מוסר אויף איוב 1:1

The nineteenth principle is leaving the sin when it chances upon him and he is still at the height of his desire. And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Yoma 86b), "Who is the penitent whose repentance reaches the Throne of Glory? When he is tested and comes out clean at the same time in the same place and with the same woman." [This is] meaning to say, when the sin avails itself to him, he is at the height of his impulse and his might is in the muscles of his belly like the first moment when he sinned; but he conquered his impulse and escaped from the iniquity due to his fear of God and the greatness of his fright. But for the one to whom it has not availed itself in this manner, he should augment his fear of God on a daily basis all of his days. And when he has reinvigorated the strength of his fear enough to conquer his impulse with this strength and his power over the power of the desire - does not the Examiner of hearts understand and the Fashioner of his soul know that if a test would come to him and it be like the first [situation], that he would save himself from his impulse? So behold that in front of God he is on the highest level of repentance. And that which King Solomon, peace be upon him, said (Proverbs 16:6), "Iniquity is atoned by kindness and truth; and evil is shunned through fear of the Lord" - its explanation is, and with fear of the Lord, to shun evil if it should chance upon him. And the word, shun, is an infinitive [here]; and the confirmation of this explanation is that it does not say, and shun (which would make shun a command). And that which is stated (Psalms 34:15), "Shun evil and do good"; [and] (Job 1:8), "who fears God and shuns evil" - its sense is that he should shun evil if it should chance upon him. For they do not say, shun the deed, but rather [shun] that which he comes close to doing. And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Kiddushin 39b), "If one sits and does not transgress, he receives a reward as one who performs a commandment [...] - it is speaking of a case where an opportunity to commit a sinful act presents itself to him and he is saved from it."

And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Yoma 87a), “One who angers his friend, verbally must appease him.” And it is not [even] necessary to say [this] if he spoke evil speech about him, for that is from the [more] severe transgressions. And if his fellow does not forgive him, he is obligated to come to him with a group of three people. And if he does not forgive him [again], he comes in front of him a second time with a different group. And so must he do a third time. And Elihu said (Job 33:27), “He should then assemble (yashor) a row of men, and say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right (yashar), and it was not fitting (shavah) for me.’” The explanation is, I have perverted a just man - from the usage (Job 1:1), “blameless and just man (yashar)” - for I did not see the merit of the just man, but rather made him into one crooked and twisted. But it was not level (shavah) and just for me, from the usage (in Isaiah 28:25), “Is it not if he leveled (shivah) its surface”; [and in] (Genesis 14:17), “to the level (shavah) valley” - [meaning] straight and level. And since he disparaged just ones in front of people, he must humble himself and confess in front of the many. Hence Elihu spoke about this sin in particular, for it is one of the weighty sins that destroys the soul. And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Shabbat 119b), “Anyone who disparages Torah scholars cannot be healed from his wound” - for they profaned the Torah - as it is stated (II Chronicles 36:16), “And they mocked the messengers of God, etc., it could not be healed.”

And in another place in Scripture it is said: "One that feared God" (Job 1:1), and the Sages explained this, to mean that he feared the punishment of Heaven, of Gehenna, and the punishments of this world as well (Sotah 27b and 31a). And this quality is very far from true love for God. For a man should fear the Lord, may He be Blessed, like a man who loves his wife and she loves him and he fears to do anything against her lest he forfeit her love. So is this — and such is the meaning of the word Reshăfihă it's (love's) flames — the flames of the fire of love for the Creator may He be Exalted. Let a person fear to transgress God's commands lest he lose the love of the Creator, may He be Blessed.