After eight years in Roanoke, Rabbi Manes Kogan said he's contemplating his move to New York next week with excitement and trepidation.

"It's bittersweet," Kogan, of Beth Israel Synagogue, said before morning prayers last week with several members. "We're so grateful to everyone here. I wish I could cut my congregation from its roots and take it to our new place."

Kogan, 40, will leave July 18 to become the rabbi at Hillcrest Jewish Center in Flushing. His few remaining days overlap with incoming Rabbi Ronald Kopelman, who moved here July 1 with his family from Buffalo, N.Y.

Kogan is an ambassador to the community and is often described by some congregants as a "scholar," a rabbi who loves the richness of Jewish intellectual life. He eagerly -- and patiently -- explains the intricacies of Jewish spiritual life to his synagogue members, the community and students.

A Buenos Aires native who is on the brink of leaving his first home in America, Kogan is anticipating an active Jewish cultural and scholarly life in Flushing.

He and his wife, Sylvia, 38, want to raise their three children in a larger Jewish community.

"The main reason for leaving is because I would like our children to go to a Jewish day school," he said. "And I would like them to be exposed to a larger Jewish community and have more Jewish experiences."

The Jewish day school in Flushing has about 400 children in attendance for his son Ilan, 7, and daughter Daniela, 11. The couple also have a 3-year-old daughter, Abby.

Kogan was feted June 25 with skits, gifts and warmth at a going-away party at the Jefferson Center attended by hundreds of congregants and members of the community. He had renewed his contract with the Roanoke synagogue twice and said leaving is tough.

"When my family and I made up our minds to continue our personal journey somewhere else, to move on in life, to try a new path, you gave us your blessing, your love and your support," Kogan said at the event. "No rabbi could ask for a better congregation."

As a gift, the congregation purchased an 1849 set of Edgar Allan Poe's works. About once a month, Kogan visited Too Many Books and examined the set.

"He's looked at it for years, and he's become such a good friend. He loves books," said bookstore owner Linda Steadman. "One day, he said 'I will clean up your Judeo section -- it's a mess.' And he did, he got down on his knees like a stock boy."

Kogan came here in 1998 after two years as the only rabbi in the Dominican Republic. There, he met a young Peace Corps worker who told him about a place called Roanoke.

Kogan holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Buenos Aires, as well as a master's in Jewish Education from Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

He received his rabbinical ordination in 1993 from the Seminario Rabinico Latinoamericano, the Conservative Seminary in Buenos Aires.

In Roanoke, members have said that Kogan leads by example, without pushing or forcing.

Synagogue president Jason Cohen said he's encouraged his congregations to study Judaism and live a Jewish life. He's urged members to have kosher diets, while also convincing a local grocer -- the Kroger store at Towers Shopping Center -- to offer kosher meats and products. He's made his mark by placing "mezuzah," a scroll with two passages from Deuteronomy, at the entrance of each synagogue door. The campaign was dubbed "mezuzah galore for every door." And he's compiled an online history of the synagogue: www.bethisraelhistory.org.

"I wanted to bring a higher level of Jewish observance and Torah study and cohesion of the congregation," he said.

Several members of his congregation described his patient instruction. He's able to teach the basics to new members, as well as the finer points to students at Virginia Tech, where he teaches courses in rabbinical literature, Jewish thought and the Holocaust.

Yuriy Zelikovich came to Roanoke 10 years ago from Belarus, where religion was outlawed.

He said Kogan made him feel "OK with not knowing and wanting to learn" about Judaism.

"He's just a great guy," Zelikovich said. "I keep hoping he'll change his mind and stay."

Lydia Ostwalu, 90, said the congregation has grown with more families and become more vibrant and active under Kogan's leadership.

"I'm very distressed that he's leaving," she said. "He doesn't have a lazy bone in his body."

Kogan also has served as the past president of the Roanoke Valley Ministers' Conference, inviting spiritual leaders of other faiths to share in intellectual and spiritual growth.

As a cigar enthusiast, he's been known to exchange favorites with pastors and other Roanokers, including Mayor Nelson Harris.