Rambam and Seneca: On Writing for Yourself (and God)

Some much needed mussar for myself about the purpose of writing and the creative endeavor.

Universal Truths, Meta AI

If writing on Substack has taught me anything, it’s how easy it is to care about the numbers. When producing any content, it’s alluring to focus on increasing your audience even at the cost of losing what makes it unique and enjoyable. I’ve caught myself falling prey to this mistake, so I’d like to share some thoughts on the subject.

My favorite quote which directly addresses this error is from the Roman philosopher Seneca:

The following is the answer given by someone or other, for it is doubtful who the author was; who when asked what was the object of all the trouble he took over a piece of craftsmanship when it would never reach more than a very few people, replied: “A few is enough for me; so is one; and so is none” (Letter VII).

This unknown speaker faced a problem: he was working on a product designed to be used by others, but hinging his success on his audience would be to evaluate his self-worth by factors outside the self. Sensing that this was both foolish and dangerous, he found a smarter way. Since he values the act of “crafting” itself, the outcome is irrelevant. He is engaging in the good as long as he is involved in his craft, and nobody can change that. While he intends for it to be used by others, that is unrelated to the action’s value. Thus, he is able to both create his product for others while retaining inner control.

A similar idea emerges from the Rambam. He intended for the Mishneh Torah to change the landscape of halacha. Not only would it concisely state the practical law in all areas of halacha, but it was structured to allow for both intensive study and easy application. While the extent to which he seeked to replace the Talmud is subject to debate, what is clear is that his goal in writing the Mishneh Torah was to drastically change the average Jew’s relationship to halacha. In the introduction, he writes that he intended that “the entire Oral Law could be organized in each person’s mouth… so that all the rules should be known to both a child and an adult.”

This is no small task. Even after a decade of rigorous study and writing, his success was not guaranteed. He seems to have fallen prey to the mistake Seneca is addressing: the completion of his mission was dependent on others (namely, the Jewish nation’s embracing the Mishneh Torah). Considering that today it is not the definitive halachic code nor is it used directly for practical application, it seems he failed. The Mishneh Torah has not achieved the status he hoped it would.

That being said, the following letter suggests that Rambam’s goal was not so simple.¹ When a student wrote to him asking for advice about how to respond to the Mishneh Torah’s critics, Rambam had the following to say about why he wrote it:

Know that I did not compose this work to become glorified in Israel or to acquire a name for myself so that I should be grieved at any opposition to the purpose for which I composed it. Rather, I wrote it - as God Himself knows - first for myself, to make it easier to find what I might need, and then for use in my old age, and for the Name of God, may He be exalted. For, as God lives, I have been zealous on behalf of Hashem, God of Israel, seeing a nation lacking a true and comprehensive book of its laws and lacking true and clear opinions; so I did what I did for the sake of God alone… 

And if it turns out that people question my fear of God or what I have done, so be it. And all of this, my son, as God lives, does not distress me, even if I witness it as it is done before my very eyes. Rather, my speech will be calm, and I will be silent or respond on topic. For their neglect of truth is much greater than this. And I will not defend myself, for my self respect and my traits call for me to be silent to fools, not to do verbal combat with them. (Iggeros haRambam (Sheilat ed.), pp.300-304).

Although Rambam had ambitious aspirations for the Mishneh Torah, he is telling us that he refused to evaluate his success based on its reception. He knew that what he did was valuable, regardless of the outcome. In this letter, Rambam appears to contradict himself, stating both that he wrote it “first for myself” and that he did it “for the sake of God alone.” However, these statements may refer to the same objective. His aim was to address the problem of the nation lacking “a true and comprehensive book of its laws and lacking true and clear opinions.” Creating such a book was the best activity for himself - engaging in truth. In doing so, he also acted for God’s sake since he promoted truth.² In other words, acting for the “sake of God” means that he acted for the sake of truth; this was in his best interest and completely in his control. In this regard, he is similar to Seneca’s craftsman. Sensing his work’s success was dependent on others, Rambam instead evaluated his personal success on something he could control - engaging in the work itself, which was valuable no matter what. Thus, even though the Mishneh Torah does not seem to have succeeded in its external goal, it was still a success as far as the Rambam was concerned.

There is one key difference between Rambam’s attitude and Seneca’s: God. Seneca leaves the craft as a selfish endeavor - since working on one’s craft is inherently good, the reaction of others is irrelevant. In contrast, Rambam grounds his writing goals in a larger system of increasing Yedias Hashem (knowledge of God). While he shares Seneca’s focus on factors within one’s control, he defines it within a broader purpose of improving the world through truth. Rambam is not minimizing his responsibility to the nation. On the contrary, he recognized that the best way for him to contribute was to focus on what he could control since that would lead to the best results.

Now for how this applies to myself and this Substack. Although my content is far less important than Rambam’s mission, I too can contribute to a cause far greater than myself through only focusing on doing what I can. From the start, my Substack has been about facilitating my learning and improving my writing. Seneca would tell me to write what benefits me; Rambam would add that I should never lose sight of the system of Torah I am privileged to be part of and contributing towards, and that should guide me in discovering what it is that can best “benefit me.” He’d tell me that the most selfless thing to do, what would benefit others the most, is to think selfishly in this regard. Otherwise, I’ll get dragged down by what others think and end up producing nothing of note for them or myself.

Therefore, I’m going to write what I’m interested in. If I want to write an article comparing Rambam and Seneca’s statements about the purpose of writing instead of finishing my Dvar Torah on Parshas Pinchas, I’m going to do that. If I want to write about Mishlei’s advice on how to commit adultery, I’ll do that as well. And if I want to learn something that won’t directly contribute to an article at all, I’m certainly going to do that. All I can do is act “for the sake of God alone.” If I can keep that as my north star, my Substack will have served its purpose.

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How does this apply to anything in your life? I’d love to hear what you think!

1. Much of the previous analysis of Rambam’s intention in writing the Mishneh Torah was inspired by Maimonides: Life and Thought by Moshe Halbertal, in particular the first chapter. The following excerpt is explained similarly there as well (and I have also stuck fairly closely to his translation), but there are some key differences. To be clear though, this analysis is limited to this letter - he discusses his goals in writing it in many places, and I do not intend to ignore those but rather to focus on what he is teaching us in this letter.

2. This is operating under the assumption, which I’m certain Rambam would agree with, that humans can’t impact God and as such “for the sake of God” can’t mean that he did it to benefit God.