Chasidut su Deuteronomio 18:13

But it is known that everything depends on Arousal from Below, which is the aspect of Feminine Water like the Desire of the Feminine for the Masculine. And we, the Nation of the Children of Israel, have the aspect of Feminine with respect to the Holy Blessed One; and when we arouse ourselves to attach to our Blessed Creator from Below to Above, we arouse (as if it were possible) Desire in our Blessed Creator to channel us all Good, selah! And the flow descends from Above to Below with abundance and blessing and compassion and life and peace. So we, the Assembly of Israel, along with the Holy Blessed One are a single complete entity, when we are attached to Blessed God. And one without the other (as if it were possible) is not called “complete,” as in the statement “The Name is not complete nor is the Throne complete” (Tanhuma, Ki Tetze 11). For we are called the Blessed Creator’s Throne, since (as if it were possible) without us the Blessed Creator is not called “complete” and obviously without Blessed God we [are not called “complete”]. Only when we first arouse the Feminine Waters, meaning our Desire from Below to Above to attach to Blessed God, through this we arouse Blessed God’s Desire from Above to Below. And then, when the two Desires come together then it is one complete entity. And this is the meaning of the verse You shall be complete with Adonai your God (Deut. 18:13), which is to say you with Blessed God are called a complete entity. And so the essence of Creation was on this condition, that we would walk to Blessed God by way of Arousal from Below initially. And if not, God forbid, meaning when we do not arouse ourselves through Arousal from Below and need Blessed God to arouse us from Above, then we have done nothing. And so regarding Noah there was no Arousal from Below, [and Noah was saved] only because Blessed God wanted the preservation of the world, which would be preserved through Noah. Therefore Blessed Good needed to arouse him from Above, and needed to channel onto Noah the Desire to attach to Blessed God. And this is [what Rashi meant by] “Noah needed assistance to support him.” But Abraham our Ancestor, peace be upon him, “strengthened himself with his righteousness and walked independently” through Arousal from Below. And now it makes sense that [Noah] was called completely righteous, since he was attached to Blessed God but not through Arousal from Below; and therefore it is written, These are the records of the skies and the earth in their creation [be-hibar’am] (Gen. 2:4), the letters of “Abraham” – meaning, as we have explained, that the Essence of Creation is through this: that the way of walking is like the walk of Abraham our Ancestor, peace be upon him, through Arousal from Below as we have explained.

Deuteronomy 18,13. “you shall be wholehearted with ‎the Lord your G’d.” [It appears to this editor that ‎our author was bothered by the position of this verse in the ‎middle of the chapter instead of either at the end or at the ‎beginning. Ed.] According to our author, Moses’ demand ‎for wholeheartedness of the Jewish people, G’d’s children, in their ‎faith in their G’d, is based on seeing that they are G’d’s “children,” ‎and a father always tries to provide for his children, they ‎naturally also look to G’d for their sustenance.; however, unless ‎they do so in absolute faith in Hashem, the Torah does not ‎promise that their hopes will be fulfilled. The only condition is to ‎be and to remain ‎עם ה' אלוקיך‎ “with the Lord your G’d.‎

“Be honest, (simple, and whole-hearted) with Hashem, your God.”²⁷⁷Devarim, 18:13 This is a positive commandment which includes almost every service offered to the Omnipresent. There are so many distractions to a pure avodah.²⁷⁸Everything from a noisy neighbor, to world events, from a veiled insult to traumatic humiliation, from a phone bill to bankruptcy, (God forbid it and protect us) removes us from the goal of a pure, honest avodah. Of course, just as harmful are ulterior motives, such as desires for admiration, affection, money, and honor. Keeping the goal of a pure avodah requires constant attention. In Hebrew, such distractions, both external and internal, are called, “p’niyot” (or “pniyah” in the singular.)²⁷⁹“ponei” in Hebrew means to turn. Turning from the truth in any form is called, “pniyos.” We have translated it as “distractions.” For example, if you are reading the paper, and you hear a glass breaking, you will likely turn from the paper and look in the direction of the noise. A pniyah is kind of hidden agenda. If someone is paying you to learn, daven, or do any mitzvah, you may similarly feel a distraction, especially if you are not so involved in your work. If, however, you are receiving a stipend in collel (or yeshiva) and you are putting your heart and soul into your avodah, you will inevitably feel less distracted. It is quite common that a man’s feelings for others will compromise his avodah. Clearly, some people find distractions a greater obstacle than others. Everywhere the distracted type goes in the ways of avodah he is chased by distracting thoughts both concerning opponents and loved ones.²⁸⁰Who is distracting? The distraction could come anyone, ranging from a clerk giving them grief to a close relative causing them pain, from a friend you are playing tennis with, to a woman you are considering marrying. You are standing in shul, davening, and your mind seizes upon the annoyance of a late delivery, or the way your friend insulted you in the hallway. You could be cooking for Shabbos and thinking, am I doing this because I love God and Shabbos, or just in order to garner approval from friends and family. The reasons other people distract him so easily is simple. His love and fear of God is not as strong as his love and fear for his fellow man. This makes it easier for worthless thoughts in general and ulterior motives in particular to find their way into his mind and soak into his feelings. A less distracted type who is more in love with God and trembles with greater awe before His awesome power and judgment is well protected against the harassment of back-stabbers or any form of social ambush that falls upon him. A worthless thought will find it much more difficult to push its way into his mind. His mind is well fortified, and an enemy thought will not find it easy to break in and push away his good desires and thoughts for the sake of heaven in the efforts to transform the man’s avodah into one that panders to other people’s approval or praises.