Lay Leadership

Howie Allen
Howie and his wife, Peggy, live in Norwood and have been members of Temple Beth David for 23 years. Their children, Nathan (24) and Jason (22), grew up at TBD, where they had their B’nai Mitzvah, sung in the Junior Choir, and attended our school through Confirmation. Jason is currently Youth Advisor and a Shorashim teacher. In 2020 and 2021 Howie served as Vice President of Religious Practices and Social Action. He has previously been a member of the Board of Trustees, served as VP of Administration, VP of Membership, Chair of Religious Practices Committee, a member of the Rabbi Search Committee, By-Laws Committee, and Chair of the Cantor Search Committee. Howie is a Physics Teacher at Norwood High School, having earned a Master’s in Teaching through the DeLeT Program at Brandeis University.

Jonah Berman
Jonah has been with Google for 11+ years, and currently serves as the Site Program Manager for Google Cambridge. In this role, he oversees local strategy and operations, employee development and cultural programming, and works to ensure the health and success of this 2500-person campus. Prior to this role, Jonah worked on a Google Advertising sales team, helping health industry clients maximize their marketing investments with Google. His professional life before Google includes work in the non-profit and education sector, in various roles including development, program management, and leadership training.  Jonah holds a Dual Bachelor's from Oberlin College and Conservatory in Sociology and Jazz Performance (Saxophone), and an MBA from Boston College. As a newer temple member, Jonah enjoys attending Shorashim, Tot Shabbat and holiday celebrations with his family. He lives in Medfield with his wife, Beth, and three children Caleb (9), Micah (7), and Hazel (4).

Jenni Bushinsky
Jenni, her husband Lou, and their three children, Ethan (10), Ayla (8), Rachel (6), live in Medfield and have been members of Temple Beth David since 2018. Jenni teaches first grade at TBD Shorashim and is a teacher at the Shalom Corner preschool. Jenni is a registered nurse who  works in the Medfield public school system. Jenni has been part of the Social Action Committee and Lou has been part of the Religious Practice Committee. You will often find us in attendance at the Shorashim and other great events geared for families with young children. We are overjoyed with the many great connections we have made at the TBD community so far and look forward to establishing much more in the years to come.

Amy Cook
Amy and her husband, Jamie, reside in Westwood, and have been members of Temple Beth David for 23 years. Their children, Shayna (Sarah) and Daniel, grew up at TBD, where they had their B’nai Mitzvah and became confirmed. Amy has been active at TBD for many years, serving as chair of the School Committee, Board Member, Vice President of Education, President (2010-2012), and co-chair of the Interim Rabbi Search Committee and the Rabbi Search Committee. She managed the transition to ShulCloud, our synagogue management software, and works with our administrative staff and lay leadership in order to use it to its fullest capacity. Her current projects include working with Treasurer Gary Shillin on various treasury tasks and helping to set up the office support (billing, forms, etc.) for Shalom Corner. Amy and Jamie enjoy spending time on the Cape, seeing their grandson and soon, traveling again.

Becky Erlichman
Becky, along with her husband Evan and their daughters Eliza (10) and Lily (7) have been members of Temple Beth David since 2016 and both girls are currently enrolled in Shorashim religious school. Becky and her family live in Medfield. In addition to joining the Board of Trustees, Becky is currently the Chair of the Member Connections Committee at the Temple. Becky is an attorney and currently works as a Regional Consultant Manager at LexisNexis. In her spare time, Becky enjoys watching her girls play sports, going skiing, writing and baking.

Leslie Forman
Leslie and her husband Daron have been members of TBD since 2014. They live in Medfield with their daughters, Shayla and Meira. Leslie served on the Shorashim School Committee for many years, and now serves on the Shalom Corner advisory board.  She is a preschool teacher at Temple Beth Shalom Children's Center in Needham.

Lori Friedman
Lori Friedman has been a professional fundraiser for the past twenty-eight years and is currently the Assistant Vice President of Corporate and Foundation Relations at Simmons University. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, where she double majored in economics and public policy analysis and later received her law degree from Suffolk University Law School. She has been an active volunteer for many non-profit organizations for more than forty years. Over the past eight years, Lori has volunteered her time for the Sisterhood, for the Fundraising Committee, and for the Member Connections Committee. Lori has two sons - David, who lives in North Carolina, and Steven, who is a senior at the College of Wooster in Ohio. She lives in Dedham with her dog, Jackie, and cat, Toni.

David Goldfisher
David, along with his wife Tammy, and children Wyatt (19) and Vivi (17) have been members of Temple Beth David since 2007. The Goldfishers have lived in Dover for 15 years. In addition to serving on the Board of Trustees for 7 years, along with being the former Treasurer, David has served on the Nominating Committee as well as the Interim Rabbi Search Committee. David is a Professional in the field of Commercial Real Estate and has worked in many capacities primarily on the financing and ownership sides.  David is currently a principal at The Henley Group, a finance and distressed advisory firm in commercial real estate as well as a property management firm. Previous institutions David has worked for include Bear Stearns & Co., Wells Fargo Bank and LaSalle Bank / ABN Amro. In his spare time, David enjoys traveling with his family to new places, playing soccer, skiing, taking hikes with Tammy and his dog, Stella, and any other outdoor activity he can enjoy!

