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Rabbi Akiba Lubow of Temple Beth El-Mekor Chayim, Cranford, will leave the congregation at the end of July after serving the Conservative congregation and the Cranford community for nine years.

Lubow, who was raised in Overland Park, Kan., received his rabbinical ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1984. Before entering the rabbinical world, he worked in politics as an adviser and campaign treasurer to then-California governor Jerry Brown for six years. For two years in rabbinical school and for three years thereafter, he worked for the Rabbinical Assembly, an international association of Conservative rabbis.

"[At the R.A.], I was the director of programming," Lubow told The Jewish State in a phone interview July 6. "I was also secretary of the committee on Jewish law and standards, which set rabbinical Assembly policy towards halachic issues."

Since working at the Rabbinical Assembly, Lubow served as a pulpit rabbi for 23 years in several places, including in St. Louis; Rochester, N.Y.; Winnipeg, Manitoba; and Buffalo, N.Y., before moving to Cranford to take the reins at Temple Beth El-Mekor Chayim in 2001.

During his time there, he guided the congregation with a love for adult education, social justice programming, and interfaith initiatives. "In particular, I have a passion for adult education," Lubow said. "I brought several new programs to the temple during the time I was there," including the temple's adult Talmud study series, a Shabbat lunch and learn program, and a variety of temporary courses that covered a wide array of topics.

Although his love for education was channeled into his education programs, Lubow remained heavily involved in social action causes in the temple and in the community. He started a campaign called "Find A Spark," which he used to attract congregants to community service projects and then motivate them to participate in at least one. "The campaign involved anywhere from 150 to 200 congregants each year that we conducted it," Lubow said. "We offer a wide variety of social action programs during the course of the year, and we ask people to sign up for at least one. Many people sign up for more than one. We try to get as many of our congregants possible in at least one social action program each year."

One of the biggest social action programs is the congregation's own annual Mitzvah Day, held in May this year. Volunteers from the congregation also work at a Hanukkah card factory to make cards for the homebound and for hospital patients. Beth El-Mekor Chayim has also participated in several walk-a-thons for a variety of causes, among many other projects that Lubow called "enhancing" for the congregation.

Lubow's influence extended outside Beth-El Mekor Chayim and into the greater community. Lubow was deeply involved in the Cranford Clergy Council, an interfaith council that works on different community service projects, serving as its president for five years and where he initiated an annual Sept. 11 interfaith memorial service. His crowning achievement on the council, though, was an initiative called Cranford Cares About Bullying that was implemented in Cranford public schools in 2005 and continues to serve as a model program for other anti-bullying programs in the state.

"We started that about seven years ago, trying to raise awareness in the community about the problems of bullying and how to combat bullying," Lubow said. "It evolved into programs that were adopted by our Cranford public school system that have been very innovative."

In recent months, Lubow's focus has been on environmental issues, which he said unites all the faith communities in Cranford.

"In the past year-and-a-half, we took some initiatives in terms of the environment, since all of our faith communities share a common concern about protecting the environment," Lubow said. "We've brought speakers in from Greenfaith to speak to the community."

A Shabbat devoted to environmental issues that includes all faith communities in Cranford is scheduled to take place later in 2010.

After leaving Beth El-Mekor Chayim, Lubow will move to Springfield with his family.

"I'm looking forward to becoming part of the Springfield Conservative synagogue," Lubow said.