Tonight we will continue with the series on tefillah, and we are holding now at the point of Shema Yisrael. Last week, in last shiur, I explained the general concept of Shema Yisrael, of Keriat Shema, as part of the whole process of tefillah. And as we know that tefillah has many stages, and we've been explaining every week a different stage in the tefillah. Again, to make sure that you understand, we're not talking about the halachot of tefillah, we're not talking about the פירוש המילות, the meaning of the words of tefillah, but about the general concept of each section of tefillah as it is explained in Chasidut and in Kabbalah. So last week I explained the general meaning of what Keriat Shema is. What we're going to do now and the next few weeks is try to explain in detail the different sections of Keriat Shema. Today we'll explain the general idea of the first section of Keriat Shema, which is שמע ישראל, ואהבת את ה׳ אלוקיך. And the week after, the next shiur, we'll explain the second parashah of Keriat Shema, which is והיה אם שמוע. And the week after, try to explain the third parashah of Keriat Shema, which deals with the mitzvah of tzitzit. The main theme of the first part of Keriat Shema, after the introduction of שמע ישראל ה׳ אלוקינו ה׳ אחד, Listen, Hear, O Israel, God our God, God is one, are the words ואהבת את ה׳ אלוקיך בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך ובכל מאודך. You shall love your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and I think in English they translate ובכל מאודך with all your might. Is that what they do? Right. I don't know where where they get that where they got that translation, but that's what they translate. Resources, that sounds a little... We'll see, that sounds a little bit better. What I'm going to try to explain today is the meaning of these three types of Ahavat Hashem. Obviously, the pasuk is telling us that there are three three types or three levels in loving Hashem. You can love Hashem בכל לבבך, with all your heart, you can love Hashem בכל נפשך, with all your soul, and you can love Hashem בכל מאודך, say, with all your resources or with everything that you have. And I'll explain it the way Chasidut explains it. I must be honest that to really, really understand the true meaning and the different levels of love, it's almost impossible unless you actually experience it. Intellectual things you could explain. These are ideas that you could understand. But when we talk about emotions, we could explain what an emotion is, too. But when we start digging into the different levels within the same emotion, this, that detail and this detail, it is very hard to really grasp. So what I really will be doing is just explaining what it says in Chasidut, try to explain this to the best of my ability, but really, really in order to understand it, you've got to experience it. They tell a story that the Frierdiker Rebbe once, when he said a maamar, he explained in detail the difference in different levels of Ahavat Hashem. Not actually these three, but different levels: there's a level called אהבה כמים, you love Hashem like water; then there's a level called אהבה כאש, you love Hashem like fire; then there's a level called אהבה בתענוגים, you love Hashem with pleasure; different levels. And he went into all the details of explaining the different levels of ahavah. One of the chasidim told the Rebbe that they really didn't grasp the detailed differences between these these all these levels. So the Frierdiker Rebbe said to them, you're right, in order to understand the differences, you have to be one of the two: or a big בעל מדרגה, or a big בעל תאוה. You have to be a person or in a very, very high level, then you actually experience these levels of love concerning Hashem, or if you're a very, very low person and you're a big בעל תאוה, you're a person who gives in into his human instincts, so this person also experiences these levels of love, not for Hashem. But a person who is involved in very low levels also experiences this he loves this way, and this he loves that way. But the basic point is he experiences it. He experienced it to the wrong things, but he experienced it. So he said in order to understand the different levels of love, you have to experience it. Therefore, I'm saying the same thing here when I'm going to try to explain the difference between אהבת ה׳ בכל לבבך, ובכל נפשך, ובכל מאודך, which is the first main point of the first section of קריאת שמע, even though קריאת שמע has a few more The first section also has a few more points, talks about learning Torah, and it mentions about tefillin, and mentions about mezuzah, but it all is a continuation, a result of the first beginning which is the ahavah. So the main point of the first section of קריאת שמע is the love. And the pasuk divides it into three levels of love. And like I said, I'm going to try to explain it based on what it says in Chassidus, even though to really, really understand it you have to be a big בעל מדרגה. I wouldn't like to say to be a big בעל תאוה, no one wants to be that, but you have to be a big בעל מדרגה, a person on a high level able to experience it. But nevertheless, we have to learn and try to see what we can understand at least as much as possible according to what it says in Chassidus and the sefarim.

