Rabbi Emeritus Geoff Basik
Geoff Basik, became Rabbi Emeritus of Kol HaLev on January 1, 2021. As the founding rabbi of the Kol HaLev Synagogue Community, 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 now grandson, plus the family dog and the practices of meditation, yoga, baseball, and golf.
Our evening to honor Rabbi Geoff's retirement was definitely a success! It was a lovely time of sharing for Rabbi Geoff and for the many members of our Kol HaLev family who were in attendance. The one-hour program included Rabbi Geoff blessing our congregation, a video which included photos and footage of special memories with Rabbi Geoff through the years (which KHL congregants provided and which Steven Silvern put together for us), and Cantor George singing 'V’asu Li Mikdash' (Lord, make me a sanctuary) an original composition he created to honor Rabbi's retirement. If you were unable to attend, you can still share the experience by clicking here to view the program.
We will miss our beloved Rabbi Geoff Basik, and we send with him our very best wishes for a healthy, happy, and blessed future! And all of the people said "Amein!"
Sat, January 16 2021
3 Shevat 5781
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Black Lives Matter
Jewish Organizations and Synagogues say: Black Lives Matter
We are Jewish organizations and synagogues from across the racial and political spectrum; from different streams of Judaism; whose members trace their lineage from countries around the world.
We speak with one voice when we say unequivocally: Black lives matter.
We support the Black-led movement in this country that is calling for accountability and transparency from the government and law enforcement. We know that freedom and safety for any of us depends on the freedom and safety of all of us.
There are politicians and political movements in this country who build power by deliberately manufacturing fear to divide us against each other. All too often, anti-Semitism is at the center of these manufactured divisions.
There is a long history to these attempts: during the Southern Freedom Movement of the 1950’s and ‘60’s, conspiracy theories were used by white supremacists attempting to delegitimize the extraordinary organizing of Black activists. Billboards were erected smearing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as a communist, signs and flyers claiming that “communist Jews” were behind the civil rights movement were common, and pro-segregation organizations like the John Birch Society popularized these lies.
Black Lives Matter, the recent uprisings across the globe in the wake of the murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks, and so many others, and the decades of political organizing across the country that have led to this moment are movements led by and for Black people. We see through any attempt to suggest otherwise by pointing fingers, scapegoating, or using anti-Semitic dog whistles.
As Jews, we know how dangerous this is: when politicians target Jewish people and blame us for problems, it leads directly to violence against us. When Black movements are undermined, it leads to more violence against Black people, including Black Jews.
Anti-Semitism is part of the same machinery those politicians use to blame Black and brown people, people who are immigrants, people who are Muslim, and more. But whether they generate division and fear based on our religion, our skin color, or how long we’ve been here, their goal is to keep us from working together to win the things we all need to survive and thrive.
When Jewish people join together with our neighbors across racial and religious differences, as we have in the past, we can protect each other and build the future of freedom and safety we all deserve.
Jewish tradition teaches us that justice is not something that will be bestowed upon us, it is something that we need to pursue, and that the pursuit is itself sacred work. We’ll show up for each other every time one of us is targeted because of our differences, and reject any effort to use fear to divide us against each other.
The Black lives matter movement is the current day Civil Rights movement in this country, and it is our best chance at equity and justice. By supporting this movement, we can build a country that fulfills the promise of freedom, unity, and safety for all of us, no exceptions.