Alex was born in Lodz, Poland, in 1949 to a Yiddish-speaking family and attended the local I. L. Perets Yiddish School, before migrating to Australia in 1959.

In Melbourne he graduated from the Sholem Aleichem Yiddish School, attended and led the SKIF youth organisation, as well as teaching in various schools and in TAFE. He was also a Yiddish producer and broadcaster on SBS Radio for 33 years, where he continues in a smaller capacity. He was the curriculum writer and first teacher of VCE Yiddish in Victoria, at Mount Scopus College and the King David School and has had a near life-long involvement with and was a long-serving president of the Jewish Cultural Centre and National Library Kadimah.

After retiring from the above professional positions, he has presented the Kadimah Yiddish Show and co-presented the Shlepping and Shmoozing, with Leon Gettler, as a volunteer on J-AIR Jewish Community Radio.