For What it’s Worth: Warren Hecht

Before I discuss the remainder of my trip, I want to comment on the photograph that accompanied my article in last week’s Queens Jewish Link. It was not provided by me. If you look carefully at the photo, there is a red street sign that says “No Standing Anytime.” Clearly, this picture was taken in New York and not in Hungary, and it is not an accurate depiction of what you would have seen on the streets of Budapest. There are Chasidim in Budapest who appear to be in charge of the Beit Midrash shul where I davened. The kosher supervision authority over all kosher establishments in Budapest, to my knowledge, is the Beth Din Tzedek of the Chareidi Communities of Budapest. However, the majority of Jews on the streets in the Jewish Quarter are not Chasidim.

By the time this column is published, we should know who the next mayor of New York will be. As I write, I sit and wait with trepidation about what the final results will be. The polls are all over the lot. Although all of them have Mamdani in the lead, some have him ahead by 5 percentage points and others by 25. The same applies to Sliwa’s strength: Some have him within a couple of percentage points of Cuomo, and others have him in low double digits. It just shows the uselessness of the polls.

This is the first time I am writing a column in the middle of a vacation. However, I did not want to miss writing about my vacation. There are so many other things going on which may grab my attention, such as the bromance between Trump and Mamdani. I am sure that all those who criticized NY Democrats for being silent about Mandami will criticize Trump for what he said or didn't say at the meeting.

This column will be my final one before Election Day. I feel as though this moment is like Neilah on Yom Kippur, l’havdil—my last chance to be convincing. Now, I’m making a final attempt to persuade those who plan to vote for Curtis Sliwa, or who are thinking of sitting out this election, to go out and vote for Andrew Cuomo.

For those who expected me to talk about the consequential 1932 presidential election between then-President Herbert Hoover and the Democratic challenger Franklin Roosevelt, they will be disappointed. I want to address the 1932 election in Germany. It is a sobering lesson for the time we live in. There were two elections that year. The percentages changed from one election to the next, but the number-one party stayed the same.

It is time to get back to writing after two weeks off. There is so much to discuss that it was hard to decide what to address. I was going to focus on the Hamas-Israel deal in detail; however, that would require an article of its own. Instead, there is an issue that has a greater impact on New York City and needs to be addressed.