 Herscovitch retired in the summer of 1924, and began volunteering as a boxing coach at the Montreal YMHA.Although he boxed at a time when fighters wore no protective gear, 'Moe' had never suffered a debilitating injury in the ring.However, on July 24, 1943 while on holiday at the summer resort of Plage Laval, he and some companions were set upon by a French Canadian anti-Semitic mob and beaten so badly that surgeons were forced to remove one of his eyes.