FREEHOLD, N.J. - Using the witness stand as a pulpit, Rabbi Fred J. Neulander preached and pleaded for his life to a jury that ultimately could not decide yesterday whether he should live or die.

As a result, the once prominent religious leader will likely spend the rest of his life in prison for the slaying of his wife, Carol, 52.

Neulander, 61, was convicted of hiring men to commit the crime so that he could continue an affair with a local radio personality. His wife was found bludgeoned to death on the floor of her Cherry Hill home on the night of Nov. 1, 1994.

Under New Jersey state criminal law, because the jury in the capital murder case could not reach a unanimous decision on the penalty, trial Judge Linda G. Baxter must impose a sentence of 30 years to life.

He would not be eligible for parole until he serves the minimum sentence.

The rabbi pleaded for his life during a 23-minute elocution. Quoting from the Book of Genesis at one point and at another point offering what amounted to a eulogy for his dead wife - the woman whose brutal beating death he had arranged and paid for - Neulander told the jury he came before them "to offer a plea for my life."

The rabbi used the rest of his speech to alternately sing the praises of his late wife and to ask the jury for an opportunity to spend the rest of his days teaching and doing other good works among the prison inmates with whom he will live.

With Carol Neulander's family - her two brothers, her sister and their spouses - sitting in the courtroom, the rabbi spoke of his love for his wife, whom he described as a "remarkable woman."

Unspoken, but clear from the reaction of several family members during the rabbi's elocution, was their disdain for what they perceived as his continuing arrogance even as he pleaded for his life.

In his talk to the jury, the rabbi acknowledged his marital infidelities, describing his actions as "reprehensible" and "disgraceful."

But in almost the next breath he spoke of the warm and loving relationship he claimed to have had with his wife.

"You must believe I loved her and love her," he said.

In another description that had members of the Carol Neulander family showing chagrin, he said he and his wife had a routine in which "one of us would say, 'I want to grow old with you,' and the other would lean over and whisper, 'I want to grow old with you, too, but let's do it slowly.'"

"I found it difficult hearing him say he loved his wife," one juror said after the proceeding had ended yesterday. "That kind of bothered me."

The juror, who asked not to be identified, said Carol Neulander's fate was always a part of the deliberation process.

"I think from the beginning of the trial, it was hard not to think about Carol," he said.

The prosecution's case was built around the testimony of confessed hit man Len Jenoff, who said the rabbi promised to pay him and an accomplice $30,000 for the murder.

Jenoff's testimony was bolstered by an array of circumstantial evidence, including the testimony of two of the Neulander's three grown children, Rebecca Neulander Rockoff, 32, and Matthew Neulander, 28.

Matthew Neulander, now a doctor in North Carolina, said yesterday that he was "satisfied with the verdict."

The older Neulander son, whose testimony brought tears to the eyes of several jurors and was considered crucial to the prosecution's case, said of his father, "I try not to waste too much emotion on him. He is physically where he belongs."