Letter 291

Certainly — one who does not at all wish to return to Hashem — and is not aroused at all to think about his end and his eternal purpose — certainly no counsel or stratagem will help him. But one who has a brain in his head — and applies his heart somewhat to what he has done — and what is happening in the world. And how it passes and goes by in sorrow and groaning and pain and anger and aches, etc. And his end is to return to dust — and what will he do on the day of reckoning, etc. Only it seems to him that he can no longer return. For his evil inclination has overpowered him. And the obstacles from the livelihood and from the disputants and the mockers — and from his wife and his children, etc. — have multiplied very greatly. To these — my word drops. To these are our words. And with them we engage to speak in truth and in sincerity. That the essential counsel — is that he believe that the request and the searching themselves — are very, very precious before Hashem Yisburach. Namely — that he sees within himself the immensity of his distance — that he has become so distanced from the holiness of Israel — to such distant places, etc. — called the filthy places. Where it would seem that it is impossible to find His honor Yisburach — in the aspect of "My honor I will not give to another" [Isaiah 42:8]. But even so — he asks and requests and searches: "Where is the place of His glory?" Through this he ascends to the ultimate ascent.

The essential healing is through joy. For joy is needed from the beginning (from the head) to the end. That the moment a person wishes to return — it is a great transgression when he has sadness and melancholy — Heaven forbid. And he must gladden himself every day and every moment — in that he has not been made a gentile, etc. And the essential thing — to seek and to search after the true Rabbi and a true friend. Who will show and teach him the paths and the true counsels — the deep counsels — the paths of teshuvah — how to draw close to Hashem Yisburach. And then certainly he will merit a good end.