Jim Grasfield
Jim grew up at Temple Beth David, had his Bar Mitzvah and Confirmation at the Temple, served as president of DWEFTY (now known as NAWDTY), was married to his wife Ruth by Rabbi Zoob, and has been a member of Temple Beth David for 48 years. Jim, Ruth, and their sons Jonathan (12) and Robert (10) live in Sharon. Jonathan and Robert are active participants in Shorashim, and they love being third generation members of the TBD community. Jim has been a member of the Board of Trustees for several years; and he has continuously served on the Membership Committee, House and HVAC Committees, and Safety Committee. Together with Mark Lampie, Jim has been very involved in significantly reducing the Temple's energy consumption over the past three years, and he has designed and/or installed most of the upgrades to the Temple's security systems. Jim is an inventor and entrepreneur in the high-tech industry where he creates and develops innovative products in numerous fields including medical devices, energy efficiency systems, and state-of-the-art security systems.

David Grossbaum
I did not need a lot of convincing to accept a nomination to be a trustee. But I needed some. I had many good reasons to decline: I work long hours at my day job as a lawyer and more meetings and obligations after work will be a burden; Temple Beth David is doing just fine with others carrying the load; I don’t have anything unique or valuable to offer TBD (after all, there is no shortage of lawyers at TBD); my wife, Debbie, and I are new here (members for about 4 years) and we are not part of the establishment; I am already active on the social action committee, so I am doing enough. We joined TBD because we did not feel connected to our last synagogue. Our four kids were grown, but we wanted a Jewish affiliation. Debbie’s sister (then a trustee) told us about TBD. We have found a warm, fun, supportive and stimulating congregation here at TBD. We try not to miss Friday Night Live (known in our house as “Shul of Rock”). It has become our hometown, as much as is Dover, where we have lived for 30 years. How does something this special happen? Near as I can tell, it is the level of commitment by so many people. This is not one of those places where the very few do all the work and the many are along for the ride. Here, everyone we have met are officers, trustees, organizers, leaders, and contributors. They all have busy lives, but they did it and were enriched by it and enriched others. All right then, count me in.

Matt Malin
Katy and I live in Walpole with our two children Jacob (10) and Mackenzie (8). I am an International Sales Manager for a small family business, having served on a variety of boards representing small business owners in our industry. My family have been members of Temple Beth David for approximately 11 years now. Our children attend Religious School at the Temple and we are looking forward to start the Bar and Bat Mitzvah process with them in the coming years. For the past 5 years I have been a member of the Men’s Shul Softball team and serve as Co-Manager the program. I look forward to continuing to serve the Temple Beth David in this new position.

Paul Marsh
Paul and Nancy live in Dover and have three children, Suzannah (24), Leslie (21) and Aaron (21). All three children went thru the TBD religious school, had their B’nei Mitzvah here and then continued on with Double Chai. We joined TBD in 2006 and Paul has been Membership VP of the Brotherhood since 2007. During the day, Paul is an IT Program Manager for CVS Health, who loves performing in community theater and writing plays.

Alyson Miller
Alyson and her husband Scott have been temple members for 10 years. They live in Westwood with their children Cameron, Ella, and Abigail. They attended TBD’s religious school since age 5, became B’nai Mitzvah in 2018 and were confirmed May 2021. They have all served as madrichim and Cameron is the current President of NAWDTY. This will be Alyson’s second term on the Board. She has been an educator/teacher for over 30 years, and is currently a Literacy specialist and interventionist as well as a teacher/parent consultant for Special Education. This background has assisted TBD as she has served on the Adult Education committee, the Early Learning Center committee for the development of Shalom Corner, and most recently chaired the committee for the Director Hire of Shalom Corner. Her family loves being involved in the temple in multiple ways.

Rob Wasserman
Rob, his wife Leigh, and their 3 children (Eli 17, Sophie 16, and Jack 12) live within walking distance of the Temple and have been members for 11 years. This will be Rob’s third term on the Board, where he has been actively involved with the Finance and Budget Committees. 

Rachel Ziegler
Rachel Ziegler and her family joined Temple Beth David about seven (7) years ago. She lives in Westwood with her husband Adam and two (2) children -- Owen (age 13) and Mae (age 11). Both kids have attended Shorashim and Owen became a Bar Mitzvah this year. We're especially fond of participating in the Sunday Sandwich Hevre. Rachel is also a practicing attorney with a law practice in Needham. In her spare time, Rachel is an avid reader, always in search of a new good book.

Temple Beth David's Sisterhood and Brotherhood are represented on the board by Linda Holiner (Sisterhood) and Steve Brody (Brotherhood).