Rabbi Mike Comins grew up in Los Angeles, graduated from UCLA (B.A., 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 Paul Mendes-Flohr. He holds an M.A. in Jewish Education from Hebrew University and worked for five years as education director at 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 high Sinai mountains.

Returning to the U.S. in 1998, Rabbi Comins lectured on "Desert Torah" at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles. Mike led one-day TorahTrek hikes for congregations in Manhattan and Southern California.

Rabbi Comins spent his first years back in North America on an extended "spiritual sabbatical." He participated in two 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 Sylvia and Jack Kornfield. To date, he has completed four solo wilderness retreats (four days of meditation, prayer and fasting in a small circle) under the guidance of different teachers, notably John Milton of Sacred Passage.

In August, 2000, Mike became rabbi of the Jackson Hole Chaverim, and moved to Wyoming in January, 2001, where he remained for nearly 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, continuing to grow TorahTrek. He is engaged in several writing projects which explore the intersection of Judaism, wilderness, spirituality and environmental ethics.