Rabbi Denker has served as rabbi of Temple Emanu El since July 2004. Rabbi Denker is a member of the Community Relations Committee of the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland.

Following ordination at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, NY in 1984, Rabbi Denker was an Assistant and later Associate Rabbi of Temple Sholom, Chicago. In 1992 he became the Rabbi of Beth Shalom – Northern Illinois Jewish Community Center in DeKalb, IL and a Senior Lecturer of Theology at Loyola University, Chicago. He was also a lecturer in the Religious Studies Department of DePaul University. From 1994-2004 he was the Rabbi of Congregation Kol Ami in Chicago’s Water Tower Place.

During his over two decades of service to the Chicago community, Rabbi Denker was a member of the Board of the Board of Jewish Education (now Community Foundation for Jewish Education), Education Chairman of the Chicago Board of Rabbis, a member of the Education Committee of the Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago and on Chicago’s Jewish Community Relations Council representing the Chicago Association of Reform Rabbis. He assisted the Council for Jewish Elderly of Chicago as a member of its Ethics Committee and served on the Institutional Review Board of the Center for Human Reproduction. Rabbi Denker was the first Chairman of the Chicago regional committee for Reform Mohalim and on the Reform Movement’s Joint Commission on Interreligious Affairs representing the Central Conference of American Rabbis.

In addition to his primary focus of serving Temple Emanu El and its members, Rabbi Denker lectures on issues of the Sanctity of Community; Halakic Legislation and Communal Authority in Jewish Law and the Jewish Traditions of Intergenerational Relations and Responsibilities. He teaches the Books of Samuel from a political perspective, the philosophies of Maimonides and HaLevi and selected subjects in the Talmud. He holds academic awards from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in the areas of: History and Bible; Speech and Homiletics; Human Relations and for general academic excellence.

Born and raised in New York City, Rabbi Denker holds a BA from the City University of NY. Before entering rabbinical school in 1979 he was Director of Community Relations for the New York Chapter of the American Jewish Committee and had served on the staff of former Congressman Stephen J. Solarz.

Rabbi Denker is married to Lisa Arlyn Lowe, a practicing attorney. They have two sons, David and Alexander.