Your headline, “The Mystery Of The Missing Stained Glass Windows” (April 3) is misleading, as there is no mystery of the windows at all. They are being put to good use rather than having been demolished as was their destiny. The only mystery is why Mr. [Melvyn] Freid believes he has any rights to the windows himself to assert a claim.
The only value these windows had was to a congregation with building plans. By 2006, the assets of the congregation [Beth Israel of Mahanoy, Pa.] had been sold and the windows and pews remained without any offers having been received, despite their “fair market value.” This sounds very much like a man traumatized by the embarrassment of not being aware that his parents’ plots were not being cared for and feeling obligated to pay out of pocket to mow the lawn for his cousin’s occasional visits, now that the society responsible for its care is bereft of assets.
It is certainly unfortunate that the Jewish cemetery is in disrepair, but that is not the result of any act by Phil Brill or Eitz Chayim [the Dogwood Park synagogue on Long Island’s South Shore, where Mr. Brill is an officer]. Rather, that was an inevitability unrelated to the windows. Phil Brill performed an act of kindness, not only to the families of those who dedicated and donated the windows to be used to spiritually uplift the prayers of a congregation and to the former members of the Beth Israel congregation. Phil Brill performed an act of kindness to the windows themselves.
