Morinis was born into a left-wing secular Jewish home in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
He completed his Ph.D. in Social Anthropology at Oxford University, which he attended on a Rhodes Scholarship (Ontario 1972).
[1] After pioneering work in academia, and a successful career television production, Morinis experienced a major professional failure that sent him reeling.
[4] Morinis has been credited as being, along with Rabbi Ira F. Stone, the leading figure in the contemporary revival of the Musar movement among non-Orthodox Jews.
"[6] Geoffrey Claussen of Elon University has described Morinis as emphasizing "the honesty, humility, patience, and discipline that doing Musar requires" but as giving less attention to the importance of "traditional liturgy and community.