Sportscaster to spiritual leader: Former radio host new co-rabbi of Winnipeg's largest Jewish congregation

Matthew Leibl didn'tgrow up keeping kosher, didn't observethe JewishSabbath and doesn't describe himself as religious.

That didn't stop him from becoming one of the new rabbis at ShaareyZedekSynagogue, Winnipeg's oldest and largest Jewish congregation.

"Part of, I think, trying to make people realize we can be modern, we can be relevant, involves breaking down the barriers of what people think a rabbi should be," said Leibl, 32.

He and 48-year-old Anibal Mass became the new co-rabbis at ShaareyZedekon Wednesday, succeeding Rabbi Alan Green, the Crescentwoodplace of worship's spiritual leader for 18 years.

Both new rabbis are well known within the congregation, where the Buenos Aires-bornMass has served as cantor since 2002 and Leibl, a Winnipeg native, has worked in various capacities since 2005.

Leiblisalso known toWinnipeg sports-radio listeners as the former co-host of The Big Show on AM radio station TSN 1290.

He describes histransition from sportscaster to spiritual leader as less unlikely than it might sound, given that both jobs require public speaking, humour and the ability to connect withpeople.

• 'A church-shaped hole': Winnipeg filmmaker takes viewers on journey into life after faith

"I used to do the radio show in the morning and go to synagogue at night,"Leiblsaid in an interview inShaareyZedek'schapel on Tuesday, Rabbi Green's last day on the job.

"Pretty soon it got to the point where I had these two lives. I was Matt, the guy who was the radio announcer," he said,"and then Matthew, the guy who was at the synagogue every Saturday morning, the guy who was working with kids, the guy who was starting to marry peopleto each other, obviously."

Immersed in synagogue, sportscasting

Leiblstarted working at ShaareyZedekat the age of 19, when he took a summer job as Torah reader and also taught kids to prepare for their bar mitzvahs.

He also studied journalism in Halifax and found himself immersed in both synagogue and sportscasting work upon his return to Winnipeg in 2010.

TSN1290 program manager Chris Brooke said Leibl wound up in the right place at the right time: Winnipeg just prior to the return of NHL hockey after a 15-year absence.

"Matt would always bring a sort of interesting take on things. He wouldsometimes be out of the normal sort of sports take," Brooke said Tuesday in an interview at TSN1290's studio in FortGarry.

Brooke said Leiblcould be cheekyand irreverent, sometimes to the point of provoking interview subjects such as John Tortorella, the occasionally volatile NHL coach now with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

"I think he liked pricking the balloon of authority," Brooke said."But you could alwaysfeel the smile in his voice and Ithinkthat allowed himthe licence and leeway when he said things that may have been less than politically correct or corporately correct."

'I'm trying to make it fit'

Irreverence and a lack of respect for authority, however, are not exactly synonymous with the rabbinate. But that didn't dissuadeShaareyZedek from encouraging Leibl to pursue the job.

"I don't know if it fits. I'm trying to make it fit," he said, describing skepticism as a quintessentially Jewish trait.

"I think a lot of things Jewish peoplehave become quite famous for is asking a lot of questions and maybe not always conforming, and having strong opinions."

• Conservative synagogue performs same-sex marriage

As a rabbiat anostensibly conservative synagogue, Matthew Leibldoes not conform to any stereotype. For starters, he sometimes plays keyboards during services, something more common in the South American congregations where Rabbi Mass got his start.

He taught a synagogue class on the role of Judaism in the TV series Seinfeld. He likes to travel as a backpacker and once spent a summer visiting every Major League Baseball stadium.

Leiblalso wasn't raised asan observant Jew at least not in the ritualistic sense.

"I don'tthink it would be genuine to say that I'm a religious person. I didn't grow up in that way," he said, nonetheless regarding his upbringing as "very, very Jewish" in the cultural, historical and community sense of the term.

"When I say I'm a secular Jew, I'm trying to tell people who grew up maybe more like Idid that you and Ican still have a connection we can still find some common ground."

Like several Christian denominations, Conservative Judaism has struggled with declining membership and attendance in many North American cities, including Winnipeg.

Leibl and Mass have responded by reducing the duration of services, offering more commentary and generally trying to cater to younger people who have drifted away from synagogue attendance.

The response from the community is noticeable, said Laurel Malkin, president of the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg.

"They still want to be engaged, but they don't have the time or want to make the time," Malkin said.

"Long before I decided to switch careers or become a rabbi, peoplewould tell me they didn't like going to synagogue because it didn't hit them, it didn't connect to them," Leibl said.

"I think the irreverence and the humour that I mix in, Ithink it gets people's attention, and it makes them realize that synagogue is not this stale, boring, outdated place they assume it has to be."

Sportscaster turned spiritual leader

7 years ago

Duration 3:07

Former radio host new co-rabbi of Winnipeg's largest Jewish congregation.

How the 32-year-old rabbi's approachgoesover with older, more conservativecongregants especially those who remember him as the pimple-faced kid playing second base for the River Heights Cardinals remains to be seen.

To them, he stresses he chose to become a rabbi specifically to work at Shaarey Zedek and remain in Winnipeg.

"A homegrown rabbi is such a unique concept. It doesn't exist," he said, noting most rabbis study and work in cities far from home.

"Old Jewish people are always saying, 'Where are all the young people? Where are all the homegrown people?'Well I'm young, and I'm homegrown and I'm trying to be your rabbi. But Ican only be your rabbiif you let me be your rabbi."