Brief biography:

Mitch and Walli have settled into their Coconut Grove apartment overlooking Biscayne Bay. They delight in occasional trips to Cleveland to visit with their grandchildren, Adler and Sammy.

Mitch is the author of three novels, most notably The Seventh Telling: The Kabbalah of Moshe Katan, a Los Angeles Times bestseller. His story collection, The Curse of Blessings, has been translated into German, Korean, and Mandarin. His most recent publication is a digitally formatted novella, White Fire, available on Kindle and other digital readers.

Mitch has served as chairperson of the National Havurah Committee, editor of a nationally syndicated weekly Torah column, and is a frequent teacher at Havurah institutes, rabbinic conferences, and other gatherings with a focus on Jewish renewal. He teaches on topics related to Jewish spirituality, alternative religious community, and Jewish family education. He is a past-president of the Rabbinical Association of Greater Miami.

Mitch studied at MIT and the University of California, Berkeley, then served as an officer in the US Navy with service aboard destroyers in waters off Vietnam and in the Mediterranean during the Six Day War. After his military service he studied in Arad, Israel, where he met and became engaged to Walli. He began his rabbinic studies at HUC-JIR in Jerusalem in 1970 and received his ordination from HUC-JIR (New York) in 1975.

Mitch came to Miami to be associate rabbi at Temple Beth Am. Then for 22 years beginning in 1980 he was the director of the Havurah of South Florida, a non-denominational fellowship that created programming to fill the interstices between synagogues and other established Jewish organizations. The Havurah offered a variety of opportunities for learning of Torah, Talmud, and Jewish spiritual discipline (Kabbalah) in an egalitarian setting.

In 2002 Mitch returned to the pulpit rabbinate to serve Temple Israel of Greater Miami. After five years as rabbi he continued for another seven as scholar-in-residence.