Is Mitch Albom Jewish?

Yes, best selling author Mitch Albom is a Jew from New Jersey.

His book "Have a Little Faith" will be aired in a TV version on ABC on Sunday, 11/27/2011.

The LA Times' Mary McNamara did not give it a sterling review, saying in part, "At least a half-hour too long, it is slow, repetitive and predictable — a self-indulgent exercise on Albom's part (he wrote the script). And it's the actors who pay time and again in scenes that have no sense of pacing, often no point, and in Fishburne's case, require a ludicrous wig-hat, the likes of which has not been seen on network TV since Howard Cosell. Watching, you can only hope that each of these fine performers finds a home on some perfectly splendid series and becomes permanently unavailable for projects like this one.'

We liked the book and said back on 11/19/2009:

We heard Albom speak tonight at the Jewish Theological Seminary in NYC. He reprised many vignettes from his book in what we have to say was more of an artistic performance by an outstanding talent than a lecture.

In the give-and-take after the lecture-performance, we told Albom that we use his book in our liturgy course at JTS to help define the archetypal organizer of the contexts for prayer. And we praised him for that narrative in his work which casts the rabbi and minister as archetypal figures. He was gracious in insisting that he set out to tell stories, not to mold archetypes, and yet he humbly thanked us for suggesting that he had done more.

As we said on 11/08/09:

We highly recommend Albom's latest work, Have a Little Faith: A True Story By Mitch Albom. This is a truly penetrating book about prayer as lived in the lives of two apparently average but actually utterly saintly clergymen.

Americans have run away from their clergy for decades. Albom's writing will warm your heart and bring tears to your eyes. And it will restore some of the lost dignity to the profession of the cloth.

The Reb, Rabbi Albert Lewis was Albom's hometown rabbi in suburban New Jersey. As a boy and young man Albom did all he could to avoid the rabbi. Now he seeks out the man's insights into life.

Henry Covington is an  African-American Detroit pastor, a reformed drug dealer and convict who  preaches in a decaying church with a hole in its roof and the heat turned off.  Albom seems concerned about how to trust him, yet determined to find ways to understand and to help him.

The book description says, "Albom observes how these very different men employ faith similarly in fighting for survival: the older, suburban rabbi embracing it as death approaches; the younger, inner-city pastor relying on it to keep himself and his church afloat."

"Albom and the two men of God explore issues that perplex modern man: how to endure when difficult things happen; what heaven is; intermarriage; forgiveness; doubting God; and the importance of faith in trying times."

The book seeks God and finds him incarnate in the beliefs and actions of two ordinary men of faith. It's a profound theological statement and number one on the New York Times best seller list.
You can read a little of the book here...

Mitch Albom's web site is here.