December 23, 2001 | 11:28 PM

I wasn't expecting to cry at Sarah Shuster's bahtmitvah. I hardly even know the girl. But when they showed us the video of her and Bernie dancing together... it was boo-hoo a-go-go.

It would have meant everything to him to see her, his granddaughter be bahtmitzvah. After all, he watched much of his family get butchered by the Nazis right after his own barmitzah, and spent much of his teenage years hiding in the woods from the S.S. and then in refugee camps before coming to Anerica at the age of 19, getting his high school diploma at night while working all day, then receiving his undergraduate degree from the University of Rochester and then his law degree from Harvard.

People bitch about how th circumstances of their lives prevented them from doing such and such. That argument doiesn't hold water in the face of Berniew Shuster. He overcame everything.

He was such a kind man-- so giving, and never with any strings attached.

He was my Godfather and he died of cancer last year. Another one gone-- and always while I am away-- Dad, Scott, Joel, Bernie-- it's so hard to love in the face of this.

I didn't realize how much I missed him, and it hit me all at once.

And I am so sorry that he never got to see how much I changed and grew as a person after he died. He helped me in so many ways and I wish I could tell him thank you.

So thank you Bernie Shuster. I hope you have met your family again, and I hope you were there yesterday watching your granddaughter shine and me make a fool of myself out of love for you.