Staff
Rabbi Mike Comins is the founder of TorahTrek. He grew up in Los Angeles, graduated from the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) with a BA in Near Eastern Studies, and served as regional advisor for the Southern California Federation of Temple Youth and Rosh Eida at UAHC Camp Swig before making aliyah (moving to Israel) at age 26. While guiding Jerusalem for American youth and serving as chairperson of Netzer Olami (the International Reform-Zionist Youth Movement), Mike studied classical Jewish texts for four years at Machon Pardes, a yeshiva in Jerusalem. In 1996, he was ordained by the Hebrew Union College – Israeli Rabbinical Program. Exploring his lifelong interest in philosophy and theology, Rabbi Comins’ rabbinic thesis, Borowitz and Beyond: Towards a Hermeneutic Account of I-thou Encounter, received a score of 97 from referee Professor Paul Mendes-Flohr. He holds an MA in Jewish Education from Hebrew University, and worked for five years as education director of Kehilat Kol HaNeshama, a Jerusalem congregation he helped to establish. Upon ordination, Mike earned his license as an Israeli desert guide. He founded “Ruach HaMidbar Desert Trips and Retreats,” leading many trekkers, often rabbis, rabbinical students and students for the ministry, on spiritual journeys through Israel’s deserts and the Sinai mountains.
Returning to the U.S. in 1998, Rabbi Comins spent his first years back in North America on an extended spiritual sabbatical. He participated in several two-year institutes for rabbis: the Mindfulness Leadership Training program at Elat Chayyim with Sylvia Boorstein, and the Metivta Spirituality Institute, with Boorstein, Arthur Green and Jonathan Omer-Man. He participated in four- and six-week silent meditation retreats at the Spirit Rock meditation center under the tutelage of Boorstein and Jack Kornfield. To date, he has completed five solo wilderness retreats (four days of meditation, prayer and fasting in a small circle, generally known as a Vision Quest) under the guidance of different teachers, notably John Milton of Sacred Passage.
He founded TorahTrek Spiritual Wilderness Adventures in 2001 while serving the Jackson Hole Chaverim in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for three years. The community’s first resident rabbi, Mike helped the Jackson Jewish community establish itself while developing TorahTrek into a nationally recognized program.
Currently, Rabbi Comins lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Jody Porter. He continues to grow TorahTrek, and devotes himself to writing and teaching. A Wild Faith: Jewish Ways into Wilderness, Wilderness Ways into Judaism (Jewish Lights Publishing; www.awildfaith.com) appeared in 2007 and his second book, Making Prayer Real: Leading Jewish Spiritual Voices on Why Prayer is Difficult and What to Do about It (Jewish Lights Publishing; www.MakingPrayerReal.com) was published in 2010. He is under contract to write two more books for Jewish Lights, and contributes to various journals and periodicals.
Toby Joy Zelt is the Director of Yirah: Awe-Inspiring Wilderness Adventures, a program of TorahTrek SoCal. Toby studied for Masters degrees in Administration in Jewish Education and Rabbinics in Jewish Studies at Towson University in Maryland where she earned Undergraduate degrees in Philosophy, Psychology, and Women’s Studies.
An enthusiastic and inspiring Jewish educator, Toby is dedicated to making a difference in her student’s lives through experiential education. Toby was nominated for the prestigious national Grinspoon-Steinhardt Award for Excellence in Jewish Education in 2010 and was awarded the Baylin Memorial Excellence in Teaching Award, from Beth El Congregation. A teacher in the Jewish community for 11 years serving children, teens, and their families, Toby has familiarity with a variety of formal and informal educational settings: private day schools, supplementary religious schools, service learning programs, and camps. These experiences have provided her with the insight necessary to now serve as a consultant for grants in Jewish education.
A TEVA Jewish environmental educator and a Rosh Hodesh girls group leader, Toby is also a ropes and challenge course facilitator, teaching life-lessons high above the ground while wearing a harness and helmet. This year, she will complete training as a Jewish Wilderness Spirituality Guide. Working with Kayam Organic Educational Farm, attending holiday wilderness retreats with other Jewish environmental organizations and leaders, like “the Adventure Rabbi” i.e. Rabbi Korngold, or Wilderness Torah, or attending meditation retreats with Rabbi Jeff Roth, Tara Brach, Thich Nhat Hahn or others, Toby’s personal and professional experiences blend in a most interesting way. In her free time, Toby also enjoys ecstatic dance, chi gong, backpacking, cycling, sumi-e painting, and reflecting on the Tao Te Ching. Most recently, she completed a 5 month North American camping trip with her dogs, stopping to breathe deeply in some of the most beautiful and remote wilderness areas in North America.
