In 1941, a recent Jewish immigrant opened a liquor store in Brooklyn, on Bedford and Ave. U. The liquor store remained a family business for all these years. Eighty-three years later, the store called Tops is still buzzing with action and is run by Jeff, his great nephew. Jeff shares:
“I’ve always been proud of who I am. I’ve never professed to be something I’m not. Growing up in the store, I always imagined how my life would turn out.
After what’s going on in this world, and thinking about everything, my wife and I and my father and children really want to have a better quality of life.
I picked up the phone and called one of my good customers and said, ‘I think the time is right for what I want to do.’ And he said, ‘You’re talking about closing for Shabbat, aren’t you?’ I answered, ‘Yes, I think it’s the right move. I just don’t know exactly what to do.’
And he said, “JUST DO IT!”
I closed the store several weeks ago at 4:15 pm on Friday and kept it closed on Shabbat. I started what I believe is the best chapter of my life, which is to celebrate Shabbat! It’s been an unbelievable experience for the last five-six weeks. I get to be with my family. My shoulders feel like they are below my knees, no pressure, I feel so relaxed. I get to hang out with my daughter and just have an amazing time!
What I did not expect was, or I wasn’t ready for, how the community would react. My phone didn’t stop ringing, people didn’t stop coming into my store. The gifts, the hugs, the kisses, the thumbs up. People tell me that they’re proud of me for what I did. The best way to sum it up is if I needed to have a football team, I would have two million Jews on my team in two seconds.
Although being a dad is the greatest thing I’ve ever done, and meeting my wife, this is way up there too.
It’s brought us on the most unbelievable path that we’ve been on for the last few weeks. My store is flowing, the customers are coming in, talking to us, and treating us royally. They ask me a question and as they walk out, they turn around and say, ‘You did a great job! We are so proud of you!’ – thumbs up!
I’ve witnessed customers laughing and crying. When I ask them, ‘why are you crying’? They answer, ‘we are SO happy for you!’
Although I’m proud of who I am, I have never ever been SO proud to be a Jew like I am now!
I’m excited for this new journey. I’m excited to see where it takes us. I just want to say ‘Thank You’ to everyone for making us feel like we did the greatest thing ever. We love you all! You’ve made me feel just ecstatic!”
Postscript:
This story was posted by ‘PROJECT INSPIRE’. When I told the story in a zoom Torah class I teach, one of the participants remarked, “Oh, the person whom Jack called who is his good customer, is my cousin, Dov Weiser! She continued to share that, “The family from the store which is now closed on Shabbat, and they are on the path to becoming more Shabbat observant had been Shabbat guests of my cousins, the Weisers over the years. That’s why Jeff knew to call Dov when he was ready to close his store for Shabbat.
The Weiser family and Seligman families lived in Cleveland Heights, Ohio and were close to our parents, Rabbi and Rebbetzin Kazen, of blessed memory. Both families moved to New York. Thank you, Ruchy, for sharing this interesting information to enhance the story.
I reached out to Dov Weiser who is presently visiting in Israel. He was kind enough to share the story as it unfolded because of a special friendship which spans over thirty years.
Dov Weiser shares: “You never know what you can accomplish with friendship and a non-judgmental attitude toward every Jew. A little over thirty years ago, I went to buy a bottle of wine for Shabbat. I walked into Tops Liquor Store, and I brought a bottle of kosher wine to the counter. The owner thought that I looked too young and asked for my ID, but I didn’t have a proper ID on me. He said, ‘You can’t buy this.’ I said, ‘But, it’s for Shabbat!’ He didn’t seem fazed at all and said you need proper ID to purchase here. I went back to the car and my father came in and purchased the wine. We had a brief conversation and from then on, every time I came to the store, we were friends. I met the members of the Cohen family, Howie, whose uncle started the store in the 1940’s, his wife, of blessed memory, his son Jeff, who has become a good friend of mine, and his wife Meri, the whole family have become our good friends. Over the years I have sent many customers to the store. Jeff taught me a lot about wine; I taught him a lot about whiskey!
