Community Magazine June 2019

62 Community Magazine Susan Cohen of Long Branch, NJ, is a wife, a mother of four young girls and one boy, a full-time auditor at Nessco Freight Auditing, and a certified makeup artist. Sounds like a lot, right? Amazingly, she recently found time to launch a Jewish library out of her home and opens it to the community every erev Shabbat . How does she do it all? I do have some answers for you! Susan shared her story with me and her lessons learned, especially those relating to her journey with baby Rivka, in the hope that she can provide hizuk and inspiration for others. Let’s add some context and get to know Susan before we talk about Rivka. A Little History Susan, daughter of AJ and Joy Gindi, grew up in West Long Branch, NJ, one of six children. She attended Deal Yeshiva for 12 years. “I loved school, my friends were there, we just had fun and it was where everything was. School was my whole life.” Susan commented that her classmates came from diverse backgrounds and there was “no judgment,” all the students were friendly towards each other. As I got to know Susan better, I recognized that not judging others is one of her guiding life principles. After graduation, Susan’s next choice came naturally, given her own positive school experiences. She became an assistant teacher at the Torah Academy and at Hillel, and she loved being with the children. Susan also went to beauty school in the evenings to get certified as a professional makeup artist. Susan’s Partnership with Her Naseeb That summer after high school graduation, Eli Cohen, three years Susan’s senior, entered her life. Susan knew Eli’s family but she had never met Eli. Eli’s sister-in-law thought they would be a good match and asked a rabbi to set it up! By 19, Susan was married and thrilled with her life as the wife of a kollel student. Eli studied in Rabbi Diamond’s kollel for the first eight years of their marriage. “Starting our life together as a kollel couple was beautiful. It served as a foundation for how we raise our children and for all of our accomplishments.” Susan greatly admires her father-in-law, Rabbi Joey Cohen, whom she calls a very special man, the man who brought Sukkot to the community. Her mother in law, Paulette is “always doing something in the kitchen, running a catering business, making everything from scratch, very shaatra .” With Eli studying full-time in kollel, Susan took a full-time job as an auditor at Nessco Freight Auditing. “My boss, and the founder of Nessco, Isaac Mavorah, is amazing. He takes pride in hiring and supporting kollel wives.” As a certified makeup artist, Susan is impassioned about helping women feel beautiful for smachot . Given how dependable and caring she is, it’s not unusual for Susan to wake up at 5:00am to apply a mom’s makeup for a brit mila . Her passion developed as a young girl. Susan always delighted in watching her mother and grandmother put on their assorted cosmetics and Susan started doing her friends’ and family members’ makeup. She takes her craft very seriously. “Makeup is always changing, and I keep on top of my game, researching new kinds of makeup, tips, and tricks. I love my time and interaction with my clients.” Susan describes herself as a “juggling wife and mom.” Eli is now a full-time contractor and is very supportive of all of Susan’s professional and community endeavors. He often covers for Susan when she’s completing a makeup job in the evening and lovingly does his “Daddy duty” on Sundays. Eli regularly says to his wife, “I don’t know how you do it!” Susan confided that she feels like she is running a marathon before her older children come home from school. Her proudest accomplishment is that she and Eli partner to create and maintain a happy and healthy home for their children. Inspiration from the Older Generation Susan’s parents, AJ and Joy were, and still are, her role models. Her father is a major doer (“that’s where I get it from”). He was president of Sephardic Bikur Holim (SBH) in NJ, president of his synagogue in West Long Branch, and is now working for Renewal, an organization committed to assisting people suffering from various forms of kidney disease. As a mother, Susan frequently asks herself, how would my mom handle this situation? Growing up, Joy was always easygoing and calm. She is well known for Woman Woman to One on One with ELLEN GELLER KAMARAS “How did I get through it? Hashem brought me through it. I had to change my mindset. I like keeping to routines and being prepared for things. All that changed when my baby was in the hospital for the first 13 months of her life. I had to learn to deal with things as they occurred. In the end, Baruch Hashem, the outcome was better than anyone expected.” Susan Cohen - Susan Cohen