אות-ז

Many have stumbled and fallen when they arrived close to the completion of their wholeness — for there were those who were already near the threshold of holiness and could easily have entered into holiness completely, yet they turned back. For at that moment obstacles and confusions spread over them to such a degree that it seemed to them impossible to stand against them — and all this is because of what was mentioned above. And the essential remedy and advice for this is engagement in Torah. A person must be very strong in this not to become lax in words of Torah, G-d forbid, in whatever passes over him. And then through whatever passes over him he will be able to prevail through the Torah, for all the tikunim and clarifications of holiness from beginning to end are all only through the Torah. (ibid., Ois 38) The distancing is the beginning of the drawing close — that is, when a person wants to draw close to Hashem, most often judgments and sufferings and many powerful obstacles come upon him, and it seems to him as though they are distancing him. But all of this is for good, for the sake of drawing close. And he must strengthen and fortify and strive and withstand this trial, so as not to distance himself, G-d forbid, through the sufferings and obstacles and the distancing. Let him not err about himself and say that they are distancing him, G-d forbid — rather, let him know and believe that everything that passes over him is all for his good, so that he will prevail to draw closer — for the distancing is only for the sake of the drawing close. (ibid., Ois 74)