Bio

Rabbi Steve Cohen is Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation B’nai B’nai in Santa Barbara, . He served as the senior rabbi of Congregation B’nai B’rith between 2004 and 2025, and as rabbi and Executive Director of the Hillel Foundation at UC Santa Barbara from 1985 to 2004.

A native of Rochester, New York, Rabbi Cohen was born in 1957. He received his undergraduate degree in American History from Harvard University in 1979 and Rabbinic ordination from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1985. His primary scholarly interests are in midrash and classical Torah commentary.  He and his wife Marian have been married since 1986 and have two grown children, Rachel and Ari.

In 2013 Steve and Marian took up long-distance backpacking, hiking the entire 211 miles of the John Muir Trail through the High Sierra.  Since then they have returned often to the Sierras as well as to the back country of Santa Barbara county. In his free time, Steve enjoys studying Torah with friends, going to the movies, identifying wildflowers, listening to a wide range of music, and davening at sunrise with the birds in his backyard.