I always greatly appreciate letters from readers

I know I have people who read my words and I am thankful for every one of you. What I do not know and cannot know unless you write to me is how my words are being read and received. That is why the following email so touched my heart. To know that in some small way my heart words have entered another heart fills me with humble joy.

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Dear Rabbi Gellman,

About a year ago, I sent you a question about the origins of faith that you very kindly addressed in your column. At that time, I was an agnostic who been struggling to find faith for quite some time. I thought you might like to know that a lot has changed in the past year. I started attending services at a Methodist church where I was very fortunate to meet three pastors who have given me a warm welcome, and one of whom has spent time talking with me, encouraging me to find my own path to faith through prayer and study. I have now come to a place where faith is growing in me. It is still a fledgling faith, and I don't know if I will ever become a Christian, but I am sure that there is no going back to being an agnostic. Since you and your column were a crucial step in my journey, I wanted to thank you and let you know what a tremendous difference you are making.

May God bless you.

Best regards and many, many thanks,

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Let me urge all of you to take the lesson of these kind words into your own lives. Many of you are trying to urge without forcing, cajole without manipulation someone you love to choose a new path or grasp onto a hope that has eluded them so far in their life. Don't give up. You know my favorite oft told story from Loren Eiseley's, "The Star Thrower" about a young man jogging on a beach after a storm who sees an old man throwing starfish back into the ocean. The young man taunts him, "Old man, there are too many starfish stranded on this beach. You can't save them all before the sun dries them out. What you are doing just does not matter." The old man just bent down, threw another starfish into the safety of the waves and said to the young man, "It mattered to that one."

In this life God has made us all starfish savers. We cannot save them all, but we can bend down and save the next one because it will matter to that one. Please, don't give up hope in this season of hope.

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Thankful for Squirrels

I fully expected some intense blow back for including squirrels in my list of things I am thankful for that are not often mentioned. I thought the anti-squirrel cadre would surely berate me for including a hated pest in my Thanksgiving thanks list. Well, the opposite was the case ...

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From P:

Just want to tell you how much I enjoyed your article on being thankful for squirrels. I can't begin to count how many times I uttered a prayer of thanksgiving for the furry, funny creatures when my beloved Dad was in the nursing home. He had been a farmer all his life, and was always outdoors. Sitting in the nursing home day after day was so hard for him. I kept a filled bird feeder outside his window, and the birds and squirrels brought him so much joy. There was one very large gray squirrel who came every day. He was a real acrobat, and was very entertaining. I think he and Dad had a real connection, and he brought many smiles to us. Now I continue to feed many squirrels at my house, in the feeders that my Dad made me so many years ago. I always remember how much he loved them, and I am still so very thankful.

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Also, many of my squirrel-loving readers corrected my squirrels-have-rabies slander ...

From G in Fredonia NY:

Have you seen this, Rabbi Gellman?

NYS Department of Health

"Squirrels rarely get rabies." Did you make an assumption?

https://www.health.ny.gov/diseases/communicable/rabies/fact_sheet.htm

Thank you for your columns.

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And from C:

Hi there, A little comment is in order regarding squirrels. Your statement "... because many of them are rabid, they are a real health hazard" is in error. Squirrels and other small animals, although capable of carrying rabies, virtually never do, according to the CDC. Check it out.

Oops! Like all bigotry, squirrel bigotry comes from ignorance.

( Send QUESTIONS ONLY to The God Squad via email at godsquadquestion@aol.com.)