When Cantor Kevin McIntyre steps onto the bimah at Congregation Etz Chayim in Winnipeg, few of the synagogue’s congregants would guess that, just over a decade ago, he wasn’t Jewish.
McIntyre now serves on the clergy team at one of Winnipeg’s largest Conservative congregations, where his musical gifts and collaborative spirit have helped reshape the synagogue’s worship experience.
“I can’t say enough about Kevin—he’s just a fabulous human being,” Etz Chayim Senior Rabbi Kliel Rose said. “That’s not an exaggeration of any kind.”
McIntyre’s path—from a Scottish-Anglican upbringing and a career in musical theatre to conversion, cantorial ordination and Jewish communal leadership—began not in a synagogue, but on a stage.
In 2015, he accepted a role in Winnipeg Jewish Theatre’s production of Stars of David, a musical based on the lives and faith journeys of prominent Jews. Preparing for the production sparked an unexpected curiosity in McIntyre.
“I started doing a lot of research,” he recalled. “I was very interested in learning more about Judaism—not for the cultural things. I really wanted to understand the theology.”
Although he wasn’t Jewish, Judaism wasn’t entirely unfamiliar. Many of his friends in the theatre community were Jewish, and his wife had relatives living in Israel.
“We were very Jewish-adjacent,” he said.
What began as intellectual curiosity soon became something much deeper.
While living in Los Angeles, McIntyre enrolled in American Jewish University’s Intro to Judaism program. The 18-week course combined classroom study with synagogue attendance, holiday celebrations and one-on-one conversations with faculty.
“I was trying to learn as much as I could,” McIntyre said. “When I started learning the theology, for me, this was a truly religious experience…It forever changed my life.”
He discovered that Judaism’s understanding of God aligned with beliefs he had held for years but had never been able to articulate.
“The Jewish view of God is exactly what felt natural to me and honest to me,” he said.
One conversation proved especially pivotal.
When McIntyre wondered aloud how he could find a meaningful place in Jewish communal life as someone without children, Rabbi Adam Greenwald, a former instructor at the Intro to Judaism course, encouraged him to lean into his musical background.
“He said, ‘You worked in the theatre. You’re a singer. You should learn how to lead services and learn how to read Torah,’” McIntyre recalled. “And he was 100 per cent correct.”
He began studying liturgy and Torah chanting at a synagogue in Southern California, experiences that eventually inspired him to pursue cantorial studies through ALEPH, the Renewal movement’s ordination program.
“It started with just taking a class,” he said. “Then, ‘Oh, I can lead some services,’ to really changing my life and career.”
McIntyre eventually converted to Judaism. Later, inspired by the joy and meaning Judaism had brought into his life, his wife chose to convert as well. Today, the couple have built a Jewish home together in Winnipeg.
Eight years ago, when Rabbi Rose arrived at Congregation Etz Chayim, the synagogue was searching for ways to create a more participatory and spiritually engaging worship experience. Inspired by innovative models he encountered through the Conservative movement—including a worship conference led by leaders from Temple Beth Am, a Conservative community in Los Angeles—the congregation eventually adopted a collaborative tefillah team model after moving into a new building.
McIntyre, who had spent significant time in Los Angeles during his Jewish journey, proved instrumental in helping bring that vision to life.
“Our davening is similar to IKAR’s style,” Rabbi Rose said, referring to the nationally known progressive egalitarian congregation. “We have a tefillah team. We lead services together. Kevin is a lot more than just the Torah reader.”
For the past six months, Rabbi Rose said, McIntyre has been a critical part of implementing the congregation’s new style of worship.
“Fortunately, with Kevin’s help and his knowledge of Los Angeles Conservative Judaism, he was important to bringing this worship style here to Winnipeg,” Rabbi Rose said.
He will continue to become a more active part of the team. This fall, Rabbi Rose is leaving the Winnipeg congregation, where he has served as rabbi for eight years, to become senior rabbi at Kehillat Beth Israel in Ottawa. During the transition, McIntyre’s role will be elevated as he will continue serving as part of the congregation’s clergy team while the synagogue searches for a new rabbi.
Congregants may even hear an instrument seldom found in synagogue sanctuaries: the bagpipes.
A bagpiper since the age of seven, McIntyre has found surprising ways to blend the two identities. About three years ago, he played the bagpipes while Torah scrolls were carried into Etz Chayim’s then-new sanctuary, and he once joined a professional klezmer band for a spirited rendition of “Hava Nagila.”
“The screechy clarinet sound and the bagpipes actually go really well together,” he said with a laugh.
For McIntyre, those moments reflect the diversity of Jewish life.
“I think there’s all kinds of Jews,” he said. “People have this standard idea of what a Jew is, but there are all kinds.”
Rabbi Rose believes McIntyre’s greatest strengths extend well beyond his musical talents.
“He has such a deep neshama (soul),” Rabbi Rose said. “He’s empathetic, compassionate and, for someone who is so talented, he’s also so eager to learn and receive guidance and advice from people. It’s so inspiring to be around him.”
Looking back, McIntyre sees a journey that began with curiosity but ultimately became a calling.
What started as research for a theatrical role led to a new faith, a new profession and a new community. Today, he helps guide Winnipeg Jews on their own spiritual journeys—proof that sometimes the most unexpected paths lead exactly where they’re meant to.