When Jersey City residents gather for a community-wide Hanukkah menorah-lighting and celebration on Thursday night, Dec. 10, there will be much on their minds. Thoughts of a horrific event just one year prior on this very date, reflections on an eventful year since, along with hope for a year full of only good tidings ahead.
On Dec. 10 of last year, two gunmen stormed the JC Kosher Supermarket at 223 Martin Luther King Drive in Jersey City, N.J., murdering four people, including two members of the local Jewish community, a non-Jewish resident and a police officer. The terrifying assault shocked the fledgling Chassidic community. Today, community residents say it’s hard to imagine that a year has already gone by since gunshots rang through an otherwise unremarkable city.
But while many viewed the events as a fissure in the broader community and a harbinger of neighborhood dynamics gone awry, events of this past year have belied those fears. Home to a diverse population of Black, Hispanic and now Chassidic Jewish residents, the Greenville neighborhood where the kosher supermarket and adjacent Chassidic center is located has thankfully demonstrated that while some may seek hatred and death, local residents are looking for the exact opposite.
Lighting a menorah just down the block from the scene of the shooting with state dignitaries and local community leaders—both Black and Jewish—only highlights this reassuring value: There is more that brings us together, much more that we share, than what can tear us apart.
Speaking with Chabad.org, Rabbi Moshe Schapiro, who co-directs Chabad of Hoboken and Jersey City together with his wife, Shaindel, reflected on this past year. Notwithstanding the pain and hardship, he struck a positive, hopeful tone. “From the very beginning, it was clear how much the community banded together in the face of this hateful act.” He revealed how it was Douglas Rodríguez, a native of Ecuador and a store employee, who literally sacrificed his own life to save the life of Chaim Deutsch, the cousin of Moshe Deutsch, who was tragically gunned down in the store.
“As Moshe was fleeing to the back of the store, he called out to Douglas, ‘Is there a way out?’ Without thinking, Douglas pulled the back door in towards himself to facilitate Moshe’s escape, taking a fatal bullet to his own body in the process.”
Acknowledging Rodriguez’ heroic act, over this past year, Schapiro and others from the Jewish community have worked on raising funds for his bereaved family.
Another Jewish customer caught in the scene fled to a neighboring apartment complex, where members of the Black community gave him cover until things quieted down.
It is in this spirit of solidarity that the multiple factions of this diverse community have made persistent efforts to come together and maintain their common ties. “Prior to the pandemic, already in February, thanks to the tireless efforts of my colleague Rabbi Shmuel and his wife, Esta Levitin of Chabad Young Professionals of Hoboken and Jersey City, we hosted a community unity Shabbat dinner on the waterfront,” Schapiro relates. “More than 200 people attended, among them students from three respective high schools in the black community. There were leaders from the Black community, from the Satmar Chassidic community, and other lay people, as well as young professionals from the surrounding areas.”
As head of the Boys and Girls Club of Hudson County, a youth service in the community, Gary Greenberg was present at that Shabbat dinner. “From the very first moments of the attack, Rabbi Schapiro was a uniting force and a catalyst in healing some of the wounds that may have existed. I was fortunate to bring high school students from the African-American community to the dinner, and it was really eye-opening for them to see that though we may look different, ultimately, there’s much more uniting us. I really believe that Rabbi Schapiro immediately coming forth and saying that ‘this isn’t us, we’re all brothers and sisters’ was a major part of the healing process for us all,” he said.
And even as the coronavirus hit and upended in-person efforts, consistent efforts to come together including toy and food drives for all members, carried on throughout.
Schapiro was passionate as he described efforts over the past year and particularly at these community gatherings. “The message taught to us by the Rebbe [Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory] cannot be stressed enough: We are all created in G‑d’s image, and it is eminently possible—it’s a must!—to focus on that so as to transcend our differences. I have seen it multiple times already. If we focus on that, it’s something very real.”
Banishing Darkness
The upcoming anniversary on the first night of Hanukkah cannot be more prescient. The small light of the Hanukkah candle recognizes that darkness may abound. Indeed, one cannot ignore the tragic loss of life of Leah Minda Ferencz, who owned the store with her husband, Moshe; and Moshe Deutsch. Two young lives prematurely snuffed from this world. Detective Joseph Seals, who was murdered earlier as the attack first unfolded will forever be remembered. And the collective trauma of a community ambushed still remains.
But along with this dark reality comes the recognition of the power we possess in our reaction. The Hanukkah candle may be small, but “a little light banishes a lot of darkness.” All one must do is put the match to the candle.
Jersey City’s community has time and again demonstrated that adding in light is their preferred reaction. Cowering in place was never an option, and the Jewish community’s continued growth there demonstrates as much, as has this past year of bridge-building.
Those who will safely assemble on Martin Luther King Drive for the anticipated menorah-lighting are testament to this resilient and positive response.
