For What it’s Worth: Warren Hecht

Since some of my fans enjoy my bike riding columns, I decided to write another this week. I realize that it is a stark departure from my political columns, which usually get more of a reaction. In the October 29, 2020, issue of the Queens Jewish Link, I wrote about an experience I had while riding in the Nassau-Suffolk Bike Challenge. A few miles from the end, I got a flat tire. I was walking my bike back to the starting area when two guys who were riding stopped to change my tire. They were on their way back to West Hempstead. After playing Jewish geography, I found out that one of them is the son of the group leader in the Orthodox teen minyan that was in the Bayside Jewish Center who had an impact on my becoming religious. On May 21, 2023, I went to a siyum made by my future son-in law Dani Miller at his parents’ home. I was talking with one of the individuals present, also a big rider, who mentioned that he rides in group rides including the Nassau-Suffolk Bike Challenge. I told him the story. He said he was the second guy. Neither of us had recognized the other. It’s a small world.

On May 7, I participated in the Five Borough Bike Tour. The weather was perfect. It was the first rain-free or dry road Sunday in four weeks. I would have liked it to be a little cooler in the afternoon but who could complain.

Last week I wrote about the indicted former president and Republican candidate for president, Donald Trump. This week on the criminal docket is Congressman George Santos, charged as George Anthony Devolder Santos in the United States District Court Eastern District of New York. This judicial district includes Santos’s congressional district.

I was able to go hear Rav Dovid Cohen at Lander College. I am not going to address what he spoke about. However, I will mention what he did. Rabbi Cohen walks with a cane. There was a podium the other speakers had used. They had prepared a chair and table for Rav Cohen to sit while he was speaking. Although it was clearly difficult for the Rav to speak while standing up by the podium, he decided to do so because the podium would block the view of some of the people present. He was speaking in the Beis Medrash. There were a few hundred seats. Maybe a few dozen people would have had their view impaired if he sat down. Those on the side could have stood up or moved their chairs to other areas if they wanted to see him. Yet he decided to stand for his shiur, which lasted an hour, and included him taking questions. It was clearly hard for Rav Cohen, since he was frequently leaning on the podium. This is a clear example of a person who is a gadol not only in knowledge but also in midos. I wonder how many of us in the same position would have done the same as he did. We may not have the ability to reach his level in knowledge, but we can try to emulate his conduct when considering others.

I took a few weeks off from discussing politics. One of the reasons was that I was waiting for the verdict in the civil case that E. Jean Carroll brought against Trump in United States District Court Southern District of New York. Last week, the jury arrived at a verdict. They did not believe Ms. Carroll regarding the rape allegations but believed her allegation that she was abused by Trump and defamed by him. The jury awarded her $5 million in damages.

This month was the 80^th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and the 75^th anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel. There is continuity between both events. There are many individuals who believe that but for the Holocaust, there would have not been a state of Israel. They rely upon the events that led to its founding. In 1917, Great Britain, with the Balfour Declaration, promised a Jewish Homeland in Palestine. However, after 1917, nothing concrete was done to achieve that goal. Even after Hitler took power in Germany and the Nuremberg Laws were passed, nothing changed. After Kristallnacht, there was outrage but no accommodation for the Jews who were desperate to leave Germany. The status quo remained throughout the entire war. There was no movement to create a state of Israel. Instead, the British made it more difficult for Jews to come to what was then called Palestine. The British felt that Arab oil was more important than Jewish blood.