At Columbia University, he studied psychology and later literature under Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Mark Van Doren. He received a bachelor's of arts degree and a master's degree in education. He subsequently attended the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, where he received a bachelor's degree in religious education, was ordained in 1960, and received a doctorate in Hebrew literature. He volunteered with the Army Chaplain Corps before becoming an assistant rabbi in Great Neck, New York, and then rabbi at Temple Israel, a Conservative congregation in Natick.