For What it’s Worth: Warren Hecht

There have been comparisons made between what is going on at college campuses today and during the Vietnam War. For example, on April 30, 1968, the police were called in to remove students who occupied Hamilton Hall at Columbia University, and the same thing happened on April 30, 2024. On May 4, 1970, four students were killed at Kent State University when the Ohio National Guard shot at protestors. There are some now requesting that the National Guard be brought in to quell the current protests. The 1968 Democratic Convention was in Chicago and the Democratic Convention is going to be in Chicago in 2024. In 1968, the administration was supporting a war that was unpopular with the protestors, and today the Democratic administration is supporting a war that is unpopular with the protestors.

If you listen to the criticism of the Biden administration by many supporters of Israel as to its recent Israel policy in Gaza, you would expect that the other (pro-Palestinian) side would be happy with Biden. Apparently, not necessarily. You just needed to hear the monologue of Ramy Youssef on Saturday Night Live on March 30 to learn otherwise. He spent most of his time making fun of the President and saying that Biden wants him to help win over the Arab community in Michigan, which is the most important community in the most important state in the country. Youssef said he does not like either candidate for president.

Former Harvard professor and independent presidential candidate Cornel R. West was recently asked by CNN’s Abby Phillip about the Hamas attacks. He response was, “But you don’t start with those voices without coming to terms with the vicious killings and occupations that’s been going on for 75 years, and then you get a counter-terrorist response to that.” Phillip asked him to clarify if he referred to the October attack on southern Israel as a counter-terrorist response.

My favorite column to write during the year is for the Purim edition. As someone who grew up during the heyday of Mad Magazine and shows like Get Smart, I enjoy reading, listening to, and writing satire. Unfortunately, I cannot write satire every week. Purim is gone, and it’s back to the same problems as before. Since I’m in the year of mourning for my mother, I had a subdued Purim. Many other people also had a subdued Purim, including our brethren in Israel, who are dealing with the hardship in the continuing war against Hamas.

I try to avoid writing about a topic if I know a fellow columnist will also be writing about it. Since I saw Susie Garber in a shul in Albany, I expect that she will also be writing about it. However, it was such an amazing unique experience that I feel the need to write about it.

In Megilat Esther, Haman and Achashverosh are two types of anti-Semites. Haman makes no bones about his feelings; he is so enraged with hatred that he is not happy as long as there are Jews around. He specifically wants Mordechai killed. It does not matter that he is the second most powerful person in the vast Persian Empire. Also, Haman was willing to spend vast sums of money to achieve his goal of annihilation of the Jewish people. We see such people in our time who do not care that their anti-Semitism may cost them their job, career, or reputation. They are willing to throw it all away because what matters most to them is their hatred of Jews. These are easy people to deal with because they wear their anti-Semitism on their sleeves.