793. Write Them on the Tablet of Your Heart

Raba said, “Although his forefathers bequeathed him a book of Torah, it is a Mitzva [commandment] to write his own, as was said, ‘And you, write this song for yourselves’” (Sanhedrin 21b).

Indeed, we should ask: If his forefathers bequeathed him a book of Torah, why should he write another book of Torah?

We should understand this in ethics. The verse says, “Write them on the tablet of your heart.” But why must we write on the heart? We should understand the meaning of “heart” and “writing.”

“Writing” is black over white. “Blackness” means labor, when one exerts, since labor is called “darkness” and white is called “light of day,” as it is written in Pesachim, “By the light of day.”