Peter Knobel claims it was his second-grade Hebrew school teacher at Congregation B'nai Jeshurun's Suburban Center in South Orange (the main synagogue was then in Newark) who decided he would one day become a rabbi.

Of course, somewhere between grade school and ordination there were other mentors, notably B'nai Jeshurun's Rabbi Ely Pilchik and his successor, Rabbi Barry Greene.

So it was particularly fitting that when Rabbi Knobel was installed last month as the president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, Greene was on hand to bestow a hug and a blessing on his protege. For Greene, there were few prouder moments in his career than watching a Hillside native and B'nai Jeshurun bar mitzva designated the head of the Reform movement's rabbinical association.

Knobel, the senior rabbi of Beth Emeth-the Free Synagogue of Evanston, Ill., was installed March 14 at the CCAR convention in Atlanta.

When Greene, now rabbi emeritus, arrived at B'nai Jeshurun about 50 years ago, he said, he remembers meeting Knobel, then president of the temple's youth group.

"I was new and getting involved with the young people," said Greene. "He was very capable and highly responsible. He was such a great person and very bright and caring."

Greene had a tremendous impact on Knobel as well.

"He was my teacher, my friend, my mentor," said Knobel in an interview with NJJN. "He encouraged me to pursue the rabbinate and to see it as a place where I could make a contribution. And when I decided to go to rabbinical school, he taught me Hebrew in his living room."

Knobel acknowledged, however, that by the time Greene had arrived, Knobel had perhaps already begun the journey that would lead to the rabbinate.

"I was really moved by Ely Pilchik," he said. "He was a prophetic voice for the pursuit of justice. He believed we could make a difference and that God called us, especially in the area of social justice."

Knobel's personal history is also intertwined with that of B'nai Jeshurun, now in Short Hills. "My wife and I were one of the last couples married in the High Street building," he said, referring to one of B'nai Jeshurun's Newark locations.

Over the years, Knobel never left B'nai Jeshurun or Rabbi Greene behind. Greene recalled having had the honor of installing Knobel in his current pulpit. Knobel has returned to the congregation to speak, particularly at important moments in the synagogue's history - at its 150th anniversary and at Greene's retirement, as well as for scholar-in-residence weekends.

Greene takes obvious pleasure in Knobel's achievements within the Reform movement. "You cannot go to a Union for Reform Judaism convention where Peter is not a major speaker," said Greene. "It's the same with the CCAR. He realized tremendous changes were happening over the years, and he has adjusted to the changes."

Knobel has long been a prominent figure in the Reform movement. He has served as chair of the CCAR Reform Practice and Liturgy committees. He codirected a project that paved the way for publication of the Reform movement's new siddur and chaired the editorial committee that created it.