Many millennials know Ian Ziering as the unforgettable Steve Sanders from “Beverly Hills: 90210,” with his charming blue eyes and blonde locks. He wasn’t always on his best behavior, to say the least (especially with his ex, Jennie Garth’s Kelly) but he always pulled through and tried to make amends in the end. As the series concluded, we discovered he became quite the devoted family man.
What some of us who grew up on the series may not know is that Ziering, like a few other 90210 stars, is Jewish. He was raised in a Jewish home in West Orange, New Jersey (he is also pretty competitive when it comes to playing dreidel). His father, whose family came from Galicia, had a gig as a Hebrew school teacher at Temple Sholom of West Essex in Cedar Grove, and at Temple Beth Shalom and Temple Emanuel, both in Livingston. So when Ziering welcomed his two daughters, Mia and Penna, with his now-ex Erin Ludwig, who isn’t Jewish, it was important for him to immerse them in his parents’ religion and traditions.
And this weekend, Ziering, who raised his daughters attending services at Temple Israel of Hollywood, celebrated a huge milestone for a Jewish parent: the bat mitzvah of his youngest daughter, Penna. He wrote a really heartfelt messages to the 13-year-old, who you can see in quite a few endearing and funny social media posts with her father over the years. He also thanked his current partner, Caila Dean, for helping make the simcha possible.
Ziering, who seems to share the specific Paul Rudd Jewish Gene that makes you never age, shared that he “has played a lot of roles in life, but being your dad is the greatest role I will ever play.”
“My beautiful Penna, I’m so proud to tell people that I’m your father,” he continued. “Today, as you become a Bat Mitzvah, I celebrate not only this moment but the incredible young woman you’ve become.”
He also called the moment a “great day for the Zierings, in a family that dates back 600 years, Penna Mae is the latest bat mitzvah.” He added an extra “congratulations, Pickle” for his daughter — what a great Jewish nickname!
A hearty mazel tov to the entire Ziering family!
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