Rabbi Geoffrey W. Dennis
Rabbi Dennis is foremost a teacher, working with every age group from pre-K to adults. He also a deep commitment to caring for his community and interfaith work.
He has been recognized as an innovative thinker in synagogue programming, having created and published on synagogue-based nursing, creating a congregational labyrinth, and incentive-based Jewish learning programs for both adults and children. He holds two fellowships, as an Schusterman Fellow in modern Israel at Brandeis University, and a Brickner Fellowship with the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. He is currently an Associate Professor at the University of Haifa.
Before coming to North Texas, Rabbi Dennis was the Assistant Rabbi at Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation. He is an ordinee of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. He earned undergraduate degrees in Education and in Nursing. He was a Registered Nurse before he entered the rabbinate, working in cardiac care, long-term care and hospice.
Rabbi Dennis is actively involved in the community life of Denton County. He serves as a volunteer police chaplain for the City of Flower Mound and a member of the Denton County Medical Reserve Corps. He also belongs to the South Denton Interfaith Alliance.
For 22 years he has been a Adjunct Professor of Rabbinic Literature in the Jewish Studies’ program at the University of North Texas, teaching courses in Bible, Kabbalah, and modern Israel. Rabbi Dennis is currently on Steering Committees of the UNT Jewish and Israel Studies Program and the University of North Texas Hillel. His columns have appeared regularly in Dallas-area newspapers.
The author of two books, his The Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic, and Mysticism, was a Jewish Book Award finalist in 2007, and a revised and expanded second edition was released in 2015. His second book, Sefer-Ha-Bahir, Selections from the Book of Brilliance, was published in 2017. He has published articles on topics ranging from theology to comic books. His most recent article, “Avenged Seven-Fold: The Golem in European Cinema,” is pending publication. Rabbi Dennis is also a multi-entry contributor to the 30-volume Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception.
He is blessed to be the husband of Robin and the father of two adult sons, Avi and Micah. Rabbi Dennis’ passions include movies, history, nature, pop culture, throwing tomahawks, DIY projects, and all things ancient and arcane. He believes that books are angels in material form and we should surround ourselves with as many as possible.
You can contact Rabbi Dennis at rabbi@kolami-tx.org.
