60 | DECEMBER 1 • 2022 

OBITUARIES
OF BLESSED MEMORY

L

eypsa Groner, 88, of 
Southfield, widely viewed 
as a matriarch and 
one-of-a-kind rebbetzin of 
Congregation Shaarey Zedek, 
died on Nov. 18, 2022. The 
funeral was held at CSZ on 
Nov. 20, 2022. Interment was at 
Clover Hill Park Cemetery.
“Who else but Leypsa Groner 
could bring seven colleagues 
together on this bimah?” Rabbi 
Joseph Krakoff asked at the 
funeral. Krakoff, Rabbi Aaron 
Starr, Hazzan David Propis, 
Rabbi Yonatan Dahlen, Ritual 
Director Saul A. Rube, Cantor 
Leonard Gutman and Rabbi 
Jonathan Berkun all joined 

together in honor 
of the beloved 
rebbetzin. Gutman 
and Berkun flew 
all the way from 
Florida to pay their 
respects. 
Born on Dec. 25, 
1933, to William 
and Mary Lauria, 
Groner grew up in 
an observant Jewish home in 
Chicago. From childhood, she 
was an accomplished pianist. 
When she had the opportunity 
to travel around Europe playing 
piano as a teenager, she gave up 
that chance to marry a young 
rabbinical student by the name 

of Irwin Groner.
In spring 1953, 
while Irwin attended 
the yeshiva Hebrew 
Theological College 
and Leypsa attended 
Roosevelt University, 
Leypsa heard about 
a party next door 
with a gathering 
of students from 
the yeshiva in attendance. 
Whispers about a brilliant 
student named Irwin were 
all Leypsa needed to hear to 
decide she had to meet him. 
They instantly connected. He 
asked her out and before long, 
they started dating. 

In November 1953, Leypsa 
and the rabbi were engaged. 
They were married on January 
31, 1954, in Chicago, and for 
just short of six decades, they 
were each other’s rock. 
Leypsa married young at 
only 19 years old and had three 
children in six years with Irwin: 
Deborah, David and Joel. 
Her oldest, Debbie, was 
afflicted at an early age with 
a rare illness. Leypsa, who 
raised the children while Rabbi 
Groner worked tirelessly on 
behalf of the synagogue, used 
all her powers and influence 
to help give Debbie the best 
life she could hope for given 

A ‘Matriarch’ and 
‘One-of-a-Kind Rebbetzin’

DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER

