He graduated from Oberlin College in 1992, and for some time worked at NYANA, a refugee resettlement agency in New York City (his co-workers there included Todd Solondz, Gary Shteyngart, Alexander Gelman and Roman Turovsky).
In 1954 the national organization merged with the Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) and the migration services of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee in forming the United HIAS Service, while the NYANA remained an independent organization.