This is my last column for the year 5784. It has been a tough year for me personally and for the Jewish people as a whole. Although we’d like to believe that our parents will live forever, if someone had told me last Rosh HaShanah that my mother would not last the year, I would not have been totally shocked. However, if someone had told me that a group of Hamas terrorists would break through the Gaza border, massacre 1400 Jews, and take hundreds of hostages, I would have thought they were crazy.
This year, it feels like it was right before Rosh HaShanah in 2002, trying to get over the 9/11 attacks. It was hard to fathom how an attack by a few terrorists was able to destroy the twin towers of the strongest nation in the world. It is also hard to understand how the October 7 attack happened in Israel.
The situation in Israel is worse than it was post 9/11. 9/11 was a one-time event. Israel is still fighting Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in the north. Meanwhile, many in the United States and in other countries have turned against Israel. Antisemitism, especially on college campuses, is at historic highs.
It is important to not get discouraged, even though it may be hard not to. It is risky to try to explain why things happen. However, even if we do not know the reason, we should look at why it could have happened and what we should learn from that.
We cannot look at what happened to Jews in Israel in isolation and say maybe what occurred was due to the divisiveness involving the prime minister’s proposal to change the laws concerning the power of the court. All Jews are responsible for each other. Therefore, if we had acted properly, the merit our actions would have been used to help our brethren.
Hence, we must look at ourselves. The attack on Simchas Torah and antisemitism have one thing in common: They target all Jews. The enemy did not care what type of Jew you were, whether secular at a music festival on the holiday or religious and celebrating at home. Unfortunately, in the Jewish community, there has been ill will between non-religious and religious Jews and within the religious communities as well. We should look at what has happened on Simchas Torah in Israel as a reminder that we Jews need to stick together. We are all important and necessary for our community.
We live in a very divided country. Not only is the Jewish community split religiously, but we are split politically. Families and friendships have been broken because of politics. We can agree to disagree. There is nothing wrong with discussing opposing positions. What is wrong are the personal attacks.
Unfortunately, there are people who cannot help themselves and think that engaging in personal attacks makes their position stronger. Anyone who is a reader of the Queens Jewish Link knows that throughout the year I have been recipient of personal attacks. It bothers other people. I let it slide. I think that is the correct approach when being attacked or unfairly treated. Having thick skin and forgiving people for wrongs committed against you is a winning strategy. First, you do not get angry and hurt. Also, you do not limit yourself to situations where you know there will not be any negative response. In particular, I know people who will not write a letter to the editor because they do not want to be attacked. If you forgive someone even when you may be right and they do not even bother to ask for forgiveness, you help bring achdus to our community. Finally, we can make the argument to Hashem, that just like we forgive people even though they were wrong and have not bothered to ask for forgiveness, hopefully we will be forgiven for our sins even if our requests for forgiveness are not properly said or made in the optimum way.
It is a new year, and we need to do our part to make sure it is a safe, happy, healthy, and successful year for our families and the Jewish people.
Shanah Tovah.
Warren S. Hecht is a local attorney. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
