Meet Rabbi Emeritus Basik

Geoff Basik, became Rabbi Emeritus of Kol HaLev on January 1, 2021. As the founding rabbi of the Kol HaLev Synagogue Community, he is a 2007 graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.  Geoff spent ten years at the Center for Jewish Education in Baltimore where he taught, organized community programs, and led trips to Poland and Israel.  The rabbinate was a natural extension of his interest in religious thought and experience, the exploration of our interior lives, his delight in teaching, and his interpersonal skills.  He is a bridge to Jewish wisdom, practices, and values in the context of modernity. 

Rabbi Geoff is a warm and inclusive spiritual leader and partner for those who wish to explore Jewish resources for a life of inquiry, meaning, community, and ethical action in the world.

Rabbi Geoff was born and raised in Baltimore, leaving after high school to begin his own journey with an undergraduate degree in Comparative Religion that included Jewish Studies.  He lived in Israel for two years, and then earned a Master’s degree in International Relations and Middle East Studies from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC.  Along the way, Rabbi Geoff has been involved with a number of extra-curricular pursuits, including the Alternatives to Violence Program in the prison system and The Mankind Project.                              

Rabbi Geoff’s personal life revolves around his wife of over 30 years (artist and art educator Donna Basik) and their two daughters, son-in-law, and grandchildren, plus the family dog and the practices of meditation, yoga, baseball, and golf.