We’ve had the family over for Shabbat meals.
Fifteen years ago, I was in my office. It was towards the end of the day and Jeff called. He said, ‘I need to talk to you.’ I said, ‘Ok’. He said, ‘You don’t understand, I REALLY need to talk to you.’ I asked him, ‘Do you mean in person?’ He replied, ‘YES. I sensed this was important and asked him, ‘Do you want me to come to your store?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ It was towards the end of the day, so I got into my car and drove to Brooklyn. I came to the store at 7:00 at night. Jeff took me to the office at the back of the store, where his wife, mother, and father were all waiting for me. The air in the room was very tense. Jeff pulled out a piece of paper on which someone wrote not to shop at this store because the store was open on Shabbat. Recently other stores opened in the neighborhood. ‘How could they say not to shop in our store,’ he asked, ‘we’ve been here for our customers from the beginning.’ I was quiet and G-d put the right words into my mouth. I told him, ‘Jeff, imagine your suit is dirty and you drive up to the cleaners and there are two cleaners on the same block. One of them has a pink ribbon on their window showing that some money from the business goes to support cancer research, and the other one doesn’t. And someone in your family has, G-d forbid suffered through this, so cancer is a cause that is near and dear to your heart. Given the choice, you are going to walk in and support this store.’ He said, ‘Of course!’ I said, ‘Jeff, you need to understand that Shabbat is our cause, it’s the cause of the Jewish people. It’s not that they are not choosing you, they are choosing to support our cause.’ He was quiet. Then he looked at me and asked, ‘So what do I do?’ I said, ‘I can’t tell you what to do but if you want to close on Shabbat…’ He asked, ‘How does one do that?’ I answered, ‘Well, just pull the gate down.’ He looked at me and said, ‘I don’t know if I’m ready.’ We had a very long conversation that night. I spent over five hours with them. The next day was Friday, erev Shabbat. I brought them Shabbat candles. And that was it. I continued to be a friend of the family and continued to send them hundreds of customers.
Seven weeks ago, I was in Israel. It was erev Shabbat Kodesh, about an hour before Shabbat. My phone rang, it read – Jeff Cohen. When I didn’t answer right away because it was close to Shabbat, I got a WhatsApp, ‘Hey Buddy, call me when you can, all is good.’ I called. Jeff was happy to hear my voice. He said, ‘Hello, how are you?’ I said, ‘Great, I’m in Israel.’ He said, ‘You’re in Jerusalem! That’s fantastic!’ I asked him what’s going on? He answered, ‘Do you remember the conversation we had?’ That conversation was fifteen years ago! I said, ‘Yes!’ He said, ‘I think it’s time.’ I said, ‘OK. This week?’ He said, ‘I don’t think I’m ready yet. I need to talk to my accountant, my lawyer; we need to talk it through.’ I said, ‘Jeff, STOP! It’s clear to me that you are doing this for the right reasons. You’re coming from the right place. Meet with whomever you need to meet with. When you meet with them, let them know this is what you are doing.’ He said, ‘OK’. I assured him, ‘I will be back in NY on Tuesday. We will sit down and work it all out. He said, ‘OK’. I wished him a Gut Shabbos, and he wished me a Gut Shabbos.
That was seven weeks ago. The following Shabbat was our son Raphael’s Bar Mitzvah. That Shabbat was the first Shabbat in 83 years that the store on Ave U was closed on Shabbat.
The beautiful thing is the outpouring of love which Jeff and his family have experienced both from customers and total strangers. I, too, have felt this as many have contacted me from around the world to express their love and request and seek advice and counsel in helping a fellow Jew.
My message to all my friends: ‘Be a friend and appreciate each encounter you have with sincere friendship, true love, and respect. You never know where it will go, with G-d’s help.”
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