MY DAUGHTER, MYSELF

A mother recounts her bipolar daughter’s experience at Eitanim Psychiatric Hospital – and her own ultimately triumphant struggle to cope

HEALTHY BRAIN

Writer Liane Grunberg exhibited courage in sharing her heart-rending story on behalf of her precious daughter (“Inside Eitanim Psychiatric Hospital,” October 12). There have been major breakthroughs on curing and preventing mental diseases, of which the West is suffering in epidemic proportions.

Dr. Mark Hyman, in his “Broken Brain” research, presents his personal suffering with memory loss, and worse, at a young age. The modern approach does not get to the root cause, and sometimes it makes matters worse. In his Internet-accessible docu-series, he features the root cause of brain disease and explains how to restore brain health. You will be surprised to learn that brain health does not exactly begin in the brain.

Blessings for good health; it is in our hands. KAREN DUB Jerusalem

My congratulations to Liane Grunberg for writing her candid article in the hope that it will aid in reducing the stigma of mental illness among your readers.

My best wishes to her and her daughter in their struggle to cope.

When King David was confronted by Natan over his misbehavior, he did not deny nor equivocate. He did not demand, ‘How many beers do you like to drink, prophet?’

RACHEL P. COHEN Jerusalem

NOT BY CHANCE ALONE

Brian Blum (Observations, October 12) compares religion to complementary medicine. He says that both may be fine since they provide emotional support and placebo effect in times of trouble/illness. However, there is a very important difference between religion and complementary medicine.

Although neither can be proven scientifically, there are other types of evidence that support the truth of religious belief that complementary medicine lacks. General belief in God is supported by the wonders of nature – i.e., it is highly unlikely that a living, thinking, feeling human being exists by chance alone. The specific belief in Judaism is supported by our Torah transmitted from father to son and mother to daughter over the generations.

Complementary medicine (with rare exceptions) has no evidence (scientific or other) supporting its use. Why, then, waste time and money on such treatments? Wouldn’t it make more sense to rely on scientifically proven treatments and religious belief to get through hard times?

DANIEL KAUFMAN

Petah Tikva

JUDGE THYSELF

Rabbi Stewart Weiss’s comparison of King David to Brett Kavanaugh is false (Observations, “When #MeToo meets the Torah,” October 12). When the former was confronted by Natan over his misbehavior, he did not deny or equivocate. He did not demand, “How many beers do you like to drink, prophet?” He said, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Judaism teaches not only that everybody sins, but that people can and should repent. Would that the new Supreme Court justice had the character to judge himself before assuming the power to judge others. JONATHAN MISHKIN

Alon Shvut

CREEPING CREATURES

I would like to commend Rabbi Weiss on his refreshingly forthright, bold and candid column. As he correctly states, “If Judaism teaches us anything, it is that no one is indelibly stained with sin; no one is rendered forever crippled by a rash or foolish act,” especially if done in his teens. If this were not true, there would not be sufficient candidates to be members of the Knesset, or to serve as mayors of cities, judges in civil and religious courts, etc.

My learned son Gershon sent me this interesting excerpt from the Talmud that has relevance to this topic:

Rabbi Yohanan said in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Yehotzadak: We do not appoint a leader over the community unless he has a box of creeping creatures hanging behind him (i.e., his family is genealogically flawed), so that if he becomes arrogant we can say to him: “Turn around and see what is behind you!’’ SEYMOUR HOFFMAN

Rehovot

OUTSPOKEN FRIEND ACROSS THE WATER

Once again we see in Prof. Amy Kaplan’s latest book the Left’s distorted views of Israel, but especially in respect of its association with the US (Books, “Shared interests?” October 12).

This latest diatribe is primarily hostile criticism of US President Donald Trump and his administration’s vocal as well as active support of Israel, especially when defending Israel’s position in many political arenas, as ably demonstrated by the tell-it-like-it-is Nikki Haley.

There is no doubt that a strong Israel has lost, for certain sections (maybe the majority) of American Jews, the Hollywood glamour of a David, taking on all comers and fostering sympathetic world opinion.

However, times change, as those who live in this volatile area of the Middle East know – and some unfortunately to their cost certainly do – that a strong Israel with an outspoken friend across the water is an image worth preserving and a relationship to cherish while it lasts.

STEPHEN VISHNICK

Tel Aviv

PC ABSURDITY

Avraham Avi-Hai’s latest piece, “Pity (not) the poor pundit” (September 28), really tells it like it is. In his humorous but serious way, he shows the absurdity of today’s PC world. Pundits should read this and internalize his message.

ALAN JACOBS Beverly Hills and Efrat