In the 1930’s, my great grandfather Shmuel owned a grocery store on 443 Avon Avenue in Newark, New Jersey. There was a customer named Avraham Yaakov (Isadore) who would make his way across town just to shop at this Jewish owned market. At some point, the two men had realized that they shared an interest in learning Torah. Each time Friedlander would come to the market, the ‘closed’ sign would go up and the men would sit down and learn together.
Some time in the 1980’s, my mother was speaking with my father’s mom. My grandmother was telling her about this wonderful Jewish market her father went to back in Newark. We then suddenly realized that it was my mother’s grandfather and my father’s grandfather who used to learn Torah together at this very market and as the story went, their grandchildren got married (and then they had me!).
