Meet Our Board

LIVIA MEZRICH

is the president and co-founder of Rimon along with her husband Joe. The idea to create a modern orthodox kiruv center started in 1999 with a conversation with Rabbi Ben Zion Scheinfeld who was then involved with the Max Stern Division of Community Services at YU. From 1999 until June of 2004 Livia together with Rabbi Scheinfeld organized monthly classes and Shabbatonim at her home in East Windsor. When a market became established, and a township building went up for auction, Rimon was founded.

Livia has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Brooklyn College and a Masters degree in curriculum development from the University of Michigan. She was an elementary school teacher and later founded her own consulting firm called Scholastic Options which helped parents find appropriate schools for their children. .

Livia served on the environmental commission for the State of New Jersey as the head of the pesticide committee for the Sierra club, and lobbied successfully for environmental pesticide use reform.
She now sits on the board of Abrams Hebrew Academy in Yardley, and the Greenwood House Jewish Home for the Aged, New Jersey. Rimon continues to consume all her efforts. Livia looks forward to the day when Rimon will have enough funds and a sound enough infrastructure that it can exist independently of her. She is actively taking steps to achieve that goal over the next few years.

Livia has three grown children who live in New York City, and Teaneck. She has ‘adorable and brilliant’ grandchildren.

JOE MEZRICH

has been Managing Director, Head of Quantitative Research, at Nomura Securities International since January 2006. He was previously Managing Director, Head of US Quantitative & Derivatives Research at UBS, in that role since 2002. At UBS he was ranked #1 by Institutional Investor for global quant. From 1998 to 2002 he was Head of Quantitative Strategies/Quantitative Strategist at Morgan Stanley. He was a member of Morgan’s Macro Strategy team. Joe received the Ph.D. in Mathematical Psychology and MA in Statistics from the University of Michigan, and received the EE and the SM degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Joe and his wife Livia have lived in East Windsor for close to 30 years. They love the community and jointly share the vision of building a modern orthodox kiruv center in Central Jersey. They have 3 children and adorable grand children.

ARNOLD MAYBERG

is the owner of Arnold M. Mayberg, CPA, PC. He is a graduate of Northeastern University, and has a master’s degree from Troy State University. Before joining the firm, which was founded by his father Norman, in Monroe Township he served in the U.S. Air Force, and worked at the U.S. Department of Labor. He has also been a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants examination staff.

Arnie has traveled extensively through the USA, Israel, Europe and Central and South America. He can often be found in the local coffeehouse listening to music or reading.
Arnie is our treasurer, is single, and regularly comes to help make a Shabbat morning minyan for Rimon. He lives in the neighboring town of Robbinsville New Jersey.

PAUL ROSEN

lives in Robbinsville with his wife Sheri and his two children who attend Abrams Hebrew Academy. He is a well known and respected periodontist in Yardley Pa. He is on the faculty of the University of Maryland dental school and is always traveling to speak at conferences.

Paul and Sheri split their time between Rimon and their sons’ extensive sports commitments Although Paul comes to some classes he is mostly interested in the Rimon minyan. He enjoys being an active participant and often serves as Gabai for Rimon. Both Adam and Ari his sons often pinch hit for our wonderful baalei tefilla. Paul is best known for the many renditions of Adon Olam that he the makes up including one that he sings to the tune of turkey in the straw before Thanksgiving. His son Adam is now part of our Teen Learning Initiative.

GLORIA GOLBERT

resides in East Windsor New Jersey a few blocks from the Rimon Center where she lives with her husband Tom a local allergist. Besides being a grandmother and mother, Gloria travels world wide to lecture and present educational programs for business, professional, and government organizations.

Both Tom and Gloria moved to East Windsor a few years ago from Denver, Colorado where Gloria made her mark. She received the Woman at Work award from a Colorado Governor, served on the committee for the Employment of the Handicapped for a Denver mayor. Additionally, Gloria served as Vice President of the board of governors of the Colorado Hillel foundation, Vice President of the Rocky Mountain Hebrew Academy, and was on the Board of directors of Beth Joseph Synagogue. She is the founder of the Denver Jewish Women’s Resource Center.