So in order to understand the difference between the love בכל לבבך, ובכל נפשך, ובכל מאדך, we'll start with what the Gemara says. The Gemara says like this, the Gemara explains these three the the pasuk in all three parts. The Gemara says בכל לבבך, when it says you shall love Hashem with all your heart, that means בשני יצריך. And we quoted this Gemara in the last shiurim many times. With both yetzers. It says לבבך, your heart, really the word your heart should have been written with one bayit, levcha, lev is heart, your heart is levcha, levavcha with two beitin means two hearts. What are the two hearts? We have the yetzer tov and the yetzer hara, the evil inclination and the good inclination. Using the Chassidic and and kabbalistic terminology, it's the נפש האלקית and the נפש הבהמית. We have the godly soul and we have the animalistic soul. And we have to love Hashem with both. That's the first part, the Gemara says. בכל לבבך means בשני יצריך, with the both yetzers, the yetzer tov and the yetzer hara. Then the Gemara says ובכל נפשך. What does it mean to love Hashem with all your nefesh? So the Gemara says אפילו נוטל את נפשך, even if He's going to take away your nefesh, even if it means giving up your life. If it'll cost you your life, you still have to love Hashem. Which means a Yid has to be ready for mesirat nefesh. He has to be ready to love Hashem so much that even because of that he will have to give up his life, which basically means if someone will come over to him and say deny the existence of Hashem, if not, I will kill you, you have to be ready to say to the person, I'm sorry, I'm not going to deny it, you have to be ready to give up your life. That's teitsh בכל נפשך, with all your nefesh, which means with your whole soul, with your whole life. Then it continues ובכל מאדך. What does ובכל מאדך mean? So ובכל מאדך, the Gemara says, means first פשט בכל ממונך, with all your money. And the Gemara actually asks a kashya, if already said that you have to love Hashem with all your nefesh, you have to give up your life, then why did you have to tell you then you have to love Hashem with all your money, that you have to give up your money if it means if it costs you money to love Hashem, you have to give up your money? And the Gemara actually answers a strange answer. The Gemara says yesh, there are some people that their life is more important than their money, but then there are some people that their money is more important than their life. And therefore, the pasuk says both. Whichever one you are, you have to love Hashem more than your life and more than your money. But that's one peshat, the Gemara says, in בכל מאדך, with all your money. And then there's another peshat, בכל מאדך, meaning בכל מדה ומדה שהוא מודד לך, in any מדה, which means in any form that Hashem is with you. Whether Hashem behaves to you in a way that you see good, Hashem behaves to you in a way that things are good to you, or if He behaves to you in a way which things don't seem to be good, you still have to love Hashem. Which means you still have to accept it and realize what Hashem does is good, and you still have to love Hashem. That's the peshat, that's the simple peshat in what the Gemara says.

