Yoel Magid holds a doctorate in English literature from Columbia, volunteered in Israel during the 1973 Yom Kippur War on Kibbutz Be’eri, where he became General Secretary of the Kibbutz and organized a school in foreign languages for the study of kibbutz. Returned to the US in 1999, becoming Executive Director of Westchester Reform Temple in Scarsdale, NY; frequent lecturer on literature and politics.