The Day After in Jersey City

Photos: Naftoli Goldgrab

Last week’s deadly attack targeted one of Orthodox Jewry’s newest communities, the 100 or so families living across the Hudson River in Jersey City.

The two Jewish casualties of an attack that shocked the nation were Mrs. Leah Mindel Ferencz Hy”d, 33, who helped her husband run JC Kosher Supermarket, the only kosher grocery in the area, and her cousin, Moshe Hersh Deitsch Hy”d, 24, who was in town for the day. Another victim, Douglas Miguel Rodriguez, was an employee at the store and lived nearby. A day after the Tuesday shootout, thousands of people crowded Rodney Street in Williamsburg to pay their final respects to the two Jewish victims. Many wondered aloud about the viability of Jersey City’s Jewish community, made up mostly of Satmar families who moved across the river in search of affordable housing.

One man standing off to the side, a childhood friend of Moishe Duvid Ferencz, Leah Mindel’s husband, recalled his visit to Jersey City several weeks earlier. When he walked into JC Kosher he was surprised to see his old friend Moishe Duvid behind the counter. They excitedly reminisced about old times.

“I was thinking,” the man said, “he moved to Jersey City to be able to set himself up with a house and a family. He thought he would be able to have a decent living standard. And he ended up with no grocery, no wife, and no family. It’s so painful to see.”