Hi everyone, and welcome to my blog! Though I've written other articles for Chabad.org, I'm very excited about this new venue. We'll try for a casual and informal approach; with a focus on conversation and dialogue.

About this blog:

It's very easy for a news blog moderated by a person holding religious, morally-conservative views to degenerate into a diatribe against the state of our society, and particularly the stories that the news media chooses to highlight: "Hey, did you see on the news what that actor/singer/model/sports player (fill in the name du jour here) did?! Look how morally bankrupt our society is! If only more people would accept the wholesome lifestyle advocated by the Torah!"

While this is true – and this is a helpful attitude for a religious person suffering from an inferiority complex – this blog will take a very different approach. We will look for the positive lesson inherent in every news story. The down side: we might not get our acquaintances to despise us for our holier-than-thou airs. The up side: training ourselves to use everything we see or hear about to enhance our service of G‑d and our interpersonal relationships.

G‑d didn't create this world because He takes masochistic pleasure in watching a world descend into anarchy and godlessness. To the contrary, He envisioned a world whose inhabitants steadily improve themselves and their habitat. And if this is what He desired, it's clear that this is what's happening: the world is becoming better and holier. Let's not be fooled by external trappings, let us look and see where and how the world is improving. Let us use these improvements as lessons in our personal lives.

This isn't an easy task. I'm really hoping that you all will help me out!