His dad was a CPA. Sure enough, after graduating from college, Rubin became one, too. "But then he met his Messiah, and his direction really changed," according the Web site of Emmanuel Messianic Jewish Congregation.

Rubin, 62, who grew up in Greenbelt and Bethesda, is now the spiritual leader of Emmanuel, which is housed in an interfaith center in Columbia. His current identity: Rabbi Barry Rubin.

According to the Web site, his "introduction to Yeshua [Hebrew for Jesus]" began in 1972 when he was invited to a "Hebrew Christian" Rosh Hashanah service in the District. The service raised questions in his mind that could not be resolved during a subsequent meeting with an Orthodox rabbi.

The questions morphed into rock-solid conviction after he attended a Passover seder sponsored by a messianic Jewish organization.

In the early 1980s, Rubin accepted a invitation to serve as rabbi at Emmanuel (then Emmanuel Presbyterian Hebrew Christian Congregation), located in Baltimore at the time. Although he had yet to be ordained, Rubin said in an interview that the congregation provided him with a "license to serve as rabbi." He received his ordination, he said, about five years ago from the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations, which was formed in 1979.

Emmanuel relocated to Howard County about 15 years ago, meeting in a Baptist church in Columbia in preparation for building its own facility.

"However, we could not afford one," Rubin said in the congregation's spring 2002 newsletter.

But then another door opened. Rubin, who lives in Clarksville, soon discovered that Columbia had set aside land for interfaith centers that could be had dirt cheap.

In the late 1990s, Emmanuel, the Lewis and Harriet Lederer Foundation (a messianic publishing outfit that Rubin now presides over) and an unidentified "pastor friend" combined forces and secured about two acres of prime real estate in Columbia's newest village, River Hill ‹ for a huge bargain. "We paid $65,000 for $650,000 worth of real estate," said the newsletter.

The physical manifestation of that vision is called The Gathering Place, a 25,000-square foot interfaith center that provides rental space for various functions and a site for religious worship. In addition to other tenants, The Gathering Place, which opened about two years ago, is home to Emmanuel as well as Lederer, also known as Messianic Jewish Communications. One of the nonprofit's two stated goals is "reaching Jewish people with the message of the Messiah." Toward that end, Lederer generated a surplus of $325,000 in the year ending September 2006, according to the most recent tax returns available for the company. (Rubin said that figure was uncharacteristically high.)

Rubin has been dogged from time to time by accusations of proselytizing and deceptive religious practices, the latter stemming from Emmanuel's representation of itself as a bona fide Jewish institution, when in fact it actually perverts Judaism, according to critics, by attempting to meld it with Christianity.

As for the accusations of proselytizing regarding Rubin's operations, it is difficult to substantiate a pattern and practice. Only one source contacted for this story provided an alleged specific example, and that predated the creation of The Gathering Place by roughly 10 years.

Howard Feldmesser, president of Reform congregation Bet Aviv of Columbia, said he and some Jewish teenagers were once approached by a group of individuals who identified themselves as Emmanuel congregants. "They said, 'Come join us, we're the real Jews,' or words to that effect," Feldmesser said in an interview last week.

Said Rubin: "That's not our style. I can't control what people say or do. However, what was said was ignorant, if they said it."

About eight years ago, Rubin sought to have his congregation join the Jewish Federation of Howard County, because, as he put it in an interview last week, "We are just as committed to the Jewish people as any other synagogue."

But the request was denied. "We kept repeating that it's not a Jewish organization, and he kept saying, 'But we are,' " recalled Roberta Greenstein, former executive director of the Howard County federation.

"I was not that surprised," Rubin said in retrospect. "There's a lot of confusion about what messianic Judaism is all about." ‹ Richard Greenberg