Dear readers,

Is the Internet something positive or negative? How about sleep? Sugar? Exercise? Work? Intimacy? Marijuana? Marriage? Divorce?

Nothing in life is simple. A thinking individual would respond with a healthy, noncommittal “it depends.”

Marriage can be great—to the right individual. Divorce can be necessary—in certain circumstances. Sugar can be good in moderation. Marijuana administered to ease pain can vastly improve the quality of life of an ill individual.

So, most things can be either positive or negative, depending on the circumstances and on how they are channeled.

We are approaching the special holiday of Shavuot, when we receive the Torah and “G‑d spoke all these words” (Shemot 20:1).

When “G‑d descended upon the mountain,” we were given the ability to join heaven with earth. Every individual was empowered to be G‑d’s agent to raise up our lowly, physical reality and make it holy and transcendental.

The communication that the Jewish people heard at Mount Sinai was unique in that it had no echo (Shemot Rabbah 28:5).

When a voice reaches a wall, it rebounds, producing an echo. But the Torah given at Mount Sinai was so powerful that it penetrated and permeated every person and every part of the universe.

Since there is no place where Torah is not applicable, the result was an echoless experience. There is no darkness that the Torah cannot illuminate; nothing can block it and cause it to bounce away.

“Everything that G‑d created in His world, He did not create but for His glory” (Ethics 6:11). Every creation can be used and channeled for a divine intent. We bring out the purpose of forbidden things—like non-kosher foods or relationships—by refraining from them. But most things (or forces) belong in the realm of the neutral, and we can reveal their essential reason for existence by directing them for a positive, G‑dly goal.

So, back to the original question—is the Internet positive or negative? Obviously, there’s lots of stuff on the Internet that we need to stay far away from. But it is also a force that can be harnessed for great positivity.

Here at www.TheJewishWoman.org, we try to unleash the Internet’s greatest power by using it to spread the Torah’s wisdom.

In this light, we’ve also recently updated and improved our Facebook page. I’d like to personally invite you to check out our Facebook page. Friend us! Comment on our articles! Like us and share our content with other women who would gain from the inspiration.

Because we believe that each and every one of us has the power of replicating that echoless experience, and bringing the wisdom of the Torah—unobstructed—to the four corners of the earth.

Please join us with our goal!

Chana Weisberg,
Editor, TJW