Now, it's self-understood that when the pasuk says you shall love Hashem, and then it goes on בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך ובכל מאדך, we would assume that it's going מלמטה למעלה, is going from lower to higher, מן הקל אל הכבד, which means from the easier to the stricter. That means first a lower level of love, then you go to a higher level of love and a higher level, that's how it works. If the Torah wants you to love Hashem in different levels, obviously you start with a lower level, simpler love, then you go, when you get into it, you love Hashem stronger, then you love Hashem stronger. Let's analyze these three. Is that the proper order? He starts off by saying you shall love Hashem with all your heart. Okay. That means with both yetzers, even with the yetzer hara. It means that even though the yetzer hara, the נפש הבהמית, the animalistic soul that we have, doesn't really love Hashem, our animal that's within us, which is really, like I could always explain, ourself as a creature, not as far as a Jew, but the fact that we are a human being, but really a human being as a creature, we really love gashmiyus, we love good food, we love things that make our body feel good, we love gashmiyusdike things. To make that, that even our נפש הבהמית, even our animalistic part of ourself, should love Hashem, that's a very high madregah. But nevertheless, it is not as great as loving Hashem so strong that you're ready to give up your life. That's why the second step, which is בכל נפשך, is a higher level. We see that. First you love Hashem even though you have to overcome the obstacles of the yetzer hara, You still love Hashem that even use part of your yetzer hara to love Hashem. Then you go higher, and you say that you love Hashem even more, the love is so strong that nothing will stop you from loving Hashem, even if it means giving up your life. If it's a question of your life or connecting to Hashem, you give up your life. So the first two we understand how we're going מן הקל אל הכבד, from the lighter one to the stricter one. But let's go to the third. The third one, which means as the Gemara explains, you shall love Hashem with all your money, is that the highest level of love? That's the third level that you reach, to love Hashem with your money? If you already love Hashem with all your life that you're ready to give up your life, you're moser nefesh for Hashem, then why would after that say, love Hashem with your money? And even the second peshat, where it means that you should love השם בכל מידה ומידה, which means with any מידה, any way Hashem behaves to you, you should love Him. It's taka very good. It shows a person loves Hashem even when something chas v'shalom bad happens to him, he still thanks Hashem, still believes in Hashem, it's fine. But is that a higher level of love than בכל נפשך, which means giving up your life? Obviously there is something more in בכל מאודך that is even higher than loving Hashem with all your life or giving up your life. Now what can there be more than loving Hashem than giving up your life? But there must be something there. So Chassidus explains what is the true meaning of loving השם בכל מאודך. And Chassidus says the word מאודך means, comes from the root word of מאוד. What does מאוד mean? מאוד in Hebrew means very. Something is big, you say גדול מאוד. Something is long, ארוך מאוד. The word מאוד means very. When we use the word very, very much, the true, true meaning of very much means infinite, unlimited. Why? Because if it's not infinite, it stopped, something that very much, but because you could grow higher, and compared to the higher level, the next level, this is not very much, then in truth, this is not really very much. For instance, is a thousand dollars, as a dollars very much? Well, it's relative. Compared to a hundred dollars, it's very much. Compared to a million, it's very little. So we can't say that essentially a thousand dollars is very much. You can't say a million dollars is very much, because it's also relative. Compared to a thousand, it's very much, compared to a billion, it's not. So when we say the word מאוד, which means very, without telling you how very much, which means it's essentially very much, it has to mean unlimited. So what the pasuk here means, the the Chassidus says that you have to love השם בכל מאודך, that means with the very, very much, that means the love should be an infinite love. I'll explain it soon what it means, an infinite love, which is more than the love בכל נפשך. And this is the meaning that the Gemara says that what it says, you should love השם בכל מידה ומידה, with every midah that you have, and the simple peshat we said means whether Hashem is good to you or Hashem is not so good to you. It means more than that. בכל מידה ומידה means in anything that happens. When something is infinite, there is no limit. A midah, a midah means a measurement. What's a measurement? A measurement is a limit. When it says בכל מאודך, means בכל מידה ומידה, it means not only the fact that if Hashem is not good to you, then you still should love Him, because you understand what it says that truth everything that Hashem does is for the good, גם זו לטובה, not only is for the good, that's even better than good, and as it says in Chassidus, it comes from a level of עלמא דאתכסיא, all kinds of explanations you find, that's not the only peshat. בכל מידה ומידה means in any measurement, there is no specific measurement that you love Hashem, there's no limit to the love. Cuz if you have one midah, that means there is a measurement. בכל מידה ומידה means every measurement. Every measurement means no measurement, because if it's every measurement, then there's no measurement. And this is the love that we're talking about, which is the third level of the love that is even more than בכל נפשך, and that is the בכל מאודך בלי גבול. Now what does that mean? What does it mean to love השם בכל מאודך, and how is that stronger, greater than בכל נפשך? If בכל נפשך already means you should give up your life, okay, so you give up your life, you're finished. If you're ready to give up your life, then you have no limits. And here we're saying, no, that after the level of אהבה בכל נפשך, you still have a level of אהבה בכל מאודך, that you have a level that's an unlimited thing.

