At 2:00 a.m. on Yom Kippur morning, the carbon monoxide/smoke detector near the upstairs hallway went off with three loud beeps. It woke everyone up. I went to check it out and found nothing. Then, in the afternoon during the break, the same alarm went off again with the same three beeps, and this time added the word “fire.” Again, there was nothing unusual that would warrant the alarm going off. (This detector is only a few months old, does not require battery changes, and has a 10-year lifespan.) This has never happened before. My theory was that this was a message that at least one of the people who were home needs to step up on Yom Kippur because what they are doing so far is not enough. If you do not improve, something bad could happen. Hopefully, we got the message.

Now to the main part of my column. The “documentary” NAZA won an award at the Venice Film Festival. It received a 25-minute standing ovation. To my knowledge, there was not one film that was shown at the film festival about the October 7, 2023, attack, including what was done to Jewish women at the Nova festival. There was a column in The New York Times which reported that NAZA was playing in NYC to sold-out audiences. In contrast, films about the Israeli victims of October 7 either never made it to a theater or had a limited release.

Boy George, who composed a song in support of Israel called “We Will Dance Again,” was attacked by his fellow musicians. He had to put out the song himself because even his people wanted nothing to do with it. In contrast, Macklemore, who has a history of antisemitic actions—including at a 2014 concert in which he used antisemitic imagery—put out a pro-Palestinian song, “Hinds Hall,” and “Hinds Hall 2,” which he had no problem producing and releasing in 2024. The words include:

“Finally cuttin’ ties with a state

That’s gotta rely on an apartheid system

To uphold an occupyin’ violent history been repeating for the last 75

The Nakba never ended, the colonizer lied.

Has always been about dollars and the color of your pigment,

But White supremacy is finally on blast

Screamin’ ‘Free Palestine’ ‘til they’re home at last.

I say ‘Free Falasteen’ because I know of every massacre we suffered

The Nakba, Sabra, Shatila, and Rafah…

See G-d himself in the eye of a refugee

Who rather die a martyr than live a life under siege.

So if I’m not allowed to say ‘From The River to The Sea’

Then from ‘The Rind to The Seed Palestine Will be Free.’

Long live the resistance if there’s something to resist

Had enough of you ****** murdering little kids.

But there’ll never be freedom by pleading with Zionists.”

He then sang the song at the concert and made a political speech as a lead act as part of Ed Sheeran’s tour. Then, when there was a backlash by supporters of Israel, Macklemore was considered a hero. Robert Kraft, who owns the New England Patriots and is a supporter of Israel, was mocked, including on SNL UK, for making sure that Macklemore would not be allowed to play at his facility. Kraft also convinced other locations to do the same. Then, the other acts and Sheeran’s guest band quit in solidarity. Ed Sheeran was put in the position to grovel by stating his views. He said, “What happened in Israel and at the Nova Music Festival on Oct. 7 was horrific and compounded centuries of Jewish pain… What is happening in Gaza is catastrophic and unjustifiable and disproportionate… My heart’s been broken by the scale of devastation and the loss of civilians’ lives. Children’s lives.” That is not going to satisfy the pro-Pali crowd.

We Jews have seen this movie before. Antisemitism may come out in different ways, either blatantly or under the guise of protecting others. We also know that, as opposed to other groups, American Jews are held responsible for the conduct of a foreign government. Jews are attacked by those who hate Israel.

For some reason, we thought it was going to be different this time. German Jews who said that Berlin was our Jerusalem found out the hard way that it was not true. Those Jews who supported the Enlightenment and thought these new ideas would end European antisemitism were badly mistaken.

Even in America, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who was very popular in the Jewish community, did nothing to help save European Jewry. He did not have the nerve to meet the group of Orthodox rabbis who went to the White House in an attempt to plead for him to take action. The progressive movement was around before and during the Holocaust. They did nothing for us then, either.

We have survived for more than 3,000 years despite a lack of help and support from the world and, in many cases, being attacked.

It is our faith in G-d and our Jewish community coming together in crisis, and having the emotional fortitude to not let anything stop us from moving forward, that has kept us going.

Sukkos is an example. We dwell in a sukkah because G-d protected us in the desert and gave us the ability to sit in a sukkah in the desert. For a nation of probably two to three million to survive in a desert for 40 years was a miracle. None of the nations that we had to pass by in the desert did anything to help us. Some even attacked us.

The bottom line is that despite what the situation is before us in the United States and across the world with the rise of antisemitism, we do not need to be despondent. We have been through this before and have survived, and even flourished. With G-d’s help, we will get through this time.

Have a good Yom Tov.

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.