NJ father of 7 drowns while saving kids at Delaware Water Gap

LAKEWOOD — A father of seven who drowned at the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area Monday is the second Ocean County resident this summer to die in the river.

Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area spokeswoman Kathleen Sandt said rescue teams were dispatched around 1:45 p.m. for the report of a 39-year-old Lakewood man drowned near Bushkill Access in Pennsylvania.

The Lakewood Scoop identified the man as Rabbi Baruch Ber Ziemba.

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A heroic act

Ziemba drowned after rescuing two of his children who began to struggle while swimming in the Delaware River, according to Sandt. His body was found 20 to 30 feet from the shore just after 3 p.m. in seven feet of water.

Rockland Daily reported Ziemba was on a boat, had jumped overboard, and was dragged under the water by a wave.

The Lakewood Scoop reported that Ziemba was a rabbi with a kollel in the Ocean Pointe section of Lakewood and was well respected in the community. A kollel is an institute dedicated to the full-time, advanced study of the Talmud attended mostly by married men.

Jeysson Ariel Osorio-Reyes, 24, of Jackson drowned on July 29 near Milford Beach in Pennsylvania, which is across the river from Montague.

There are no lifeguards at any of the three beaches in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area including Milford Beach, according to the NPS website. It warns that people should swim at their own risk.