"One man's folly is often another man's wife." (Helen Rowland)

.....Perhaps Alan Levine (former student), doesn't remember and would like to--Ellin Bliss Jaeger wrote the following comment--to his attention in a previous blog; "Reminiscences", I believe:

Ellin Bliss Jaeger said:
.....You certainly entertained us, that and your love for literature and your deep understanding of the material is what (I think) made you the teacher we all remember and still revere.
.....I remember Alan Levine - and where he lived, but would doubt he remembers our car pool to Sunday School (where?) his Dad was a Doctor too.
.....I love G&S. They used to produce the plays at the old Sea Cliff Summer Theater that burned down the night of our Junior Prom.........
.....2 glasses raised and 4 "cups of wine".... to the Doc

.....Well, now, let's get on with it. I've been amused and fascinated in the past few weeks and months--and no doubt, years, with the stories of adultery I read about in the media. Webster defines "adultery" as the sexual unfaithfulness of a married person. Doesn't mention the sexes, but the media pays most attention to married males, the likes of which are Eliot Spitzer of New York, Mark Foley the Congressional groper, former President Clinton, South Carolina Governor, Mark Sanford, Nevada's Senator John Ensign, Senator John Edwards, and the most skillful adulterer, Tiger Woods. At first glance, it appears that only the rich and powerful are subject to dalliance, but that is not the case. Adultery goes back over 2000 years when the Greeks worshipped Zeus (or Roman, Jupiter), who is represented as falling in love with one woman after another and descending to all manner of tricks to hide his infidelity from his wife. So, adultery is as old as the institution of marriage, and exists throughout the Bible as well.. Adultery is the most widely condemned of the sexual sins; it is mentioned in the seventh of the Ten Commandments, all four gospels, and ten other books of the Bible. Not that I'm an authority on the Bible--but that's what my mentor, Prof. Myron Herbstman tells me. I do know that David committed adultery with Bathsheba--but God did forgive him because he was contrite. I don't think God will come down to forgive all the other guys I've mentioned.

.....We now go down through the years to the sixteenth century and there is no question that when Shakespeare left Ann Hathaway for London to make his fortune he surely knew several barmaids carnally. And in "Othello" and "The Winter's Tale" the protagonists reach their downfall through the belief in their wives' unfaithfulness. In Hamlet, no doubt Gertrude had an illicit relationship with Claudius, her husband's brother, even before the King's death. As a matter of fact, the theme of adultery has been used in literature down through the ages. Jane Eyre, The Great Gatsby, Madame Bovary, The Scarlet Letter, The Crucible, are only a sample of the many works that have adultery and its consequences as a major theme.

.....So what is society supposed to do about the concept of forgiveness? At one time in history, both the adulterer and adulteress were condemned to death by stoning--if a field with enough stones could be found, of course, no small problem. And according to Prof. Herbstman, it took a whole village to finish the job and probably required a good aim. Should the presidents, governors, senators, mayors, congressman, Republicans, and golfers be required to resign from their positions? Does adultery have anything to do with they way they perform their duties? Hard questions to answer, and no one has come up with a good answer as far as I can tell. But the Baron believes that the spouse--if female, can forgive, and yet divorce the guy, kick him out of the house, and sue for alimony. It's the only way.