NJ's Attorney General Meets Satmar Rebbe During Shiva Visit to Williamsburg

Williamsburg – New Jersey’s top law enforcement official met with the Satmar rebbe during a trip across the Hudson River Tuesday to pay a shiva visit to the family of a Jersey City attack victim.

Attorney General Gurbir Grewal assured the rebbe, Rav Zalman Leib, that the investigation into how the attack happened last Tuesday afternoon will be thorough, according to someone present at the visit.

“He told the rebbe,” the observer said, “that members of the Jewish community should not be afraid, should not be ashamed, to continue coming to live in New Jersey.”

The rebbe gave the law enforcement officials his blessing for the investigation’s success.

Prior to the meeting with the rebbe, Grewal held a meeting with leaders in the Satmar community in Williamsburg, to whom the two victims belonged.

“We greatly appreciate the hard work the attorney general is putting into this case, in conjunction with the U.S. Attorney’s office and the FBI,” said Rabbi Joel Friedman, a leader in the Satmar community and a law  enforcement chaplain. “They are working on this tirelessly and professionally.”

The attorney general, who has been the principle provider of information as the attack progressed, was accompanied by members of the federal U.S. Attorney’s office in his state.

The group then went to the Deutsch home on Lorimer Street where he paid his respects to the family of Moshe Hersh Deutsch Hy”d, a 24-year-old bochur who was caught in the attack during a brief stay in Jersey City.

Also killed in the attack that has shaken the frum community were Mrs. Leah Mindel Ferencz Hy”d and grocery worker Douglas Rodriguez. Police Det. Joseph Seals was killed in an earlier skirmish.