Rabbi Yoel Kahn was ordained at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, and received a Ph.D. through the Center for Jewish Studies at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley. He was the rabbi of Congregation Sha’ar Zahav between 1985-1996, and has been a leader for gay visibility and rights in Reform Judaism throughout his rabbinate. He also served as the executive director the Hillel Foundation at Stanford University, and as the associate director of the JCCSF, and director of its Taube Center for Jewish Life. He is the spiritual leader of Congregation Beth El in Berkeley. His book, The Three Blessings: Boundaries, Censorship, and Identity in Jewish Liturgy, was published by Oxford University Press in 2011.