Holding Fast to Jewish Dress

Rav Hillel explained that his devotion to keeping his peyos and beard came from a handwritten essay of the tzaddik Rav Pinchas of Koretz that he had seen. In it, Rav Pinchas wrote that adopting non-Jewish styles of dress and appearance is the fiftieth Gate of Impurity. Had the Jews in Egypt fallen one level further, into that gate, they could never have been redeemed. In the times before Moshiach is revealed, Rav Hillel taught, there will be a determined effort to make the Jews change their clothing and appearance, and sadly it will succeed. Only in the merit of those individuals who refuse to change their appearance, even at the risk of their lives, will all the Jews be blessed with the Geulah. He concluded that anyone who held such a manuscript would surely be willing to give up his life for traditional Jewish dress and appearance.