Marc Gafni

Marc Gafni (born Marc Winiarz; 1960) is an American philosopher, writer, and former rabbi who became a New Age spiritual teacher with a focus on integral theory, eros, and "outrageous love". He is the president of the Center for Integral Wisdom, which he co-founded with Ken Wilber, and he is the co-founder and co-president of the Office for the Future. He is the author of Radical Kabbalah and Your Unique Self: The Radical Path to Personal Enlightenment, which won USA Book News Awards in 2012.

Gafni's teachings, often described as integral or world spirituality, aimed to transcend traditional religious boundaries and offer a modern, inclusive approach to spiritual practice. In the late 1990s, Gafni made a significant impact in Israel by founding the Bayit Hadash spiritual center in Jaffa and hosting a popular television program, Tahat Gafno, on Israel's Channel 2. His work during this period was characterized by a blend of traditional Jewish teachings with contemporary spiritual themes, appealing to a diverse audience seeking a deeper connection to spirituality outside conventional religious frameworks. Gafni's 2003 book, Mystery of Love, further established his reputation as a provocative thinker on the subjects of eros, sexuality, and relationships.

However, Gafni's career has been marred by serious allegations of sexual misconduct. In 2004, he faced accusations of sexual assault during the 1980s from two women who were teenagers at the time. Despite Gafni's denials and attempts to frame the relationships as consensual, the allegations led to significant fallout, including the return of his rabbinical ordination to Rabbi Shlomo Riskin. More allegations emerged in 2006 from attendees of the Bayit Hadash center, resulting in its closure and further tarnishing Gafni's reputation. In 2016, further fallout was triggered in part by an article in The New York Times.

In recent years, Gafni has continued to be a polarizing figure. He co-founded the Center for World Spirituality, later the Center for Integral Wisdom, with support from prominent figures like Ken Wilber and John Mackey. Despite ongoing allegations and public disavowals from former supporters, Gafni has persisted in his spiritual and philosophical work, publishing books such as Radical Kabbalah and A Return to Eros.

Marc Winiarz was born in 1960 to Holocaust survivors in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. He was educated at Modern-Orthodox yeshivas in the New York City area. In the 1980s, while attending Yeshiva University, he worked with Jewish Public School Youth (JPSY), an organization providing Jewish social clubs in public schools. He majored in philosophy as an undergraduate at Queens College and earned his Doctorate in Philosophy from Wolfson College at Oxford University. His doctoral thesis was entitled, The Theology of Acosmic Humanism: Mordechai Lainer of Izbica.

In 1988, Winiarz first worked as a rabbi in Boca Raton, Florida. After making aliyah, he moved to Israel and Hebraicized his name. Once in Israel, Mordechai Gafni served as rabbi of the West Bank settlement of Tzofim. He received Orthodox semikhah in 2004 from Rabbi Shlomo Riskin and Renewal semikhah in 2015 from Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi.

In the late 1990s, Gafni opened the Bayit Hadash (Hebrew: בית חדש, lit. 'new home') spiritual center in Jaffa. From 1999 to 2002, Gafni also hosted Tahat Gafno (Hebrew: תחת גפנו, lit. 'under his vine'), a television program broadcast on Israel's Channel 2. Gafni also did a series of weekly television spots with Israeli comedian Gil Kopatch on biblical wisdom for everyday life.

Gafni's teachings during this period have been described as integral or world spirituality, incorporating traditional religious studies with contemporary themes, aimed at spirituality for people who do not identify with one specific religion. Gafni described himself and his students as "dual citizens" of both their native traditional religion and the broader themes of "world spirituality". He wrote an essay, "A Hundred Blasts Shatter the Somber Silence", which appeared in Arthur Kurzweil's Best Jewish Writing 2003. His 2003 book, Mystery of Love, advocated for a new set of teachings centered around eros, sexuality, and relationships.