Development of Personal Thoughts:
Part 2 – Importance of Writing Down Ideas

Sefer Hachasidim siman 530 comments that anyone who declines to share his Torah thoughts with others, specifically by refusing to write them down, is a thief! Hashem grants us these thoughts as a gift specifically so that we should reveal them to others, and we have no right to withhold these Divine gifts.
In his very first piece of Tzav V’ziruz, the Piacetzner Rebbi states that it’s specifically through the written record of our avodas Hashem and its impact on others do we gain the ability to survive for generations, even after we pass away from this ephemeral olam hazeh. It’s a foothold on this world, a permanent lease on physical existence. As other people “ingest” our thoughts and experiences and develop because of them, we in turn continue to exist in this world. When a Jew quotes a deceased’s talmid chacham’s idea, the chacham’s lips flutter in the grave (Yavamos). His ideas are alive, they are relevant. It’s a tchiyas hameisim.
The Netziv (Introduction to Haemek Davar, section 4) writes that just like when non-Jews discover various of physical creation, they are actually involved in revealing kvod Elokim, so too when a Jew is mechadesh in Torah, he too is involved in such a revelation. The Netziv writes that this obligation involves the mitzvah “lishmor laasos”, the obligation to reveal all of the possible chiddushim that lie hidden in the Torah.
But what ideas should we write? Some ideas are dangerous, and possess no redeeming value. Rav Kook insists that the only tikkun for these ideas is their destruction. Other ideas are often undeveloped, admixed with falsehoods of the dimyon. They are like an unripe fruit whose taste is undesirable until it reaches its final and perfected form. Are we such baalei gaava enough to suggest that our written thoughts are those Divine gifts mentioned in Sefer Hachasidim? The Kotzker writes that not everything that one thinks should one say, and not everything that one says should one record for posterity.
“Then there are those who delight in speaking publicly, relishing the opportunity to spew forth their idiocies, torturing their listeners with their vanities....It was to this that our Sages were referring when they said ‘Every proud man is a fool’.” (Cheshbon Hanefesh, Anava).
How do we know when to write down our thoughts? How do we know if the idea is a true gilui nefesh and not gilui of dimyon? We must daven daily for seyata dishmaya not to stray from derech haemmes. Hashem protects those who walk with Him in tmimus. Such giants as the Chovos Halevavos (introduction) and Rav Kook (introduction to Orot Hatshuvah) doubted whether they should embark on a journey of communicating their ideas to others through written works. Certainly we, the ezovei kir should greatly doubt the value of our written word.
It’s a question that we must confront with koved rosh. Nevertheless, fear must not prevent our development. Ruach Chayim instructs us to wrestle with the words of the Gdolei Yisroel (“havei mis’abek”) but remember the great gap between yourself and those Sages (“b’afar ragleihem”). Coupled with a great deal of humility, yir’as shomayim, and hisbatlus to Hashem - we must learn, we must think, and we must write. Not to gain fame, certainly not to perpetuate cynicism and machlokes, but to fulfill our Divine obligation.