CHARLES, on 26 July you wrote to me,

Dr. Ghitis (may I call you Jake?):

I was delighted to receive a response from you!! As I stated in my first message, in my opinion, you are obviously a very intelligent man, and your response supported that assessment! Again, I would count it a high privilege to correspond with you regarding the issues that we've touched on in our respective "letters", and would be pleased to answer the questions that you've raised. I'm sure that you, like me, have a limited amount of time to devote to correspondence of this nature, so I propose a series of reasonably short messages that will not unduly burden either of us, but at the same time allow us the opportunity to explore questions/issues of mutual interest.
I would be particularly interested in sharing how I, as an atheist, was compelled to believe in the existence of the G-d and Creator of all that is. Believe me, it was a revelation that shook me to the core!! Now, I fully understand and appreciate that you have no interest in "entering a religious dialogue", and will insofar as it is possible in our communications refrain from such in describing the experiences that led to this profound change in my world view.
I'll conclude this message by responding to your concluding questions.

As a former atheist myself, I would count it a priveledge to share how that former way of life was snatched from me.

PLEASE, ELABORATE.

Jake, I will be very, very pleased to share that with you in future correspondence. You'll probably find it hard to believe, in the extreme, but you may at least find it interesting. I understand that I will probably not hear from you, but I do bid you shalom, and have said a prayer that the G-d of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will reveal Himself to you, as He so graciously did to me!

I AM NOT INTERESTED in ENTERING A RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE, YET IF YOU DO NOT MIND, TELL ME ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE.

Again, in future correspondence. And I will certainly respect your wishes regarding a "religious dialogue".

PLEASE TELL ME ABOUT YOU. I DO NOT UNDERSTAND HOW YOU CAME ACCROSS MY LETTER TO THE JERUSALEM POST.

I don't want to conceal anything about myself from you. I'm an over 50 year old American Christian. I have a heart for Jewish evangelism. I subscribe to the International Edition of the JPost, and also read the JPost online letters. I believe that the "second coming" is very near, and that Israel is central and the key to all that is about to come upon the world. I have a love for Israel and the Jewish people that makes no earthly sense, but I believe is a gift from G-d.
I found the logic in your posted essay on "Godness, Badness and Evil" both interesting, and from a humanistic viewpoint, quite good!! Thanks again for your warm response. I would be very pleased to know a bit more about you, if you don't mind sharing. Shalom, and the very best wishes to you too!

July 27, 1997

Dear Charles:

A few words about myself as per your wish: Born in Cali, Colombia, from parents recently emigrated from Bessarabia. Received a minimal dose of Judaism, which I took as a fact of life. My main interest became historical and I was more interested in Zionism than in Judaism. I believe monotheism was a bad invention.
I learned some of the Torah (and some of the other parts of the Tanach) when I was elected as the Chairman of the Jewish School . But I read it critically. I feel strongly Jewish, even though not believing.
I grew at a time when the word "Jew" was pejorative. Wanting to make it normal, at 13 I was a main founder of the first Jewish weekly of Colombia. At 15 I attempted volunteering to the RIF. At 20 I came as a volunteer to the 1948 War of Independence. I am a Research Professor of Medicine, known mostly for my work on folic acid, including the Folate Binding Protein, which I discovered.

At the end of the Independence War, in which I served as a medic, I was in Beersheva with an American friend who was also a volunteer; he had lost a kidney to the Japanese in 1944 and now his other kidney was very bad. He told me that before dying he wanted to see Sdom. I did not know that this is the Hebrew name for Sodom, which in Spanish I knew as Sodoma. It was an absurd proposition on a Saturday, when military convoys traveled once on Wednesdays. We were sitting by the road waiting for any transport, and I rose to go and drink water from a nearby tap in a construction.
I saw only sand around. After walking a few meters, David shouted at me, and I saw a soldier standing by his side! The soldier asked David if he could translate to Hebrew a message in English that he had to transmit to a certain captain Goldberg: It said: "This is to inform you that a special convoy will be departing for Sdom in one hour." You can imagine my state of mind, especially when the man in charge of communications couldn't understand how we knew about that convoy, since that information had just arrived to him in the radio...
Cutting it short, only the next morning I understood that I was in Sodom! I claim that David (and myself) were visited by an "Angel," and obviously I feel very privileged.