For What it’s Worth: Warren Hecht

I remember twenty years ago when I heard the arguments in Bush v. Gore, and I was proud of the process. I did not agree with the decision, but I believe it was based on the law and not on politics. On December 13, 2000, Vice President Gore, who was disappointed with the outcome, accepted the result. He gave a speech that the country is more important than one person or party. As a result, the U.S. moved on, united with George Bush as president. Gore had won the popular vote, and the difference between Bush and Gore was about 500 votes.

There is great news because three vaccines that protect a person from getting COVID-19 will start to be dispensed within the next few weeks. Even if they work as well as advertised, it still will take months for mass distribution. Nevertheless, it gives us hope that the nightmare of COVID-19 will be eliminated or reduced to a manageable level. However, presently in the country, it is the worst that it has ever been, in the numbers of positive tests and people hospitalized. We now have more than 250,000 dead and 12,000,000 individuals infected with the virus. I remember back in the spring when there was talk of 100,000 to 200,000 dead. I, like many people, thought it was an exaggeration. Unfortunately, they were overly optimistic. It is going to worsen, because not only are people traveling for Thanksgiving but many people who are flying are not careful in the airport about properly using masks. The CDC recommended not to fly. Also, many are getting together in family gatherings. People have COVID fatigue.

My father, whose 10^th Yahrzeit is the fourth day of Chanukah, did not like to talk about his growing up in the Lower East Side. It was an experience that he wanted to forget. However, one story he did mention on more than one occasion was his experience working in a kosher butcher. He remembered that that the owner, who was a religious man, would put his thumb on the scale when weighing the meat to increase the weight. This had a profound negative effect on the level of his religious observance. I am sure he was not the only one whose level of religious observance was negatively affected by conduct of religious Jews.

There are at least three approaches when dealing with a child who is having a temper tantrum: ignore them and go about your business, yell at them for having the temper tantrum, or justify their behavior.

 I bet some readers saw the title and thought an imposter had written my column this week.

Before addressing the main portion of my column, I would like to thank the 5T and Beyond Biden-Harris 2020 WhatsApp Chat for their support. Although the Queens Jewish Link has “Queens” in the title, its reach is beyond the borough. I wonder if they receive the Queens Jewish Link at the bagel store in the Five Towns.

It took a while, and it was a lot harder than predicted, but Joe Biden will be the next President of the United States. It is ironic that the media’s calling the election for Biden occurred on the same day that it was announced that Trump’s chief of staff tested positive for COVID-19. Trump’s handling of the coronavirus was a major reason why he lost.