living
Scene in S.B.
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The Art of Nature Text and photo by Caitlin Fitch
Book Review
Brain Power
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Anniversaries PAUL WELLMAN
Rabbi Steve Cohen
Reflects on Three Decades Though not particularly large in quantity, Santa Barbara’s Jewish community enjoys an extremely vibrant quality of their shared spiritual and social experience. This is especially true for members of Congregation B’nai B’rith and UCSB’s Hillel chapter, and that’s almost entirely due to the 30 years of forward-thinking service by Rabbi Steve Cohen (pictured). He’s exponentially grown the size of both communities by encouraging diversity of thought, revitalizing worship, and incorporating the great outdoors into the modern Jewish experience. “In a place like Santa Barbara, where there isn’t a huge Jewish population, there is more of a desire and a need to hold everybody together rather than splinter into different communities,” explained Cohen, a Harvard grad from Rochester, New York, who started at UCSB Hillel at age 28 after finishing rabbi school in 1985. He grew that organization from just a handful of active members to more than 200 over 20 years and, upon taking over at B’nai B’rith 10 years ago, nearly doubled the number of households involved, from about 450 to 800. “The challenge here is to create a community that’s strong enough to tolerate a lot of diversity, both religious and political,” said Cohen, who admits that can lead to tension around ideas about Israel and the Middle East. “The philosophy I have attempted to hold is that we create a space for civil discourse,” he said. “I know for a fact that we have people on the left and on the right who feel their views are not well represented. But for the most part, our community would agree that what we are striving for is a place where a diversity of views are welcomed and actually needed.” Upon coming to the synagogue on San Antonio Creek Road in 2004, Cohen immediately professionalized the organization, hiring an executive director and evolving
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Michio Kaku will discuss his book Wednesday, January 28, 8 p.m., at the Granada Theatre, 1214 State Street. For tickets, call 893-3535 or visit artsandlectures.sa.ucsb.edu.
the temple from a volunteer-based program to a more business-minded nonprofit, which was able to afford a $2 million renovation and raise more than $100,000 to build a preschool in Rwanda. He also put some needed spice into the services. “I see worship as a basic human need,” said Cohen, whose services are full of songs and smiles. “I like making Jewish worship come alive and be authentic and honest and exciting and fun.” From exploring Rattlesnake Canyon with UCSB students in his Hillel days to taking today’s religious school students on short hikes through Tucker’s Grove, the spirituality of the outdoors is an increasingly strong focus for Cohen, who conquered the 220-mile John Muir Trail two years ago with his wife, Marian Cohen. Most visible is the service he holds at Goleta Beach during Rosh Hashanah, when more than 250 congregants come to toss bread crumbs into the ocean to cast off the old year and prepare for the next. “I love it,” said the very content rabbi. “I think everyone loves it.” — Matt Kettmann
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Congregation B’nai B’rith celebrates Rabbi Steve Cohen’s service Saturday, January 24, 6 p.m. at the Bacara Resort & Spa. See cbbsb.org.
Trivia
Winter in the Air
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How fast does the average snowflake fall? ❏ Three mph ❏ Five mph ❏ Seven mph Which river froze for two months during the Great Frost of 1683-4? ❏ Seine, Paris ❏ Thames, London ❏ Liffey, Dublin To be categorized as a blizzard, winds must reach what speed? ❏ 20 mph ❏ 35 mph ❏ 55 mph
independent.com
answers: . Three mph; . Thames, London; . mph.
“I’m not a painter by trade. I’m a printmaker and a drawer, so painting is a new adventure for me,” said Pamela ZwehlBurke (center) while painting the bluffs with her friend Diane Handloser at Arroyo Burro Beach. The two have been painting together since 2009 after retiring from SBCC. Usually the duo is a group of four women who playfully call themselves Les Quatre and get together once a week to paint different scenes around Santa Barbara. “I love being out in nature and really seeing things. We also get to talk to people who have nifty things to say. We’re just a group of pals who have a good time,” added Handloser.
or theoretical physicist Michio Kaku, the human brain is a source of enduring fascination and wonder. Though it weighs in at a modest three pounds, the brain is one of the most complex objects in the solar system. If nothing else, this should make all of us feel a certain pride of ownership. In his book The Future of the Mind: The Scientific Quest to Understand, Enhance, and Empower the Mind, the prolific author, well-known lecturer, and radio program host focuses his prodigious mental energy on what the future might hold. For instance, Kaku ponders whether it might one day be possible to download memories, create a backup copy of our brain, or use the knowledge gleaned from brain scans to invent cures for devastating afflictions like depression, dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and Alzheimer’s. Will we be able to replace damaged cells with healthy ones? Because our understanding of how the brain functions has increased exponentially since the introduction of MRI technology and brain scans and continues to rise every year as significant money is poured into research, Kaku believes such outcomes are within reach. He even contemplates the possibility of human consciousness existing outside the physical body. This is exhilarating stuff. Kaku skips across considerable territory in Future of the Mind, from neuroscience and physics to artificial intelligence and the possibility of alien life to the meaning of consciousness itself, but he does so with the ease of an affable docent. Kaku’s writing is fired by the fierce and incurable curiosity that has led to every scientific breakthrough human beings have achieved. The encouraging news is that we have much more to learn, understand, and appreciate about the untapped — Brian Tanguay potential of the human mind.
january 22, 2015
THE INDEPENDENt
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