The lanes and turnings of Mt. Nebo cemetery filled with cars of the family, friends, admirers and business associates of the late Emil Hecht. As much as it is clear to all that the cemetery is the end of this world for everyone — actually, in Emil Hechtcase, this was anything but clear. Clods of earth received his body as his soul met its Maker this week; this end was, for this survivor of Auschwitz, Mauthausen and various other Nazi designs of hell, astonishing. For Hecht, it was only too clear that the body was routinely burned and consumed and otherwise desecrated and denied its peaceful end.
Czechoslovakia-born Emil Hecht’s final journey to a cemetery — in Denver, Colorado, of all places — was an unexpected culmination. The way his life turned out and touched so many people surprised him and would have surprised his East European parents even more.
Born and educated — very educated — in fabled centers of the pre-Holocaust Jewish world that is no more, Hecht and all but one of his many siblings survived the Holocaust. Hecht attributed this remarkable record to the assurances that his knowledge of Jewish history gave him — that no matter what, no matter how brutal and widespread the persecution of the Jews, they have survived, and always will.
A frightening and paltry seventy pounds at the end of the WW II, Hecht originally sought a career in medicine, then quickly saw the life-and-death need to flee once again, this time from the communists. In flight, he became one of the “four horsemen” who rescued Jews for Palestine. Too ill to make the trip himself, he and the woman he married after the war, Eva, ended up in the US: dirt poor, misunderstood, not well. And determined. Their financial success, together with Larry Mizel, in the home building business, is now the stuff of legend.
Emil Hecht, however, was not one to rest easy or to rest on laurels.
It is hard to recapture just how controversial — even bullheaded — his endowment of a chair in Judaic Studies at DU, or his acceptance of the Parness Award by Hillel Academy, appeared to our community leadership at the time, some 25 years ago. Then, intensive Jewish education was simply not seen to be important as a Jewish communal need. Jewish education did not even enjoy lip service, let alone major funding.
Emil Hecht knew better because his life story was grounded in a Jewishly literate background and a larger view of Jewish destiny. This speaker of many languages — including Hebrew and Yiddish — and this reader of the Talmudic Aramaic, knew that no long-term good could come from the massive Jewish illiteracy that beset American Jewry. Thanks to him and to other visionaries like him, this massive illiteracy, in which the assumption is that Jews can not read the Hebrew sources in Hebrew, has undergone incremental yet noticeable improvement over the past three decades.
Emil Hecht spoke eloquently about the Holocaust and the prejudice that caused it. He put his considerable resources and moral authority behind programs that brought people together, with a special focus on programs that bridged believing Christians and believing Jews. He knew first hand the hateful role the church had played in the Holocaust, but rather than decry it, he did something about it.
Perhaps the highlight of his philanthropic career was his receipt of an honorary doctorate from DU, together with Elie Wiesel. Some 1,400 people attended that memorable event in 1987. For Hecht, the evening was about education about the Holocaust, not about him. He reminded us once again that the true reward for good deeds is not the number of people who acknowledge them, but the deeds themselves. Hecht never sought anything but the deeds.
When more people were educated about the Holocaust, he was pleased. When recognition came his way, this was but another surprising turn in his life, already filled with surprises.
The special place that Emil Hecht occupied in our community was grounded, above all, in his character, his demeanor, his way with people. Imbuing all that Hecht said and every conversation he had, even when he disagreed with his discussant or with conventional community wisdom, was his imperturbable kindness, his humanity, his friendliness, his respect, his openness. Not given to rabid enthusiasms and exciting outbursts, he conveyed a deeper, more rooted commitment. His eyes were attentive, his attention focused, his point of view clear, his capacity to listen equally clear.
It was a privilege to have known Emil Hecht. It was a privilege for our community to have found him among us.
Copyright © 2010 by the Intermountain Jewish News
