A Message from Rabbi Steve Cohen
Read the Full Text of Rabbi Cohen’s
Retirement Announcement
Dear CBB Family,
With a grateful heart, overflowing with memories of shared moments of joy, of grief, of love and of meaning, I have informed the CBB Board of Trustees of my intention to retire from my position as Senior Rabbi of the Congregation, approximately 16 months from now, effective July 1, 2025.
At that time, I will be 68 years old, and will have served in this position for 21 years and in Santa Barbara for 40 years. I could never have imagined, when I was young, that I would end up spending my entire adult life as a rabbi in Santa Barbara California. Now, looking back, I don’t know how I got so lucky. It has been an incredible privilege to serve this vibrant, creative, and loving Jewish community and I look forward eagerly to my new role as Rabbi Emeritus.
I have thought long and hard about this decision and I do have some trepidation about leaving this position which has become so central to my sense of self. But those feelings are far outweighed by the happy anticipation of time with the four generations of my family, of days of hiking and camping in our magnificent back country, of travel with Marian, and of unbroken hours immersed in my beloved books.
The timing of my retirement will allow me to continue to lead our congregation (together with my partners in the Project Leadership) through the remainder of our Building Dreams campaign and the final phases of construction, which we anticipate completing in early 2025. I cannot imagine a more satisfying culmination and conclusion to my long tenure as Senior Rabbi than a celebratory return to our renewed and re-imagined CBB home up on San Antonio Creek Road.
The specifics of my role as Rabbi Emeritus remain to be worked out. Marian and I are staying right here in this community that we love. I look forward to continuing to learn and to pray with all of you, to teaching and telling stories to our children, to celebrating Shabbat and to hanging out together in our beautiful new Jewish Center. But after July 1, 2025, I will assume a low profile, and will enjoy my new freedom, and the opportunity to visit new cities, to explore new mountains, and to meet new people, the world over.
I am announcing this now, sixteen months before I actually become Rabbi Emeritus, in order to give the Temple Board of Trustees plenty of time for this transition. With Executive Director Elizabeth Gaynes and co-Presidents Nancy Sheldon and Marcy Wimbish at the helm, we are in strong and capable hands. I’m looking forward to the next sixteen months, together on the pulpit with my friends Cantor Mark Childs and Rabbi Daniel Brenner, to celebrating everything that we have accomplished together, and to dreaming and planning for the future.
With immense gratitude and affection,
Rabbi Steve Cohen
rabbi@cbbsb.org
Read the Letter from
CBB’s Co-Presidents
Dear CBB Community,
Our hearts are full but heavy with the announcement of Rabbi Cohen’s retirement in 2025. He leaves enormous shoes to fill, and also leaves our temple in the strongest position of its 97-year history.
Our community is thriving in large part due to Rabbi Cohen’s leadership, vision, and compassion. During his tenure, we have grown from 400 to over 800 families, with outstanding educational programs and vibrant events nearly every day of the week for every demographic we serve. CBB has strong ties with our Jewish and non-Jewish community partners and has forged tender connections with our dear friends in Rwanda, with GHIS, and our new sisters from K’far Azza Kibbutz in Israel.
CBB continues to flourish despite temporarily being away from our San Antonio Creek home. Soon, we will be back in our spectacularly renovated campus, primed to begin our next chapter. Rabbi Cohen will lead us into the building he helped envision with the “Building Dreams” project, and our next Rabbi will lead us as we live out these dreams. Rabbi Cohen will continue to remain involved as our first Rabbi Emeritus, and we are lucky to have his continued participation, albeit in a more limited role.
Please join us on Friday, March 8th at Shabbat services for a special sermon as Rabbi Cohen will share some thoughts about his retirement.
Between now and Rabbi Cohen’s retirement on July 1, 2025, we have much to accomplish. And we are ready. CBB’s Board of Trustees formed a strong Transition Committee that has already begun its work. This committee is led by former Board President Aaron Ettenberg, with current Executive VP Janet Wolf as Vice Chair. Other members include Aaron Edelheit, David Landecker, Alan Levy, Joni Meisel, Deborah Naish, Elizabeth Gaynes, Executive Director, and your Co-Presidents.
This committee will
- develop and recommend a timeline for activities related to Rabbi Cohen’s retirement and the hiring of a new Senior Rabbi;
- research and incorporate best practices from other synagogues;
- thoughtfully incorporate our beloved clergy in this process;
- develop and implement a comprehensive process for gathering feedback from our members. This is a critical step and one of the most important. This decision is collective – guided by our members, not by one person or by one committee;
- help identify and coordinate a search committee; and
- prepare updates, to be shared regularly with the Board and congregation.
As much as we would like to have all of the answers today, please trust this process. As always, feel free to reach out to us with your questions or concerns. You may also reach out directly to the members of the Transition Committee.
Just as Rabbi Cohen prepares for his next chapter, so too will our congregation embrace a new chapter filled with possibility, promise, and the profound strength of our community.
With full hearts and gratitude,
Nancy Sheldon and Marcy Wimbish, Co-Presidents
On behalf of the Board of Trustees of Congregation B’nai B’rith