What a wonderful thing is the ability to write. It is an obligation for a father to teach his son to write, for without this ability a person would be unable to achieve anything, whether in spiritual or material matters. One who pays no attention to the lessons and does not learn how to write properly, will be covered in embarrassment and shame. How good and pleasant is it for a person to be able to personally fulfil the obligation to write a Torah scroll. One who is considered to be a Torah scholar is obligated to teach himself and get himself used to writing in the Holy Tongue fluently and colloquially, with the correct expressions for each thing, for one can recognize a Torah scholar from the way that he writes, and if he would write with slang and mistake-filled expressions, he will be a joke and figure of fun. It follows that the complete man, who wants to acquire perfection, will be aware of this as well. The good consequences of writing are too many to count; fortunate is the man who achieves them.
If Hashem has favored someone to be one of the men who can sit and study the Torah, how good is it if he notes down every new idea, be it big or small. He should not be lazy, for Chazal said that a person will be punished for not having committed to writing all the novella that Hashem revealed to him. They said further, that one who writes down his novella in Torah, will have the merit of having offered offerings on the altar. There will then come a time when his lips will murmur in the grave, and his soul will be satisfied with sharpness.
If Hashem has favored someone with the ability to use to rebuke people in an effective way, he should write a book of ethical rebukes and lists of relevant laws or other such things, and even if it helps only one man in a thousand, he is fortunate and his lot is fortunate, for it would have been enough if he would have come to this world only for this.
