is spiritual leader of
50-family congregation
Rabbi Brooks Susman
is spiritual leader of
50-family congregation
By linda denicola
Staff Writer
Although they don’t yet have a building of their own, the members of Congregation Kol Am recently celebrated their first year as a liberal Jewish congregation in the Freehold area.
The members meet for Sabbath services at the Sunrise assisted living facility in Marlboro and hold religious school classes at the historic Court Street School in Freehold Borough.
According to Rabbi Brooks R. Susman, the name Kol Am means "Voice of the People."
"We believe in the absolute inclusion of every individual in the community," he said.
Perhaps that is why the new congregation has been so successful in attracting members. Susman said Congregation Kol Am originally started with 13 founding families and that number has grown to more than 50 families with 50 children in the religious school.
"Our congregation is growing. At the moment we’re dealing with the realities of every day, but our long range planning committee is looking into what kind of building and the best area to suit the community. Our congregants are spread out between Jackson and Morganville. We want to wind up somewhere that is accessible for everyone. We’re looking in the Freehold area, ideally along Route 33," he said.
The affable rabbi said the congregation is liberal as opposed to very traditional.
"It includes those who might be left-wing conservative Jews as well as those who are only nominally Jewish," he explained.
Susman is not the only person who is excited about the new congregation.
Congregation President Jonathan Klein had a lot of good things to say about Congregation Kol Am during a recent anniversary party.
"There are three words that I think exemplify our congregation; vision, differentiation and dedication," he said.
Klein thinks the community is blessed because they have had an opportunity to create a new congregation that fulfills their vision.
"Our vision was to create a place that is warm, family oriented, a place where new members are included and appreciated, where strangers are greeted on Friday nights, where Jews-by-choice and non-Jewish spouses are warmly embraced, so that they and their children can develop a Jewish soul," he said in his message to the congregation.
Klein explained that the board, committee members and volunteer staff challenge themselves every day to make sure that their actions make a difference.
"Our mantra, ‘Experience the Difference,’ has become more than just words, but a way of life for us. We will continue to succeed because we not only view our congregation as a collective set of a people, but as an individual and family member who yearns for spirituality and support in an increasingly impersonal pressuring society," he said.
Klein said he hears members say over and over again, "I finally feel that I belong."
He credits the success of the new congregation to Susman.
"Rabbi Brooks Susman is the driving force of this congregation. He has an amazing range of talents which he brings to his pulpit. He has a sensitivity that is magical. Rabbi Susman has changed the way we look at Judaism, education, congregational responsibility and the true meaning of being inclusive," Klein said.
Susman has lived in Freehold Township with his wife Andrea, and their four children for three years. His son, Ethan, 13, was the first person to be bar mitzvahed at the congregation. Before becoming the first rabbi at Congregation Kol Am, he served at Temple Shaari Emeth in Manalapan.
Before moving to New Jersey, Susman spent seven years at Temple Israel in Lawrence, N.Y.
"I recently had my 29th ordination anniversary," he said.
Susman not only encourages inclusivity within his congregation, he encourages service that expands to the greater community. He is on the board of Planned Parenthood of Central New Jersey and the board of the Court Street School Education Community Center, which is now an educational community center for all of the Freehold area, but was once a segregated school for Freehold’s black children.
"The important thing for me of being there at the Court Street School is that so many times the white community speaks of integration, but doesn’t put their deeds on the line. We are truly the first white Jewish community that has been part of the African-American community," he said.
Susman explained that the congregation has developed social action programs with the African-American and Hispanic communities.
"We are in the process of planning a Mitzvah Day with the other two communities. Mitzvah means good deed, deeds of repair of the world. We see it as our responsibility to take the world as it is and try to repair it into the way it should be. We can’t wait for God to mend the bridges, we are the ones who mend them for God. We answer our prayers by mending those bridges in the name of God," the rabbi said.
In addition to Mitzvah Day, the congregation collected 1,000 pounds of food during the high holy days which will be donated to Open Door, the food pantry in Freehold. Congregation members also collected kosher food for Passover for a Jewish community relations council.
"It’s for their kosher food program, centered in Asbury Park, for families who can’t afford to purchase kosher food," the rabbi said, adding, "We also urge our kids to participate in social action programs. We serve food at Elijah’s Promise, a soup kitchen in New Brunswick."
The religious school is another example of the success of the congregation, Klein said.
"A year ago we thought that it was going to have to be held in living rooms and today we have a thriving, exciting educational facility run by a fantastic group of very dynamic people," the congregation president said.
Klein said everyone involved in the congregation is dedicated to making it a success.
"It was our vision to create a family experience that transcends the norm and creates the total Jewish experience; involvement, education, a feeling of inclusion, and a sense of home. It is our collective responsibility to make this possible," Klein said.