Rabbi Stein was raised and educated in Hartford, Connecticut. He received a B.A. from Trinity College in 1959 and majored in Romance Languages. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and received an M.H.L. (Master of Hebrew Literature) from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in 1962. He was ordained Rabbi at the Seminary in 1964. In 1991, Rabbi Stein received a Doctor of Divinity Degree (hon.) from the Jewish Theological Seminary.

After ordination, Rabbi Stein entered the military chaplainry and was honorably discharged with the rank of Captain. He has also served as Assistant Rabbi of Congregation Beth El, Rochester, New York and as Rabbi of the Jewish Center of Bayside Hills, Bayside, New York. Rabbi Stein is a member of the New York Board of Rabbis and the Rabbinical Assembly of America.

Rabbi Stein has collaborated on the revised edition of The Torah, a Modern Commentary published by the UAHC. His biography appears in Who's Who In World Jewry and Who's Who In The East. He has also served as a member of the Admissions Committee to the Rabbinical School of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and has served as an Adjunct Lecturer in Practical Theology at the Jewish Theological Seminary. Currently, Rabbi Stein is a Visiting Lecturer in Homiletics in the Rabbinical School of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.

Rabbi Stein has served as President of the Greater Bridgeport Board of Rabbis and the Bridgeport Chapter of the Zionist Organization of America. He has served on the Bridgeport Council on Adolescent Pregnancy and the Mayor's Commission on Literacy. He is a member of the National Rabbinic Cabinet for the State of Israel Bonds and is a member of The Rabbinic Cabinet of the United Jewish Appeal. He holds an appointment to the Town of Fairfield’s Ethics Commission. He is a State Police Chaplain serving Fairfield County.

After 33 years of Rabbi Stein’s rabbinate in service to the Greater Bridgeport Jewish Community’s largest Conservative synagogue the Board of Directors of the congregation conferred upon him the title of Rabbi Emeritus.