So in order to understand that, let's go back and explain all three levels of love from the beginning. We'll go back to בכל לבבך. בכל לבבך, as we said, means to love Hashem with all your heart, with the yetzer tov and the yetzer hara, with the נפש האלוקית and the נפש הבהמית. Which means, as we have been explaining, that the נפש הבהמית is a בהמה. Our נפש הבהמית is a בהמה, is an animal. Which means, we as our human nature, as we are humans, are animals. Which means we have a pull and a tear, a desire to physical matters. From our natural self, we have no desire for Hashem. Nature, as it is, doesn't know of Hashem, and doesn't have a desire to Hashem. So we naturally don't have that. When we say בכל נפשך בכל לבבך, you have to have that your נפש הבהמית should also, that means that we have to overcome that the נפש הבהמית, that our self as בהמות should also love Hashem. Who causes that? Well, obviously, the נפש האלוקית. We have the godly soul. When we sit down and think about Hashem, and think about the greatness of Hashem, and when you think about something special, and you realize in your mind how good that is, as I've explained before, automatically it must result in the person having a feeling. It's impossible for a person to understand something and not have a feeling. So, the נפש האלוקית thinks about Hashem and all the greatness of Hashem, it causes that the neshama, the person, and who thinks about Hashem? The neshama. The neshama is the part of us that is able to really meditate and be misbonen and think about Hashem. But the thought that we have that makes us understand the greatness of Hashem in order for us to love Hashem, should be so strong and it should overflow, that should even overflow into the נפש הבהמית. And I'll explain what I mean. When the the Yid, the נפש האלוקית, thinks about inyanim, such matters about Hashem, that even the בהמה of ourselves can understand, then even the בהמה will start loving Hashem. And I'll explain what I mean. In Chassidus, we learn all kinds of things a person should be misbonen. And that's what we say the חסידים הראשונים used to do. In the Gemara it says חסידים הראשונים, the earlier חסידים used to be misbonen, used to wait, think, an hour before they would say, they would daven, they would be misbonen, they would think. Then the davenen itself would take an hour, and afterwards an hour. What did they think about for three hours? And they did this three times a day. They spent nine hours thinking! What did they think about all day? So Chassidus gives us a lot of food for thought, and it says what to think about. You have to think about Hashem, about the greatness of Hashem, and what you think about is to start realizing, and not just in your mind, but really realizing the truth that Hashem created the world. Hashem is the Creator. He created the world. He's the source of everything. He's the source of life. And not only did He create the world 5,763 years ago, but He keeps on recreating the world every second. As we say in דאווענען, המחדש בטובו בכל יום תמיד מעשה בראשית. Every second, Hashem renews the creation. And when you think about that, you start realizing that my whole being, my whole being means my physical flesh, my behemah, me as a behemah, is only here because of Hashem. And when you realize that, you come to an understanding, as the pasuk says, לאהבה את השם אלקיך כי הוא חייך. You should love Hashem because He's your life. Even an animal wants to live, and an animal, even instinctively, will do everything for the conserving of its own life. So even the nefesh habehamit knows that if something gives me life, it's good for me, that's what I want. So if the nefesh haElokit thinks all about how Hashem gives life to the world and really understands it, this has an influence on the nefesh habehamit also. The nefesh habehamit hears, \"Hey, Hashem, he knows Hashem, Hashem gives me my life! That's exactly what I want myself. I want my own being. That's what nature is, and this is from Hashem.\" Especially if you start thinking even more, על נסך ועל נפלאותיך, all the miracles Hashem does for us, all the favors Hashem does for us, and all the things He does for us always, that's something that has an effect on the nefesh habehamit also. And that's how you come to understand, you come to reach the level of ואהבת את השם אלקיך בכל לבבך. בכל לבבך means with all your heart, נפש האלוקית, נפש הבהמית, יצר טוב and יצר הרע, because there is a reason for the nefesh habehamit to want Hashem, to love Hashem. Loving Hashem means having a desire to Hashem, because this will help his metziut. One of the foundations of creation, of a creature is, there's an expression כל דבר רוצה בקיומו. Everything wants its own existence, and anything that will help my existence and my being, or as Chassidus calls it, my yeshut, my self... selfishness. This is what I want. And if the Eibershter, Hashem is the one that gives me myself, certainly