Gloria is a member of Beth El Synagogue a conservative synagogue in East Windsor. She and her husband Tom regularly come to Rimon on Friday night. Tom stops by for ‘herring’ at kiddush on Saturday morning after work. Gloria is always very upbeat and tries to attend all the programs at Rimon when she is not on the road traveling and lecturing.

RICHARD GOLDBERG

is a Fund Raising professional for 40+ years, with heavy emphasis on the New York Jewish community. He is the executive vice president for the Israel Children’s Cancer Foundation. . Having worked for large and small organizations, US and Israel based, he is thoroughly familiar with all aspects of fund raising. He tends to concentrate on research and direct mail projects. Richard has been an East Windsor, NJ resident for 33 years with his wife Elaine who is a teacher. They are members of Congregation Toras Emes, an Orhtodox shul affiliated with Torah Links and Shalom Torah centers 5 miles from Rimon. His 2 sons are married.

Richard understands the need in the community for a modern orthodox voice to tap the many people that are searching for more meaning and spirituality in their lives but are not comfortable landing in more right wing kiruv centers. He enjoys coming to our co-ed learning classes and to any programs that are Israel oriented.

REBEKAH COSTIN

is a graduate of the University of Rochester, where she majored in history, and has a law degree from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. She also has a Masters of Law degree with a concentration in Environmental Law and represented the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection as a Deputy Attorney General for many years.

For the last decade, however, Rebekah has turned her attention to Jewish history and culture and has participated in a number of exciting projects. She is on the Regional Board of the Southern New Jersey Region of Hadassah, and was a past co-president of the Princeton Chapter. She was a teacher of American Jewish History and Jewish values at The Jewish Center of Princeton, where she received recognition for her teaching with The Jewish Center’s Fabian Award for Excellence in Teaching. She was a curatorial assistant and researcher for the Princeton Historical Society’s exhibit of Jews in Princeton and a contributing writer to a book entitled, Jews on Trial, an anthology of legal cases throughout history where the defendant’s Judaism was a material element of the case. She wrote an educational program on the history of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee for their employees worldwide and is currently helping the “Joint” to create a Haggadah.

Rebekah is currently a candidate for a Masters Degree in Jewish Studies at Hebrew College in Boston, Massachusetts. All of her courses are on-line. Her fellow classmates come from all over the world, and represent all three major religions.

She is married to Dr. Andrew Costin, and they live in Princeton with their three children. Although both Andy and Rebekah attend services at Rimon they are mostly interested in the learning component of Rimon especially in our teen learning initiative that they helped to spearhead. Both her sons have attended this program and prospered from it.

JOYCE AFRAN

and her family became involved in Rimon through the Teen Learning Program. Her son Samuel was part of the inaugural class and daughter Tobi continued the tradition of being an active participant in this engaging program. Joyce and her husband Bruce attend Shabbat services at Rimon on a regular basis drawn by the spirited davening, thought-provoking discussions, “haimishe” atmosphere and unique sense of community.  Joyce and Bruce live in Princeton. Joyce is a family physician at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School where she has an active clinical practice and directs a variety of medical student education programs. Joyce is pleased to be a part of Rimon and to take an active role in expanding Rimon’s impact through Jewish learning, spiritual exploration and connectedness to our Jewish roots and to Judaism’s future.

SANFORD WERFEL

grew up in Newark NJ where he studied art at the ARTs high school and at Cooper Union in NYC. Sandie, as we call him has his own Sculptor Studio since 1968. His first ‘tree of life sculptor’ was for the Brooklyn School for Special Children.

As a member of his community in East Brunswick, Sandy served on the board of Beth Shalom in Colonia New Jersey and has served as the vice president of the board of B’nai Shalom (a reform synagogue) in East Brunswick, New Jersey. Sandy has only come to services a handful of times but travels a ½ hour to enjoy the classes at Rimon, especially the ones taught by Rabbi Jeremy Lebowitz.