Since Rabbi Mark Finkel arrived at the Pine Brook Jewish Center in Montville this summer, people have been ringing his doorbell, calling on the telephone, and dropping off all sorts of packages, from food to toiletries.

Such gestures "let us know that we're very much part of the community here," he said in an interview conducted in his office.

On Aug. 1, Finkel took the helm of the Conservative synagogue, whose longtime religious leader, Asher Krief, now rabbi emeritus, stepped down in 2001 and now leads the Lake Hopatcong Jewish Center on a semi-volunteer basis in the summer.

Finkel succeeds interim rabbi Dov Peretz Elkins, who in turn succeeded Rabbi Tzafreer Lev, who served the community for four years following Krief's retirement.

At 54, Finkel is a seasoned rabbi who comes to PBJC after serving New England congregations since his ordination from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 1979. Most recently, he served Temple Beth Abraham in Nashua, NH, for 17 years and Congregation Sons of Zion in Holyoke, Mass. for 10.

His years in the pulpit, combined with his young family — he and his wife, Abby Rosen Finkel, have three children, seven-year-old Liora and 20-month-old twins Eliana and Doron — appealed to the congregation.

"Rabbi Finkel has experience under his belt but he is not set in his ways," said congregation president Randee Fox. "He has a twinkle in his eye I attribute to someone older, and he has a quiet calm about him that comes with experience. He's comfortable in his skin and he puts you at ease. He's at a point in his career where he's the right rabbi for us. And he has young children, and that helps him relate to our younger families."

After 17 years in Nashua, Finkel said, "I had an itch to do something more." And he was looking for a home in an area that might offer his children a richer Jewish life.

"In each of my visits here — during my interviews and in subsequent visits — I sensed an energy that I found contagious," he said. "And I and my wife and children found the congregation was most welcoming. My children took a liking to everyone they met here. This congregation has brought out the best in all of us. And that's what most rabbis are looking for: a place to call home."

Finkel said he knows exactly what he would like to accomplish in New Jersey. "I see many new young families attracted to the congregation. Among the first orders of business will be demystifying the synagogue and Judaism for some of them. We have a whole spectrum of backgrounds and people who want to feel a part of the community."

One way he hopes to integrate people is by being an accessible rabbi, someone "who can guide them through various portals of the synagogue, whether through adult ed, through seeing their children as enthusiastic and nurtured by the Jewish community."

He said he doesn't think his vision is "revolutionary"; rather, "it's what all synagogues try to be," he said.

He'd also like to see veteran families serving as guides for new families and to ensure a mix of older and newer families at varying levels of synagogue leadership. And he wants to create Havdala groups — a concept that enables families to "meet and experience special moments at the close of Shabbat."

Finkel acknowledged that it was intimidating to follow Elkins, a prominent author and speaker in the Jewish community. "But Rabbi Elkins was very welcoming and helpful through the process, calming some of the anxiety I might have had," he said. Coming in after a series of rabbis also "raised the antennae," as he put it, but he and Pine Brook both seem to agree that this has the potential of a "long-term shidduch," as Fox said.

He doesn't shake off the challenges he knows are there, from outreach to interfaith families to engaging members so they will stay beyond their children's b'nei mitzva. And he has already discovered a challenge particular to the demographics of the synagogue's Montville location.

"We draw from a fairly wide area and the Hebrew school has over 50 students per grade. There's a challenge in terms of building intimate bonds with children who are not in school together during the day."

Meeting just before Rosh Hashana, he acknowledged his anxieties before what is widely considered his "coming out" appearance.

"I wonder how I will be received by people who are probably seeing me for the first time; or if at certain key moments of the service I will be focused on the minhagim [customs] of Pine Brook Jewish Center or if I will regress to the ones in Nashua."

But mostly, he seemed delighted with his new community. "I love passing congregants on the way to shul on Shabbat and having them say ‘Shabbat shalom' as they see me," he said. "There's so much potential here."