the cusp of some major changes in how the method grows and how it will spread deeper into our various cultures. There are no gatekeepers anymore, though some people seem to think they can play that role. As long as people keep sharing information and resources “the work” will keep growing.
Like you do, I very much believe that the past is important. What was that quote from George Orwell? I think it’s: “He who controls the past, controls the future.” With the rise of the internet the past is out of the control of those who sought to profit from it. We are free to consult sources directly and without editing and come to our own conclusions.
I hope you are well – Ryan