Being Seen as an Emerging Rabbi
By Rabbi Meir Bargeron

When I arrived at Congregation Or Ami as a rabbinic intern, I had a sense of the kind of rabbi I hoped to become. I loved teaching and helping, and I cared deeply about Jewish community. But I was still figuring out what it meant to fully inhabit the rabbinate. I was stepping into something meaningful, but not yet entirely my own.

Rabbi Paul Kipnes saw something more clearly.

He saw the rabbi I was becoming, often before I could see it myself. And he didn’t just say that. He helped me grow into it. His mentorship showed up as trust. He gave me real responsibility, and through that, I began to develop both confidence and a clearer sense of myself as a rabbi.

At Or Ami, I taught in the religious school, supported community organizing through the Sukkat Shalom organizing team, and worked with the dedicated people building Or Ami Village (ages 60 and above). I also stood on the bimah and offered Torah that needed to land in people’s lives.

These were not practice runs. This was real community, with real expectations. That’s where things started to click for me. I began to understand what it means not just to study the rabbinate, but to live it.

Rabbi Paul did not try to shape me into his image. Instead, he gave me room to find my own rabbinic voice. He offered guidance when I needed it, but he also trusted the process. That trust mattered. It changed how I saw myself.

Some of the most formative moments came during a wildfire evacuation, when the synagogue, even as it relocated, became a place of refuge and care. I watched Rabbi Paul lead with steadiness and presence. He showed up. He listened. He helped people feel anchored when everything around them felt uncertain. And he made sure I wasn’t just watching from the sidelines. He gave me real responsibility.

That’s where I learned that rabbinic leadership is not about having the right answers. It’s about showing up, consistently and with care.

Teaching became less about information and more about invitation, helping people connect more deeply with Jewish life. And through community organizing, I saw what it looks like for a synagogue to live its values beyond its walls, and to take those values seriously.

Throughout all of this, what mattered most was the way Rabbi Paul saw me.

He saw possibility where I saw uncertainty. He nudged me into experiences that stretched me, while holding a quiet confidence that I could meet them. Over time, I stopped seeing myself only as a student, and started seeing myself as someone ready to carry the responsibility of this work.

Now, in my own rabbinate, I find myself returning again and again to what I learned at Or Ami. I try to build the kind of environment Rabbi Paul and Or Ami created for me, one where people feel seen, supported, and invited to grow.

Or Ami gave me more than experience. It gave me formation.

If you come to Or Ami as a rabbinic intern, you will learn how to lead, teach, and serve. But more than that, you will be known. Rabbi Paul Kipnes will see you clearly, and help you grow into the rabbi you are capable of becoming.