879. Good Writing and Signing

We see that a person does not need to write the letter he wants to write to his friend by himself, whether it is to let him know something or to ask him for something. It is enough if a person signs the letter for it to be considered that it is true and that he is its sender.

It is likewise to the contrary: If a person writes the letter by himself but another person signed his letter, that letter is not evidence that the letter is true, although he recognizes his friend’s handwriting.

In the work of the Creator, writing means black on white. This means that what a person does in Torah and Mitzvot [commandments] means that he engraves it in his heart, meaning that the good deeds that one does are written down.

We want the writing to be for the best, meaning good deeds. Also, the signing is the intention that testifies to the letter itself, meaning that the aim testifies whose Mitzvot he is observing, whether his intention in observing the Mitzvot is for the sake of the Creator or not.

It follows that the writing, meaning the Mitzvot and good deeds, is called “good writing,” namely that it could be the opposite, that he does bad deeds. It follows that first there must be good deeds, which are observance of Torah and Mitzvot in utter simplicity.

Afterward comes the matter of the intention, called “aiming” that everything will be for the sake of the Creator, for without attention, one does not know for whom and for whose purpose he observes Torah and Mitzvot. It is possible that his entire aim is not for the sake of the Creator. This is why we say “Good writing and signing,” meaning that first there must be an act, called “body,” and then an intention, called a “soul.”