When a beloved local business is suddenly destroyed by fire, the loss goes far beyond the building itself. For J2 Pizza owner Isaac Nakar, the devastating fire was the loss of a business that has been part of his family for more than two decades, and a profession that he unexpectedly stepped into after the passing of his father.

We sat down with Isaac to hear the story behind J2 Pizza, the circumstances surrounding the fire, the tremendous support he has received from the Five Towns community, and his plans to rebuild and move forward with emunah and bitachon.

5TC: For those who may not know your story, tell us a little about yourself and how you first got into the pizza business.

Isaac: My name is Isaac Nakar. I live in Flatbush, and in the mornings I’m a Rebbe in a local yeshiva. My father had the store for many years. About nine years ago, he suddenly suffered a stroke and, unfortunately, passed away a few months later. At the time, there really wasn’t anyone else in the family who was available to take over the business, so it kind of fell on me. It was a pretty big change for me because I was on a completely different track. I was in college, on the pre-med route, and I had just gotten engaged. But when this happened, I stepped in and started running the store. I got married shortly afterward, and, Baruch Hashem, our family started growing. Over time, the business really became my profession and a big part of my life.

5TC: How many years ago did you open Jerusalem Pizza, and what made you decide to start a pizza shop in the Five Towns?

Isaac:We opened in the year 2000. My father actually purchased the business from a friend of his who owned J2 on Avenue M in Flatbush. He had originally bought this location for his wife, but eventually she wasn’t able to continue running it, so he sold it to my father. That’s how we got started, and from there it became a family business and something that’s been part of our lives for over 25 years.

5TC: What led to the transition from Jerusalem Pizza to J2 Pizza, and what did that next chapter mean to you?

Isaac: A few years after my father bought the Five Towns location, my brother wanted to get into the business as well, so he opened a J2 Pizza in Borough Park on 18th Avenue. Around that time, we also wanted to make the names more uniform and turn it into more of a brand. We reached out to the original owner—the person who had sold my father the Five Towns location—and he agreed to let us use the J2 name. At the time, the Five Towns store was actually called Jerusalem Famous Pizza. So we changed the name to J2 Pizza to make both locations uniform and build a stronger brand around it.

5TC: Take us back to the night of the fire. When did you first find out what was happening, and what went through your mind when you arrived and saw the damage?

Isaac: I was actually in Lakewood that night. We spend the summers there, and my phone is usually on at night. But that night, my phone had died, so I didn’t get any of the calls that were coming in. Around 6 or 6:30 in the morning, my wife got a call from one of the departments that had been at the scene, and they told us there had been a devastating fire and that the entire store was gone. It’s hard to describe what it’s like to wake up to news like that — hearing that something you’ve spent years building is suddenly gone. What made it even harder was that we had just invested heavily in renovating the store, so to have it all destroyed so soon afterward was especially difficult to take in. The initial reaction was honestly just disbelief. It was such a shock and so surreal that I don’t think I even fully processed it right away. Then, after the initial shock wore off, I started thinking about the timing. The fire had started around 3:30 in the morning, and I just kept thinking, Baruch Hashem, it happened at the store and not at my house. At that hour, if something like that had happened in our home, the situation could have been so much more frightening and so much worse. Losing the business is incredibly painful, and we’re still coming to terms with the full extent of it. But at the same time, I felt a tremendous sense of gratitude to Hashem that everyone was safe, and that it happened at the store — where no one was there — rather than at our home. As devastating as the fire was, that’s something I had to be thankful for.

5TC: Do you have any idea yet what caused the fire? Has the Fire Marshal been able to give you any preliminary information?

Isaac: The Fire Marshal hasn’t given us a final determination yet, so I don’t want to say anything definitively. But based on what we’ve been told, it appears it was an electrical fire, it looks like one of the pieces of equipment malfunctioned. We’re still waiting to hear the final determination.

5TC: Seeing your business, which you’ve built over so many years, suffer this kind of damage must be incredibly difficult. What has this experience been like for you personally?

Isaac: It’s really difficult, and honestly, it’s hard to put into words. When something like this happens, you lose a certain sense of security — you realize how quickly something you’ve built for so many years can change. But at the same time, I look at it as a message from Hashem that we need to have more emunah and more bitachon. We have to believe that everything is going to work out and that, ultimately, things will be great. Hashem has His ways, and just as He’s provided for me until now, He’ll continue to do so.

5TC: Have you gotten any sense yet of how long it could take before J2 can reopen? Are you hoping to rebuild in the same location?

Isaac: I don’t have a timeline yet for when we’ll be able to reopen, because a lot of it is out of my hands — there’s a lot that has to happen before I can even start rebuilding, so it’s hard to say right now how long it will take. But the plan is definitely to rebuild. IY”H, we’ll come back better and stronger than before.

5TC: You’ve received a tremendous amount of support from the Five Towns community. What has that support meant to you and your family during this difficult time?

Isaac: The support we’ve received from the community has been so special and so meaningful to us. Honestly, it’s that support that’s allowed us to remain open in some capacity even after the fire. The owner of Fialkoff’s Pizza reached out and wanted to help us. Thanks to his generosity, we’re available on Uber Eats, and our catering division, The Pizza Bar, is still operating. It’s really meant a lot to know that, at a time when we were dealing with something so difficult, people in the community stepped up and looked for ways to help us keep going. We’re deeply grateful for that.

5TC: Is there anything the community can do right now to help you, your employees, or the business get back on your feet?

Isaac: The love, support, and good wishes we’ve received from the community have meant so much to us. I really can’t say enough about it. At this point, all I can really ask is that people continue supporting us, if they’re able to, through this difficult time. We lost a big part of our business overnight, and we’re trying to keep things going while we work toward rebuilding. Every order, every catering job, and every bit of support helps us keep moving forward and, IY”H, get back on our feet and continue doing what we’ve been doing for so many years.

5TC: When you think about the future of J2, what do you want people to know? Do you see this as the end of one chapter or a beginning of another?

Isaac: I want people to know that we plan on rebuilding. We definitely don’t want to go out this way. It’s a big hiccup, there’s no question about it, but we plan on continuing and moving forward. We’re incredibly grateful for every single customer, every single order, and all the support and patronage that the Five Towns community has given us over the last 26 years. It’s meant so much to us, especially now. With the help of Hashem, I truly believe we’ll come out of this stronger than ever. We’ll rebuild, we’ll continue, and we’ll be here for the community for many more years to come.

5TC: Isaac, it was truly a pleasure finally meeting you in person, although unfortunately under such difficult circumstances. From our conversation, it’s clear that you are an incredible Eved Hashem, and the way you are handling this situation with such emunah and bitachon is truly inspiring.

May you have continued hatzlacha in all your endeavors, and we look forward to seeing J2 Pizza reopen, IY”H, bigger and better than ever!