A Brief History of Mesa Shul Santa Barbara

Mesa Shul Santa Barbara or, as it’s commonly known, the Mesa Shul, is Santa Barbara’s Modern Orthodox congregation, with roots in the community going back to at least the early 1970s. Although the current organization is relatively young — the congregation re-incorporated as an independent entity in 2019, following many years as a part of the national Young Israel network — the Mesa Shul community first coalesced around a Jewish day school that existed in Santa Barbara in the 1970s through 1984.

Santa Barbara’s Jewish day school, known as the Ezra Torah Institute, had approximately 50 students at its height, in the early 1980s. Under the direction of Rabbi Moshe Benisti, an Algerian-born rabbi who had previously run a Jewish school in San Diego, and his wife Debbie, a New Yorker, the school attracted local Jewish families, including many that had not previously considered sending their children to an Orthodox Jewish school. According to several current congregants, Rabbi Benisti and the families and teachers he attracted gained a toehold in Santa Barbara for Modern Orthodox Judaism. Rabbi Benisti subsequently relocated to Monsey, New York and now resides in Israel.

During the 1970s and 1980s, current congregants report, the group that would become the Mesa Shul held services in various locations, including living rooms and garages. Eventually, the congregation — then known as Young Israel of Santa Barbara — rented a small space behind a dry cleaning shop at 1826 Cliff Drive, later expanding to take over the shop space as well. Until the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, the Mesa Shul continued to meet in that space; it is unclear where the congregation will meet once religious gatherings resume in the wake of the contagion.

In addition to families connected to the Ezra Torah day school, the synagogue community that is now the Mesa Shul also attracted some people previously affiliated

COME FOR SERVICES AND STAY FOR THE KIDDUSH AND THE SCHMOOZING!

with two other Santa Barbara area synagogue communities that no longer exist: Congregation Beth Ami, a Conservative community which met from approximately 1971 until approximately 1976; and the Isla Vista Minyan, which met at UCSB Hillel.

While the Mesa Shul is a Modern Orthodox congregation — it follows the traditional liturgy, and men and women are separated by a mechitza during services — levels of personal observance have always varied widely in the congregation. According to Jacob Bastomski, current president of the Mesa Shul, “We are a unique place for people who want a warm environment and the full spectrum of Judaism, without any predetermination of how your thought patterns should be.” Noting the diversity of the congregational family, he continues, “Mesa Shul is a broad umbrella and all are welcome — everything from different levels of observance, to different gender identities. And yet our services are firmly Modern Orthodox. We are a Modern Orthodox congregation.”

The Mesa Shul occupies a special place in the constellation of congregations and organizations that make up Santa Barbara’s institutional Jewish community, as many members also belong to, or regularly attend services and events at, other synagogue communities including Congregation B’nai B’rith, Chabad of S. Barbara, and the Community Shul of Montecito and Santa Barbara. Some even call the congregation “eclectic.”

Although some members of the Mesa Shul grew up in observant households, others simply prefer the traditional Hebrew liturgy as conducted by members of the congregation. (The Mesa Shul has no regular rabbi, but for the past several years has hosted Rabbi Chaim Williams and Cantor Jance Weberman, both of Los Angeles, to lead High Holidays services). Regardless of one’s level of Jewish education or practice, all are welcome at Mesa Shul Santa Barbara.

The Mesa Shul’s message to the Santa Barbara Jewish community: come for services and stay for the kiddush and the schmoozing! (Temporarily suspended, of course).