Musar do Hioba 38:3

Everyone who comes to worship God and to receive upon himself the yoke of fear of Him in truth, must first have a book which contains the reminder of the wonders of the Creator, blessed be He, the fear of Him and the might of Him, and this book should also contain those matters which bring to mind the punishment of the wicked by the Creator, blessed be He, His miracles to the righteous, and the story of His mighty and awesome deeds. As, for example, when God speaks to Job and says (38:3), “Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee and declare thou unto me,” and all the verses which follow. He should return again and again to this book, and strengthen his will with an oath to read it once a week, quietly and with concentration. He should pay close attention to all the matters contained in it, for it will be as tefillin between his eyes. It is necessary that the worshipper, before he draws near to serve God, should completely repent of all the sins which he has committed, and then his service will be true, for the service of God is divided into two parts. The first is that a man should cleanse his heart of all its transgressions and of the willful sins he has committed. And that he improve his faith and that his heart should be pure of all the dross of sins which were committed, and when he is clean and when he washes in clear water and is cleansed, then let him put on the garments of holiness to serve in holiness, and then he will be able to walk in the paths of the pious and to draw near to God. This is the second part of the objectives of worship which no man can attain until he attains the first part. Now I will discuss each one of them.