Rabbi Marcelo Rittner was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on April the 7th of 1947. He has an M.D. in Sociology of the Belgrano University of Buenos Aires.

He received his Rabbinical Degree in 1975, from the Latin American Rabbinical Seminary, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

He was the Rabbi at the CIP, the Israeli Community of Sao Paulo, Brazil, from 1975 to 1985.

Since September 1985 until 2018, he was senior Rabbi at the Bet El Community of Mexico, which consists of 1,100 families, where, with his congregants, he celebrated 35 years of being the religious leader.

In 1999, together with Father Manuel Olimón Nolasco, he founded the Jewish-Christian Confraternity of Mexico.

He received in 2001 an Honoris Causa Doctorate in Theology, from The Jewish Theological Seminary of America, for his 25 years as a Rabbi.

In 2005 he was awarded with the “Zarza Bet El”, for his 20 years of work in the congregation, and 30 years as a Rabbi.

In 2006 he was the president of the International Convention of Conservative Rabbis, which took place in Mexico City and welcomed over 400 participants from all over the world.

In December 2016, in New York City, he received the award of “Best Rabbinical Leader” from Masorti Olami, World Council of Conservative Synagogues. It was the first time this honor was given to a Latin American Rabbi.

Since 2018 he has been the Rabbi Emeritus in his Community.

He was the president of Masorti Amlat, which is formed by more than 95 congregations in the American Continent.

He is an active promoter of the Inter-Religious Dialogue in Mexico and he represented the country in numerous national and international events. The most recent was the “First Encounter of America in Dialogue – Our Common Home”, celebrated in the Pontifical Council for the Dialogue in the Vatican City, where he was invited directly by the General Secretary from the OEA (Organization of American States).

He supports many Mexican NGOs, making social work one of the key pillars of the Comunidad Bet El de México.

Among his main publications, we can mention, "Learning to Say Goodbye", published by Penguin Random House, in Spanish and Portuguese, which is a best seller in the self-help field. Based on his book he works with various support groups for mourning parents, as well as Thanatology Work Groups.

He also wrote "If it's not Today, When?” about the urgency of living life, and “Take a Selfie of your Soul” about being yourself. All his books have a universal and spiritual point of view.

His most recent publication was presented in the FIL, Guadalajara International Book Fair in December 2019. “When Love is Stronger than Death” was written for parents who lost their children, in a joint venture with fathers and mothers who lived this experience as well as with the Psychotherapist Ana Gladys Vargas. All of his books have been published by Penguin Random House.

Rabbi Rittner participates in radio and television interviews both in Mexico and internationally. Writer of various local and international publications with modern Jewish themes. He is an activist for the Jewish-Christian dialogue and human rights.

He is married, father of three children, and a proud grandfather of nine children.