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Name: Rabbi Brooks Susman

Occupation: Rabbi of Congregation Kol Am of Freehold Township and adjunct professor at Brookdale Community College.

Address: Freehold Township

Family: Married for 26 years to Andrea, a retired speech therapist and is a Monmouth County master gardener. Four children: Melissa, a speech therapist, is married to Stephen Grossman, a graphic designer and they live in Minneapolis with their children Carli, 11, and Andrew, 7; Rachel, a realtor, is married to Scott Eldman, an attorney, and they live in Philadelphia with their children Max, 3, and Samantha, 1; Julia is an actress who lives in Brooklyn and Ethan is in his junior year in college.

Community Activities: Founding rabbi of Congregation Kol Am. Member of the board of directors of the New York Board of Rabbis, the International Synagogue at Kennedy Airport, and ARZA (Association of Reform Zionists of America). A member of Planned Parenthood of Central N.J.; the Board Room of Southern Adirondack Planned Parenthood is named in his honor. Advisory board member of the Jewish Heritage Museum of Monmouth County. Member of the Freehold Clergy Association. Member of the Human Relations Council of Freehold Township -- the interfaith council that deals with social action concerns.

Hobbies: "I'm an avid runner. I've run marathons. My congregation and I have participated in the 42-mile bike ride through New York City in memory of one of our former congregants. My wife and I go to New Hope, Pa., to take part in antique swaps. I collect antique matchboxes. It started as a birthday gift and I have been collecting them for 35 years."

Self-portrait: "I'm eclectic, outgoing, holistic. I have a holistic approach in living. My family grows vegetables and we try to be 'locavores,' purchasing only local produce. Instead of buying tomatoes from Chile, we'll wait until they come into season. Even the meat we eat is from free-range grass eating animals. The community has a totality. We are all part of a system. The way I read Hebrew scripture -- we are responsible for tikkun olam. The only way we do it is to recognize our part within the natural grand design."

Motto: "The translation of our congregation's name is voice of the people. Every individual has a voice. We are in a community of leaders, not a community who just follows one leader. It goes along with the liberal conception tradition of Judaism. Tradition absolutely has a voice in one's life but should absolutely not have a veto."

Greatest accomplishment: "Next month, we are publishing our own prayer book -- a Siddur for Shabbat. We have been working on it for three years. The congregation is giving its critique. The Hebrew prayers are universal but the English needs to be particular. I was so affected by what happened on 9/11. As I saw the smoke from the Twin Towers cascading down even on the Freehold shoreline, I recognized that 9/11 had a different meaning for us in this neighborhood than for those in Des Moines, Iowa. So the English of prayers needs to speak to people not only emotionally and spiritually but where they are physically. So the prayer book is written to be very specific for a specific congregational community that believes it has their own mission and who they are where they are where they can be emotionally, spiritually, and religiously. It not only reflects where they are, it reflects where they can be."

Bad habits: "I've yet to learn how to say no. It's a terrible habit. By always saying yes to people -- it never asks demands and asks limits for be set and infantilizes people. We become adults when we can learn to live with the answer 'no'."

Favorite TV Show:"Jon Stewart on the 'Daily Show' and 'Fringe' a show that deals with the paranormal."

Best childhood memory: "Leaving it. All I wanted to do was grow up."

People don't know that: "I was a Freedom Rider in Aniston, Ala. I was arrested and put in jail. I was ready to stay in jail when my parents called and said, 'you are coming home.' They just found the bodies of the three Freedom Riders. It wasn't a time for a Jewish boy to be in Alabama."

The last book I read: "I've finished two books. I read 'On the Road' by Jack Kerouak every five years. Daniel Goldhagen's newest book, 'Worse than War,' is a treatment of recent ethnic cleansings and how if we don't learn from the Holocaust we will continue it."

The biggest asset in the local Jewish community: "Its openness and pluralism. Each one is given the its own credibility. No one is saying you are invalid."

The biggest priority in the local Jewish community: "The greatest priority is the creation of Jewish grandchildren. I tell my congregation that's the only business I am in. Everything else is how to get there."

If I had more time: "I'd read more."