February 19, 2012, Vol. 13, No. 8, Nu? What's New?, The E-zine of Jewish Genealogy From Avotaynu, Mormon/Jewish Controversy: The Problem That Won't Go Away; Wiesenthal and Wiesel Names in Mormon Records Receive Worldwide Publicity, by Gary Mokotoff,

February 19, 2012, Vol. 13, No. 8, Nu? What's New?, The E-zine of Jewish Genealogy From Avotaynu, Mormon/Jewish Controversy: The Problem That Won't Go Away; Wiesenthal and Wiesel Names in Mormon Records Receive Worldwide Publicity, by Gary Mokotoff, Editor, 

Every government puts value on preserving its history. That is why we have national archives. Genealogy preserves history; the history of a family. It cannot be done without access to records, just as historians cannot preserve a nation's history without access to records. It is a greater good than the right to privacy. It is a greater good than the risk of identity theft.

The posthumous baptism of Simon Wiesenthal’s parents and the inclusion of Elie Wiesel in the Mormon religious database went viral last week with CNN, Reuters and the Associated Press reporting the controversy. Many news organizations gave their own slant to the story. The Mormon Church apologized for the Wiesenthal baptisms. A Church spokesman claimed the Wiesel records were part of a genealogical database not their religious database which is untrue. Wiesel, his father and maternal grandfather were part of the religious database which is only accessible through an individual password supplied by the Church. It can be plainly seen athttp://www.avotaynu.com/nu/Baptisms.htm that LDS ordinances were planned for the Wiesel family.

There is a magnificent cartoon done by the Salt Lake City Tribune cartoonist, Pat Bagley, at http://tinyurl.com/7fprckz.

Will these recent events have any long-term effect? Hopefully the Mormon Elders will rethink the idea that it is their First Amendment right to involve other people’s families in their religion. Hopefully, these overzealous Mormons, who submit names for baptism in violation of Church rules, will realize they will get caught and have their privilege to submit names revoked by the Church.