How I Actually Learned to Be a Rabbi | 10@9 | 2026.05.21

My Semicha (rabbinic ordination) gave me the ability to learn Torah at a high level - a gift I rely on every day. But when I began working as a rabbi, I discovered something I hadn’t expected: I didn’t actually know how to be a rabbi. Not how to lead a community. Not how to make real-world decisions. Not how to carry responsibility for other people’s lives. Those are not things I learned in our Beit Midrash. I had been trained to learn Torah. I had not been trained to lead people. Almost everything I know about that, I learned on the job - slowly, sometimes awkwardly, with lots of mistakes, over time. And more than anywhere else, I learned it through the annual conventions of the Rabbinical Council of America - by listening, observing, and realizing what the role truly demands. As we approach Shavuot, a time of receiving Torah, I find myself thinking not only about what we are taught, but how we learn to live it. Michael Whitman is the senior rabbi of ADATH Congregation in Hampstead, Quebec, and an adjunct professor at McGill University Faculty of Law. ADATH is a modern orthodox synagogue community in suburban Montreal, providing Judaism for the next generation. We take great pleasure in welcoming everyone with a warm smile, while sharing inspiration through prayer, study, and friendship. Rabbi Whitman shares his thoughts and inspirations through online lectures and shiurim, which are available on: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5FLcsC6xz5TmkirT1qObkA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adathmichael/ Podcast - Mining the Riches of the Parsha: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/mining-the-riches-of-the-parsha/id1479615142?fbclid=IwAR1c6YygRR6pvAKFvEmMGCcs0Y6hpmK8tXzPinbum8drqw2zLIo7c9SR-jc Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3hWYhCG5GR8zygw4ZNsSmO Please contact Rabbi Whitman ([email protected]) with any questions or feedback, or to receive a daily email, "Study with Rabbi Whitman Today," with current and past insights for that day, video, and audio, all in one short email sent directly to your inbox.