For What it’s Worth: Warren Hecht

One would have expected that if the price of gas and a barrel of oil had increased more than 40% and the Strait of Hormuz were closed to shipping, the stock market would dive. Yet the market is at an all-time high. This is due to Trump masterfully playing the market. Trump has repeatedly made claims that the war will be over and that Iran has agreed to various proposals, none of which have yet come to fruition. Yet every time Trump does it, the market goes up. Last Friday was a perfect example. He declared that Iran had agreed to U.S. demands to get rid of nuclear material and not to build a nuclear bomb, as well as to have peace talks. Also, Iran agreed to open the Strait of Hormuz without any conditions and to do so while the U.S. would keep the blockade. None of that has happened.

I recently spoke with a woman in her nineties who grew up on the Lower East Side (I’ll call her Sadie). She told me that times were much better back then; despite having no money, she claimed the community stuck together and everyone helped one another. However, when I asked why so many people from that era became so successful, her response surprised me. Given her idyllic view, I expected her to say their parents deeply valued education. While she agreed education was important, she admitted the real driver of success was a desperate desire to escape the Lower East Side as quickly as possible. Sadie herself was a prime example: as soon as she and her husband married, they moved away and never looked back. The irony is that Sadie didn’t seem to notice the contradiction between the “happy” version of history she wanted to portray and the reality she actually lived.

Breaking a routine makes it incredibly difficult to find your way back. I am currently feeling that friction with my writing; due to the Pesach break, I haven’t penned a column in two weeks. Now, the task is to find my rhythm again.

This winter has been so cold that it was not until Sunday, March 8, that I was finally able to ride my bike. I had a goal as to how far I wanted to ride: 25 miles, which I was able to do. However, it felt like I rode 75 miles. The helmet felt heavy, the seat was uncomfortable, and my back hurt. I chalk it up to not exercising enough during the winter, my weight gain, and getting older. That is why it is so important to exercise even when you are younger. The failure to do so catches up to you later in life. I remember that not long ago, I would ride 45 miles at the beginning of the season without a problem.

In the Haggadah, we read about Yaakov going down to Egypt and the subsequent mistreatment of the B’nei Yisrael by the Egyptians. The Haggadah then mentions Pharaoh’s statement, which is the first public antisemitic comment by the leader of another nation: “Come, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply and it come to pass that when a war occurs, they might join our enemies.”

The current situation between Iran, Israel, and the United States is on all our minds. I won’t address it here, because by the time this column is published, events on the ground may have shifted dramatically. It’s usually foolhardy to comment on such a significant development based solely on initial reports. That said, it’s no surprise that antisemites are already claiming Israel is pulling the strings. As Michael Che quipped on Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update, addressing the lack of congressional approval for the strikes: “He [Trump] did [ask for permission]—Netanyahu said it was okay.”