Dear Been There and Done That:

I would hope that a Rav would have responded in the same manner as I did to the person who wrote to me in my role as a psychologist.  It is of utmost importance for two people who have committed to a marital relationship to do everything that they possibly can do to save their marriage. She could have gotten a divorce, but has not chosen to do so (at least not yet.) She wrote because of terrible frustration and anger. She has good reason to be frustrated and angry! But she doesn’t need me to give her permission to feel that way. What she does need is to see that whenever we are facing something in life that is terrible, we can change it, and if that doesn’t work, we can just give into the understandable reaction of terrible frustration and anger. She apparently can’t change her husband’s behavior—if she could, why hasn’t she? And so she’s left with debilitating frustration and overwhelming anger.  But that doesn’t do anything to the cause of the frustration and anger, it just adds onto the terrible pain she is feeling. We end up feeling like everything will burst. In the meantime, there, of course, is none of the understanding or caring that perhaps once was. And that leaves us with a third option—to change what we can, to accept that which we can’t change (as terrible as it might be), and to move forward with making life the best it can be. That is the always the most difficult but best solution. In this woman’s case, it means stopping the terrible fighting (it isn’t changing anything) and deciding that she just needs to overlook the irresponsible behavior of her husband and focus, instead, on rebuilding whatever she can of their marriage. Yes he will probably have a medical emergency or, God forbid, death. But that will happen either way. She, though, has a choice:  to be embroiled in anger, or to somehow salvage what she can of her marriage. I hope she has the strength and courage to choose the latter.

Dr. Mordechai Glick

To the Editor:

The title of Rabbi Perry Tirschwell’s editorial “The Mormons Are Our Friends,” is a conclusion. Comparable editorials could be written entitled “The Pope Is Our Friend,” “The Southern Baptists Are Our Friends,” etc.

Mormonism is one of the religions that believe they are the only true religion. It is their belief that only Mormons reside in (Celestial) Heaven. Toward that end, they have a very aggressive program of proselytizing to convince people to convert to their true faith so these converts can go to Heaven after death. What is unusual about their religion is they also proselytize the dead. This came to light to the Jewish community in the early 1990s when it was discovered that the Church posthumously baptized hundreds of thousands of Holocaust victims, thus permitting these Jews to live in heaven with fellow Mormons. Mormons believe that those Holocaust victims who did not have the baptism performed for them do not live in the presence of God, that is, they do not live in heaven.

An agreement was signed in 1995 between the Mormon Church and leaders of the Jewish community that they would stop this practice. The Church never honored the agreement. This is understandable. Posthumous baptism is one of their core beliefs, and asking them to change this belief is comparable to getting Jews to give up kashruth. Instead the Church has made their religious ritual information a password-protected database inaccessible to outsiders. In other words, it is very difficult to prove they are still posthumously baptizing Jews.

Mormons are lovely people, and yes, many of their practices and values are comparable to Judaism. But never forget their religious institution, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is committed to converting all Jews, both living and dead, to their faith.

Gary Mokotoff

To the Editor:

As the Days of Awe, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are upon us, we pray  God should forgive us for a long list of sins, among that list is:  “And for the sin wherein we have sinned before thee wittingly and unwittingly.”  In other words, we are obligated to find out what is actually going on, what is the truth.  We are also asking forgiveness for “the sin wherein we have sinned before thee by scoffing (Latzon.)”

In the article that appeared in your August 22, 2013 issue entitled, “Groups Gift Garrett With ‘Climate Change Denier’ Award,” I agree with Congressman Scott Garrett, “the evidence (for man-made global warming – the question is still out there.”  The following links to two articles–“Crime Inc.: What ‘Greening of America’ Means” and the Forbes article, “Climategate II: More Smoking Guns From The Global Warming Establishment,” will provide you with some important information on this subject, so that you will make an informed decision and not err “unwittingly.”   http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/40154/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/larrybell/2011/11/29/climategate-ii-more-smoking-guns-from-the-global-warming-establishment/

These articles consist of about six pages.  For the sake of brevity, I will include two paragraphs from the Forbes article.

“As if the first round of e-mails purloined from the U.K.’s East Anglia University Climate Research Unit (CRU) network weren’t damning enough, the new batch of about 5,000 more obtained through an anonymous source identified as “FOIA” are truly stunning. Many clearly confirm that top IPCC scientists consciously misrepresented and actively withheld important information…then attempted to prevent discovery. Included are CRU’s Director of Research, Phil Jones, the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) climate’s analysis section head, Kevin Trenberth; and beleaguered Penn State University “hockey stick” originator, Michael Mann.

‘If there were any doubts remaining after reading the first Climategate e-mails, the new batch of e-mails that appeared on the web today [November 22, 2011] make it clear that the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is an organized conspiracy dedicated to tricking the world into believing that global warming is a crisis that requires a drastic response,’ said Myron Ebell, Director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center on Energy and Environment. ‘Several of the new e-mails show that the scientists involved in doctoring the IPCC reports are very aware that the energy-rationing policies that their junk science is meant to support would cost trillions of dollars.’ ”

Congressman Garrett is ridiculed and mocked here by being given a “unicorn fashioned award” for his views on global warming.  Anyone who disagrees with man-made global warming. is mocked, ridiculed, vilified and destroyed.   In fact, anyone who disagrees in general with this administration in Washington, D.C., is mocked, ridiculed, vilified and destroyed

“The Jewish Link” should not include articles that mock (here one of the few good men, a mensch, in Congress) based on incomplete knowledge.

May we merit to be inscribed in the Book of Life.  Shanah Tovah all.

Sincerely,
Name Withheld on Request