I should love Him. That's something the nefesh habehamit understands. That's the first level, that's בכל לבבך. Then we come to the second level, בכל נפשך, which is a higher level. We said before that what does בכל נפשך mean? מסירות נפש. אפילו נוטל את נפשך, even if it will take away your nefesh, will take away your life, you still have to love Him. Comes Chassidus and says, it's not a simple peshat. The word nefesh has another meaning. We know the word nefesh doesn't only mean life, physical life. Nefesh also means ratzon, will. And when we say you have to be moser nefesh, you should love Hashem to be give up your nefesh, it doesn't mean only to give up your life, means physically to die. It means to give up your will. In Pirkei Avot it says, בטל רצונך מפני רצונו. You have to nullify your will. You have to be moser, give up your will. And what does that actually mean? Giving up your will means loving Hashem beyond a reason. See, what we said before in the first level, there is a reason why I love Hashem. The reason is because I want myself, and Hashem is the one that makes me, gives me myself. So I love Hashem because of a reason. So it's because I want Hashem, I want it for myself. Here, we're saying to give up your nefesh, to give up your will, and love Hashem, not because of the reason that you, He will do something good for you, but love Hashem beyond reasoning. Now, what does it mean to love Hashem beyond reason? So why should I love Hashem? I have a reason, I understand He's so great and He's giving me all I need to love Hashem. But why should I love Hashem, why without a reason? Well, very simple. It says in the Zohar, it gives a mashal of a father and a son. And it says כברא דאשתדל בתר אבוי, בתר אבוי יתיר מבחיוהי. A child, a son, what is a child, will give up his life, it says will give up his life for his parents more than he will for himself, will care for them more than for himself. Now, if we stop and ask, why does he do it? Is it because of a reason that he has? In other words, he understands, my father did me this and did me that, my mother gave me food, and my mother gave birth to me and my mother, and because of these reasons, this causes me to want my father, want my mother, and I will give up my life for them. Now, that's not the peshat. It's an essential feeling that you have because it's your father. So it's called an אהבה שלמעלה מטעם ודעת, it's a love that comes beyond understanding. And that's basically a love that's not limited to understanding. When a love is limited to the understanding, so how much is the love? As much as the understanding is. If you understand more of how much Hashem gives you, then your love will be stronger. If you'll understand less, the love will be less. It's similar to what it says in Pirkei Avot, that there is a concept of אהבה התלויה בדבר and אהבה שאינה תלויה בדבר. אהבה התלויה בדבר means a love that depended on something, on a reason, and then you have a love that's אינה תלויה בדבר, it's not depended on something. And the Pirkei Avot explains, if your love, it's talking about love to a friend, if your love is תלויה בדבר, depends on something, בטל דבר בטלה אהבה. If the thing is not there, the reason is not there, the love isn't there. If it's not תלויה בדבר, even if there is nothing there, the love is still there because it's not dependent on anything. And that doesn't only mean that if the the reason is not there, the ahavah is בטל, it also means that the ahavah is depended on how much the reason is. But the second level of love that we're talking about now, that doesn't depend, that's not a a love that is limited to a certain understanding. It's beyond the ratzon, it's beyond your will. It's not because you want it. That's why we say מסירת נפש, מסירת הרצון. And this is basically connected to the simple concept of mesirat nefesh, to giving up your life. Why? Because if you have this feeling of love to Hashem beyond your understanding, then there is no limit to what you will do. When it's based on something of understanding, then it's limited to the level of understanding, to that part of you that fits to the understanding. But when it's a level of love that's beyond understanding, then there is it's not limited in this way, and if it's not limited, you'll even give up your life. So so this level of love will bring a person to have mesirat nefesh also, because since it's not limited to sechel like the first one which is limited to sechel, then it'll be all the way. This fits to another peshat. It says in Chassidus, that what does the peshat בכל נפשך means, with all your כחות הנפש. We know every person has his nefesh has kochot, attributes. And ובכל נפשך means with every part of your nefesh. We know that the nefesh is made up of חכמה, בינה, דעת, חסד, גבורה, תפארת, נצח, הוד, יסוד, מלכות. There are different parts to the person's nefesh. And when we say should love Hashem ובכל נפשך, it means with every aspect