Sue Gunzburger: Bat Mitzvah Girl
BY BUDDY NEVINS
At 69-years-old, County Commisssioner Sue Gunzburger has finally come of age in the eyes of the Jewish community.
Two generations after Sue Gunzburger attended Temple Beth El in Detroit, she was part of a twin Bat Mitzvah with her granddaughter Emily last month on Long Island.
That’s the coming of age ceremony for Jewish youths. It usually takes place at 13, not at 69.
The reason for the long delay? Temple Beth El in Detroit was Reform and did not believe in Bat Mitzvahs, according to Ron Gunzburger, the political maven and son of Sue
The commissioner was careful not to upstage her 13-year-old granddaughter.
“Emily was definitely the ‘star’,” Ron wrote in an e-mail.
But Mom surprised the family because she had been secretly studying. She took weekly lessons in Hebrew with Rabbi Alan Tuffs and Cantor Manny Silver of Temple Beth El, Hollywood.
Starting with Aleph, she learned enough Hebrew to be able to read her Torah portion.
“It was a wonderful surprise and the entire family is very proud of the wonderful job both she and Emily did in their respective parts of the service, Ron e-mailed.
“Dad (Gerry Gunzburger) was beaming throughout as the proud husband of one bat mitzvah “girl” and the proud grandfather of the second bat mitzvah girl, he wrote.
March 4th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
Anything for a vote.
March 4th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
Yeah, she studied Torah for a year without telling anyone so she could have a surprise way to get votes a year and a half before the election!! Think about how stupid that sounds.
March 5th, 2009 at 10:23 am
You seem too cynical. Voters already know she’s Jewish and heavily active in Jewish things. Perhaps this actually was just a nice thing she always had wanted to do. If this was “political” or for votes, she have waited to do this until mid-2010 near election day.
March 5th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Wrapping herself in Judism won’t help Sue. Geller is just as Jewish.
March 5th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
“Geller is just as Jewish.”
Actually, Geller is 4x or 5x as Jewish ……. if we’re just discussing total tonnage.
March 5th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
Sue “Let me read from the torah.”
Steve “Let me eat the torah.”
Nuf said.