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Name: Leslie B. Klein

Occupation: Systems Engineer for L-3 Communications, Camden

Address: East Brunswick

Family: Married to John Kolchmeyer, an electrical engineer at L-3 Communications, for 20 years. Two children: David, 17, a junior at East Brunswick High School, and Robert 14, in 8th grade at Churchill Junior High School.

Community activities: Chair of the Social Action/Social Justice Committee at Temple B'nai Shalom in East Brunswick, also focusing on environmental programs. Programs included an environmental film festival, a beach sweep with Clean Ocean Action, establishing a temple B'nai Shalom Green Team to improve energy efficiency on the temple building, promoting a fundraiser sponsored by Mailstopper, a company whose service is to stop junk mail and lobbying with GreenFaith in Trenton. Working to start an East Brunswick chapter of Brit Tzedek, whose purpose is to advocate for Mideast peace.

Co-founded Community on Conscience N.J. with Stephanie Stern, sponsoring events around town. Worked with the Amnesty Club and People to People International at East Brunswick High School. Webmaster for www.BnaiShalom.com site also created congregation's Facebook and Twitter pages.

Hobbies: "I enjoy hiking, biking, and playing tennis. I also enjoy playing Lexulous on Facebook with high school friends. It's a great way to unwind."

Self-portrait: "I believe in the goodness of people. I believe that in the end, the truth will prevail. I believe that everyone has a story, and every story matters. I believe that most of the people in the world share a common humanity."

Motto: "What is more important, the teaching or the deed? The rabbis concluded that the teaching is more important if it leads to the deed. The goal is the deed, guided by the teaching."

Greatest Accomplishment: "My children. Hopefully, I have taught them to live an ethical life, to be sensitive to the needs of others, and to respect the dignity of all people. I have taught them that Judaism is about taking action to effect social change; it is not about words without deeds."

Bad habits: "I bite my nails. I also have a habit of cutting people off at meetings. I should learn to listen to others longer before cutting them off."

Favorite TV programs: "As a family, we sometimes watch '60 Minutes' and Comedy Central's 'The Daily Show' and 'The Colbert Report' on demand."

Favorite food: "I love the combination of feta cheese with tomatoes, with fresh bread. It reminds me of the Greek Islands."

Best childhood memory: "As a youngster I was a serious tennis player. When I was 14, I played mixed doubles in a camp tennis tournament. In the semi-finals, my partner and I had to play the best mixed doubles team in the camp as the underdogs. During the match, I felt like I could not be beaten. Because I had nothing to lose, I felt totally relaxed and played my personal best. The crowd grew larger and larger. And then we won. I was so elated and I ran back to my bunk, I remember thinking that my feet didn't touch the ground."

People don't know that... "In high school I wanted to be a high-energy physicist, writing in my yearbook that I wanted to a 'Quantum mechanic'."

Last book I read: "The Bottom Billion" by Paul Collier. "The book concerns the 1 billion people living in the poorest countries of the world, why these countries are failing, and what can be done about it."

Biggest asset in the local Jewish Community: "Our young people. I enjoy the music at services. The music is enhanced by the voices of our senior and junior choirs singing together. One way to encourage our youth to stay involved in Jewish life is to organize social justice programs: programs to help people living in poverty, programs to protect the environment, programs to raise awareness about the lack of human rights around the world. By connecting social justice issues to Judaism, we are practicing what we preach, and are demonstrating that Judaism is a philosophy of life."

Biggest problem in the local Jewish community: "One problem is the lack of involvement in social justice issues by adults. In April 2006 I tried to organize a group to attend the Save Darfur rally on the mall in Washington, D.C. In the end only nine people signed up and we joined the bus organized by a New Brunswick Orthodox synagogue."

If I had more time... "I have enough time. I need to have more discipline to pull myself away from my computer and play more."