of your nefesh. And this fits to what we just said, because if it's limited to your, if it comes from seichel, then what happens? Then the seichel, some seichel will affect one part, by some people the seichel will affect another part, this person will cause him this koach or that koach. But if a person does it because he's like a son to Hashem, and he feels that, and you give up your own ratzon, there's nothing of you, so where does it go? It goes through every part of the person's nefesh, every koach of the person's nefesh has it. That's the meaning of ובכל נפשך. So ובכל נפשך is higher than ובכל לבבך. Because ובכל לבבך is a limited one, limited to understanding the greatness of Hashem that will affect the נפש הבהמית, ובכל נפשך means your whole nefesh, that means beyond any limitations of seichel of anything. But this is still not the highest level. Then we have a third level that comes after that and that is ובכל מאדך. What is ובכל מאדך? Because when we say that you love Hashem ובכל נפשך, why do you love Him? Because like a child loves his father, and that has no limit, it's beyond seichel. You know what? Even the love of a child to a father is still limited. Why is there a love between a child and a father? Because that's the nature that Hashem put into the person. That means that that is limited to the nature of the human being. Actually, this is the teva, nature means teva, but what is the real word of the word meaning of teva? Teva means a form. A form means there is a limit of something and it's formed. Hashem formed us in such a way that we have this. So since we have it as a form, so as much as it's not limited to any part of us, but it's still limited to us. So we love Hashem with our whole self. The first one we love Hashem with our yetzer hara, but it's limited to which part, to whatever. The second way, it completely takes through, it penetrates into the whole nefesh, but at the same time, it's limited to what we are. It takes through us. Then you have a higher level, and that's the level of אהבה ובכל מאדך. As we said before, מאדך means מאד, very much, and very much without saying how much means בלי גבול. That's even a higher level. That's a level of love that a person could have beyond the normal כחות that he has, even though he has complete כחות. It means loving Hashem even deeper than that.

Now what does that mean? So let me give an example. Actually in yeshiva today I mentioned it. An example that's given to to describe to these three levels. An example of a person running. Let's say a person is told that in a certain place there is something that he could get that he would like, it's precious to him, but he only has a certain amount of time to get it. So he'll run. How much will he run? As fast as he can, he wants to get there to get it. How fast will he run? Well, depends how much he needs it. If it's something very, very important to him, he'll run very, very fast. If it's not that important, he'll run, but he's still gonna run very fast, but it's limited to the what to how much he needs it. Then you have a second level of a person running. If a person is in a race. And when you're in a race, you want to come out first. You want to be the victorious one, you want to be the one that's מנצח. It says in חסידות, which I guess psychology even agrees to this, that the מדת הנצחון, that attribute of victory is so deep in the person's נפש, deeper than anything else. It says a משל that a king, when it comes to war, he will open up all his treasures and spend all the money in the world to win the war. Things that he will not do when the economy is bad and the people don't have what to eat, he won't spend it, because there are certain treasures that are hidden there from his father and his grandfather, generations, that you don't just throw out. But when it comes to being מנצח, to win a war against an opponent and against an enemy, that brings out within the person such deep כחות that he will do things that he normally don't do. And we see that in nature. And I think psychologists agree to this. This is in חסידות that the מדה of נצח, the מדה of נצחון for a person to win over somebody else is very, very deep. And therefore, when a person is in a race, and he really, really wants to win, he's gonna run with all the might that he has. And you see that physically, when you have these races and there are people who can't stand if they were once a champion, to miss next time will be terrible, they'll run much faster, they'll do their best with all the much faster than if they run to get some money that they know otherwise they'll miss, because that is much deeper. So the first level is very limited, the second one takes over all the כוחות of the person. But then there's a third level. If a person is, God forbid, in a place where there's a fire and he has to run for his life, he's not gonna run with all his כוחות. He's gonna run with things which