It is good for a person to arrange his own matters and write down clearly all the money that he owes other people and that other people owe him. He should write with full force to his inheritors that they should fulfil everything found written in his notebook, and that they should repay his debts without any claim or complaint so that his soul may rest in peace.
He should divide his possessions between his sons in a fair way so that there will be no jealousy between them and he will not leave any argument or dispute behind him. He should command them that there should be love, brotherhood, peace and friendship between them, and that each man should help his brother. He should command his sons and household like this according to their own characteristics and according to the needs of the time, and a wise man will listen and add extra.
Behold, in the way that Chazal said “Repent a day before you die; repent today in case you die tomorrow!”, so too is this thing that a person should not refrain from writing a will as a person does not know his appointed time and one must always worry that maybe-G-d forbid- his time will come suddenly and he might die unexpectedly at a very young age and even if he becomes ill first maybe he will lose consciousness in his illness and lose the power to talk and also at the time when he is ill he will worry about writing a will and will not want to scare his family members by doing so, and as a general rule at that time his mind is confused and he unable to focus properly. It follows that the correct way is that when he is still young and healthy he should write his will and command his inheritors to fulfil it with all the force he can. Each day he can add or remove pieces from this will according to his decisions.
When he divides his assets, if he sees that Hashem has given him a lot, he should not leave all of his wealth to other people. Instead, he should take the first portion for himself to set up a permanent fund in the trusteeship of a trustworthy person and the profits should go to charity. In this way even after his death “tasty tidbits” will be sent to his soul in the world to come. This is the correct way which brings glory to its performers and is glorious for him amongst people.
It is correct for every person to worry about and fulfil the will of Rabbi Yehudah Hechassid as its contents are ancient and one who knows about them and transgresses them has sinned with his soul and one who listens to him guards his soul.
