Mitchell Chefitz's Obituary
fearless individual: mountain climber, soccer player, cross-country motorcyclist, flamenco guitarist, storyteller, teacher, counselor, writer, poet, mystic
Mitchell Chefitz, husband of Walli, father of Walter (Adena Ellenby), Joshua (Tyler Katz), and Adam, grandfather of Adler and Samson, son of Sylvia and Dr. Benjamin Chefitz, brother of George z"l, and author-rabbi to many, left the world gracefully on Tuesday morning October 21, surrounded by his loving family.
Born in Boston during World War II, Mitch grew up with a love of reading science fiction. After his studies at MIT and the University of California, Berkeley, he followed in the footsteps of his favorite writers and decided to gain life experience by joining the Navy. He went to Officer Candidate School and later served as an intelligence officer becoming lieutenant aboard destroyers in waters off Vietnam and in the Mediterranean during the Six-Day War.
After a first attempt at a novel, he decided he needed more life experience, and traveled to Arad, Israel to study Judaism. There he met and became engaged to Walli. Shortly thereafter, he began his rabbinic studies at HUC-JIR in Jerusalem 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. His joy was seeing his students become teachers of torah themselves.
In 2001, he fulfilled his dreams of writing a novel, The Seventh Telling: The Kabbalah of Moshe Katan, a Los Angeles Times bestseller. He would go on to write many more novels and books of short stories, translated into German, Korean, and Mandarin.
In 2002, Mitch returned to the pulpit to serve as Rabbi of Temple Israel of Greater Miami. After five years as rabbi, he continued for another seven as scholar-in-residence.
In his "retirement," he continued to lead study sessions at the Center for Jewish Life at Beth David, as well as over Zoom during the pandemic. In recent years, he wrote weekly essays on his Substack, Weekly Torah Insights from Miami.
A theme throughout his commitment to Judaism was his questioning of the position of the rabbinate in its relationship between God and a congregation. Insisting that his title as rabbi was spelled with a lower-case "r", he always supported those who came to him for counsel, encouraging them to deepen their own spiritual life and partnership with the Divine.
The family requests donations be made in memory of Mitchell Chefitz to the National Havurah Committee, https://www.havurah.org
The service will be held on Thursday, October 23, 2025 at 10:00 a.m. at The Center for Jewish Life at Beth David, 2625 SW 3rd Avenue, Miami, FL 33129. Arrangements by Levitt-Weinstein Blasberg-Rubin-Zilbert Memorial Chapel (305) 932-2700.
What’s your fondest memory of Mitchell?
What’s a lesson you learned from Mitchell?
Share a story where Mitchell's kindness touched your heart.
Describe a day with Mitchell you’ll never forget.
How did Mitchell make you smile?
