Marc Gafni (born 1961) is an American author and former Modern Orthodox rabbi, who was once associated with the Jewish Renewal movement. He is no longer associated with the movement after ongoing personal and theological controversies. In 2004 and 2005 articles in Haaretz, he is described as promoting a balance between the erotic and the ethical in Judaism. He is best known for his teachings on the relationship between spirituality and eroticsm, and his claim that all failure of ethics result from a collapse of Eros. Eros is defined by Gafni in his teaching as interiority, presence, yearning and interconnectivity. He also is described as promoting the integration of the feminine godhead with the masculine godhead through their integration in the lived life of every individual. He has referred to this process as Yichud.
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Gafni, also known as Mordechai Gafni, Mark Gafni, Marc Winiarz, Mordechai Winiarz, and Mordechai Winyarz, was born to Holocaust survivors in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Gafni was educated at Modern-Orthodox yeshivas in the New York area. In the 1980s, while attending Yeshiva University, Gafni worked with Jewish Public School Youth, an organization providing Jewish social clubs in public schools. In 1988, Gafni also worked as a Rabbi in Boca Raton, Florida. After making aliyah in the 1990s, Gafni served as rabbi of the West Bank settlement of Tzofim. When Gafni moved to Israel he hebraicized his name. "Winiarz," Polish for "vintner," is related to the Hebrew word "" - grape, thus the name "Gafni". In the late nineties he opened the Bayit Chadash spiritual center in Jaffa. Gafni advocated bringing eros back into Jewish practice.
He was ordained as a rabbi by Shlomo Riskin of Efrat. He also received rabbinical certification from the Chief Rabbinate of the State of Israel, and from Rabbi Gershon Winkler. Riskin has since expressed his intent to withdraw his rabbinical ordination because Gafni went beyond the bounds of Orthodoxy; when Gafni heard of Riskin's wishes, he wrote a letter returning Riskin's semicha.
Gafni holds a D.Phil from Oxford University. The university approved his thesis, titled The theology of acosmic humanism: Mordechai Lainer of Izbica, in April 2008 and it was formally granted in July 2008.
Gafni has been married multiple times and has three children from his marriages.
In 2008, after a two-year personal retreat, Gafni co-founded iEvolve. Gafni also teaches at the Shalom Mountain Wisdom School and the Pacific Coast Church. Gafni recently co-founded the publishing company Incorrect Inc. Gafni is a scholar in Residence at the Integral Institute, and the Director of the Integral Spiritual Experience. In 2009, Gafni and his partner Mariana Caplan founded the Center For World Spirituality.
He has written a series of bestselling books on the subjects of Judaism, eroticism and spirituality. His book Soul Prints, is his major book on his teaching of Unique Self and was the subject of a PBS special. His book "The Mystery of Love" is his major work on Holiness and Eros. His Hebrew book, "Uncertainty", is about reclaiming Uncertainty as a spiritual value. His Hebrew book "Certainty" is about re-defining certainty, from certainty of dogma, to core certainty of self, from 'It is true' to 'I am True'. Who is afraid of Lilith? Rereading the Kabbalah of the Feminine Shadow, a book Gafni cowrote with Ohad Ezrachi, was described by the publisher as offering "the much-needed perspective of the male feminist viewpoint."
His books were published by Simon and Schuster. He released an audio lecture series in 2004, entitled "The Soul Prints Workshop: Wisdom Teachings from the Kabbalah Illuminating Your Unique Life Purpose". He released a second audio series in 2005 entitled, "On the Erotic and the Holy, The Kabbalistic Tantra of Everyday Life". Both audio series are published by Sounds True.
Gafni has been accused of sexual improprieties in the past. New allegations surfaced in 2006 after three women accused Gafni of sexual harassment. Within a few days of the allegations, Gafni both left his position at Bayit Chadash in Israel and left Israel. The ramifications of the accusations, how they were addressed, and Gafni's subsequent removal from Bayit Chadash, contributed to its closure. Once in the United States, Gafni sent a remorseful letter to his congregation, causing his former supporters to express regret. Gafni, on his personal website, later explained that the letter was to cool the controversy and was not an admission of fault; Gafni maintains that the allegations are untrue.
In July 2008, an article published in the magazine Catalyst, a publication for which Gafni himself had written anonymously, attempted to counter earlier accusations, in particular the claims of harassment by the three women and of sexual predation, citing new evidence including recovered emails and lie detector tests. The article also quotes former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson as supporting Gafni's contention that the allegations of harassment and predation are untrue, and that the relationships were mutual and consensual. Gafni has a collection of evaluations on his website, including polygraph results, which he claims corroborate his position that the allegations of sexual impropriety were false and for character evidence.
Books
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