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