Thousands of mourners turned out to the funeral for one of the two Orthodox Jewish leaders from New York who drowned in rip currents at a beach in Miami Tuesday morning.
Men and women lined the street outside the Yetev Lev synagogue in Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood Wednesday morning for funeral services for 67-year-old Isack Rosenberg.
Rosenberg and 66-year-old Chaim Parnes both died after they and a third person went swimming in an unguarded section of Miami's Haulover Beach on Tuesday, authorities said.
They began to struggle and were spotted by an off-duty police officer who jumped in the water and helped lifeguards who arrived on scene.
Rosenberg, of Williamsburg, and Parnes, of Kiryas Joel in Orange County, were unconscious when they were pulled from the water. They died a short time later.
The other man was pulled from the water but was OK, officials said.
Rosenberg was a developer and leader at the synagogue where he was memorialized on Wednesday.
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Services for Parnes, a diamond dealer, were expected to begin Wednesday afternoon in Orange County.
Isaac Abraham, an Orthodox Jewish community leader in Williamsburg, said in a statement he grew up with the victims and went to school with them. He said he watched them "both grow up to be great leaders and entrepreneurs."
"We all lost a friend, family member, leader," Abraham said.
