Rabbi Brian Denker is a native New Yorker, born and raised in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and was a Judaic Studies major at CUNY’s Queens College and received a Semicha through the Jewish Spiritual Leaders Institute (JSLI). He has worked in various leadership roles within the Jewish Community designing and leading youth and family programs — for his synagogue Congregation Mount Sinai, as well as Surprise Lake Camp, Young Judaea and the International March of a Living.

Over the past 15 years, he has worked as the Vice President & Global Head of Growth, Innovation and Leadership with the research and management consulting firm Frost & Sullivan;. Additionally, he has worked over the past eight years with Jewish & Interfaith families as well as Same-Sex couples and members of the LGBTQ+ community throughout the New York metropolitan area (NYC, NJ, Long Island and CT) in creating and leading ritual life-cycle celebrations which become memories that last a lifetime.

Rabbi Denker believes that our strength as a Jewish people is rooted not only in the gift of Torah, divinely inspired in our belief that the “Lord our G-d, the Lord is One” but through the flexibility, willingness and courage to integrate necessary changes while honoring age old traditions, teachings, and ritual practices as an inclusive and welcoming community to all. As an openly Gay Rabbi, Rabbi Denker is a leading voice and advocate encouraging policies and programs of greater diversity, acceptance, and inclusion. He is a member in good standing with the International Federation of Rabbis. You may email him at RabbiBrian@newyorkrabbi.org.