Marc Gafni

Mordecai Gafni, born to Holocaust survivors in 1961 (age 62–63), is an American bestselling 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 theologic 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. He also is described as promoting the integration of the feminine god head with the masculine god head through their integration in the lived life of every individual. He has referred to this process as Yichud.

Biography

Gafni, also known as Marc Gafni, Mark Gafni, Marc Winiarz, Mordechai Winiarz, and Mordechai Winyarz, was born in Massachusetts, raised in Colombus, Ohio and educated at Modern-Orthodox yeshivas in the New York area. In the 1980s as a student leader in 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 aliya in the 1990s, Gafni served as rabbi of the West Bank settlement of Tzofim. When Gafni moved to Israel he hebraicized his name, and as "Winiarz" means "winemaker," a possible Hebrew translation is "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 has been married and divorced three times, and has three children from his first two marriages.

Writing

He has written a series of bestselling books on the subjects of Judaism, eroticism and spirituality. His book Soul Prints was the subject of a PBS special. 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".

Allegations of improprietry

Gafni has been accused of sexual improprieties for years. Allegations resurfaced in 2006 after three women accused Gafni of sexual harassment. Within a few days of the allegatiions, Gafni admitted to improprieties, resigned his positions at Aleph: Alliance for Jewish Renewal and at the Bayit Chadash congregation in Israel, and left Israel. The ramifications of the accusations and subsequent removal from Bayit Chadash led 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 admonition of fault; Gafni maintains that the allegations are untrue.

In July 2008, an article by Jeff Bell and Greta deJong, 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 are untrue, and that the relationships were mutual and consensual. Since publication of the article, a letter signed by several world renowned spiritual and religious leaders have written in support of Gafni, and added their voices to help refute the false allegations against him.

Bibliography

Books

• A Certain Spirit; {Vadai} Re-Defining Certainty. Hebrew, Modan Publishers, 1999

• A Uncertain Spirit, {Safek} Reclaiming Uncertainty as as Spiritual Value, Hebrew Modan Publishers, 1999

• Soul Prints: Your Path to Fulfillment (Paperback - January 29, 2002)

• The Mystery of Love (Paperback - March 16, 2004)

• The Erotic And The Holy: Kabbalistic Tantra for Everyday Living (February 2006)

• Seelenmuster (Paperback - June 1, 2002)

• Gafni and Ohad Ezrachi. Who is afraid of Lilith? Rereading the Kabbalah of the Feminine Shadow (Modan Publishing House - 2005)

Audiography

• The Soul Prints Workshop: Wisdom Teachings from the Kabbalah Illuminating Your Unique Life Purpose

Sounds True (2004) "The Erotic and the Holy: The Kabbalistic Tantra of Everyday Life" Sounds True, 2005

External links

• Marc Gafni's personal web site

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