Why I'm Writing

A number of friends have asked why I'm suddenly writing again after a long hiatus, and it's a fair question, deserving of an explanation.

I should first note that I love to write, read, and edit. One of my first favorite regular pieces, beginning I believe while I was still in high school, was James Taranto's "Best of the Web Today" from the Wall Street Journal site. (As an aside, what's particularly astounding is how good it is on a regular basis, even after 10+ years - if you don't hate politics, I highly recommend it. You can receive it via e-mail every weekday, and it's no more than a 5-minute read.) In college, my English literature professor felt that while my essays were excellent, I would "never be a great writer" and that my writing was best suited for editorials and the like - but not for "real" writing. In 2005, about a year after Serach and I got married, this blog began on a whim at 3am after a friend showed me some funny clips on the "website" of his friend. A few months later, thanks to SoccerDad and Shoshana, I found the J-blogosphere and went on from there. In November of that year, I wrote an article that was ironically published in the Wall Street Journal as its lead online editorial. Looking back, the essay was good, though the predictions sadly turned out not to happen almost at all like I had hoped; and my reaction was cringe-worthy, looking back on it.

From its humble beginnings, this blog grew slowly and steadily, and it would be fair to say this blog has had a wonderful impact on our lives (except financially :-P ). I've enjoyed the discussions with near everyone who's ever commented here, whether they agree with what I write or not, and it's been a wonderful outlet and also source of information. I've learned an incredible amount from the people who've read, commented, and posted here and on other blogs that I read. Perhaps more importantly, the writings here have led to other opportunities in my life that simply could not have occurred otherwise, and most importantly, this blog has led to meeting and becoming closer with countless people, including some who we would count among our closest friends.

All of the above reasons alone would be reasons to have come back and started writing again, and have been a large part of why I've started writing again. But there's also an added impetus to write now that did not exist two years ago, when my writing started to slow. Some readers and friends are aware of what's happened the past couple of years in our lives; some are not. I am not writing to write "that" story, which I don't believe will help anyone or accomplish anything, though some relevant details may be included in what I do write. I am, however, interested in writing about various side effects of that story, how they impacted us and others, and how those could have possibly been prevented to some extent by others, including members of the Orthodox community. Perhaps more specifically, I aim to discuss an attitude I found from countless people about either this story or other stories and occurrences which whitewashes what I believe to be a major issue. That series is the "Honesty & the Jewish Community" series which I began a couple weeks ago and will be continuing slowly (for a variety of reasons) over the coming months. I also am presenting numerous aspects to that story specifically because there are countless types of individuals, and it's important to highlight those who epitomize both the good, the bad, and those in between when it comes to these ideas.

Partly for that series, primarily because I love writing and all the other reasons listed above, and of course simply because I have the time, I am back to writing again. I hope this explains why, and I sincerely hope that people enjoy, discuss, and take part, while I also hope and pray that some of the ideas and points that will be discussed can positively impact how people act, interact, and deal with issues that face us as a community.

Thank you for reading, commenting, and discussing.