In regard to your series "G-d`s Law or Just a Guide," and the story entitled "Unending Journey Through Faith" (Sunday Dec. 15), had Mrs. Asch explored her Jewish heritage, she would have learned that one need not turn to Catholicism for belief in after-life, for that is one of the basic tenets of Judaism. Our sages teach that all our activities in this world are but preparation for the world to come.

As to the death of her child - undeniaby that is a pain that no one can possibly comprehend, but it is hardly realistic to expect that we humans understand the ways of the Divine. Nevertheless, there are some thoughts that might offer comfort to bereaved parents. Our tradition subscribes to the concept of gilgul - transmigration of souls. Sometimes souls have to return to this planet for a brief period of time in order to fulfill their mission. There are many other theological concepts that are too involved for the scope of this letter, and it is unfortunate that the Asches did not have the opportunity to discover and gain healing from them

As for the Asches spiritual mentor who encouraged them to reject the First Commandment and justifies his stance on the basis of his being a post-Holocaust Jew, allow me to say that as a survivor of Bergen Belsen Concentration Camp, I can testify that if not for the direct intervention of G-d, we the Jewish people would not have survived. In those cataclysmic days, as our people were systematically gassed and cast into the crematoria, no one would have believed that we would endure, much less emerge triumphant, build Torah academies which today flourish wherever Jews reside, and return to our ancient land to rebuild it after almost 2,000 years of absence. So yes, we do believe in the first commandment with all that it implies. G-d does control history; He does care about our lives, and even as He brought us forth from Egyptian bondage, so has He brought us forth from the abyss of Auschwitz, Treblinka and Bergen Belsen, and so too shall He bring us forth from the terror that envelops us today.

Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis
Founder and president of Hineni
Author of "The Committed Life" (HarperCollins, 1998)
and "The Committed Marriage" (HarprCollins, to be released in May, 2003)