are beyond his כוחות, things which normally he can't do. It's gonna take, come out from the person something that is so essential in him that he has that you can't even believe that he has it. They tell stories, I remember the Rebbe once a farbrengen told this story, that there was this person who was in a fire and there was a fence, and he was stuck, and there was a little hole in the fence, and he pushed himself through and saved himself. And later, after the fire was over and they came back there, they looked at the hole, it was impossible for a human being to go through that hole. But to save his life, because it meant the essence of his life, he was able to push himself through. But when it means life and death, it's מעורר, it brings out in a person such כוחות, נעלם, hidden כוחות, that come from עצם הנפש, more than the regular כוחות הנפש. So when a person would run for his life and know that his life depends on his running, will run in an unlimited way, not unlimited like the guy is trying to win the race, certainly more than the guy who wants to just get some place to get something. That's a much higher כוח. And the same thing here is also: the first level of love that we're talking about to Hashem, that the level of love that you have that's limited to a certain כוח, from understanding, and it's based on your שכל, and you love it, it's a limited love, even though it affects the נפש הבהמית, it's still limited because it comes because of a reason, the reason of understanding the greatness of Hashem. The second way is not because of a reason, as I said, as a matter of fact, it's against שכל, because to give up your life is against שכל. No שכל, no logic will dictate a person to give up his life, because normally what a person wants, the nature is, you want anything that will help your מציאות, like I said before. To do something against your מציאות is something that is against nature. There is no, logic doesn't agree to it. The fact that we see so many people that do give up their lives, like ימח שמם, the terrorists that they give up their lives, and it seems as if they're giving it up for an ideal, that's not true. They're giving it up because they think that they're gonna get something more. They tell them, you're gonna get this, you're gonna get that, you're gonna go to Gan Eden, you're gonna get this, so they feel it's worth it, it's an investment. It's not because they're giving up of themselves completely, they're looking for themselves even more. And they're told that if you do this, you'll have more of yourself. But a person to give up his life without any gain, and that's what a Yid is able to do. איי, we know that if a Yid goes on מסירת נפש he goes to Gan Eden, but a Yid does not go on מסירת נפש because he goes to Gan Eden, or because he has a חשבון. It says in Tanya, פרק יח, at the end of פרק יח, he explains it and he says, you see many times that even a קל שבקלים, which means a simple, very simple Jew that has no idea about anything, people are not even frum, would give up their life al kiddush Hashem. Now, this person definitely doesn't have the true understanding in the greatness of Hashem to make him give up his life, or he doesn't know that to go to Gan Eden and Gan Eden is more worth than being in this world. These people are so simple they have no idea about what's going on. So why do these people give up their lives? It's beyond sechel, and it's not limited. Why is it? Because they have the feeling like a child to a father. But nevertheless, this is still limited to the concept that you are like a child, which is in a limit in its own. But the higher level of בכל מאדך, that is a level of having love to השם בלי גבול, which means more than the כוחות הנפש. The one before is the כוחות, all the כוחות הנפש, this is more than the person's כוחות הנפש. Because like a person who runs away because he wants to save his life and that brings out in the person something deeper, here also you're able to love Hashem even beyond that, beyond, deeper than the feeling that a person has to to Hashem. And bichlal, you know what it says? Where do we find that? More by baalei teshuva. Because for instance a baal teshuva happens to fit to the mashal that I gave. A baal teshuva loves Hashem and by him the feeling is that he's running away for his life. A tzaddik doesn't run away from anywhere. A tzaddik does things the way you're supposed to. A baal teshuva, it says the לשון in Chassidut, is running away from a fire and running away from things that are ruining his life, and now by becoming frum, what's he doing? He's running away from it. So this person really, really feels the love to Hashem as part of his life. It doesn't mean every baal teshuva feels that way, but every baal teshuva could feel that way, has the potential, because this is the true love of Hashem, which is not limited even to the limitation of a father to a son. Because that is also a limit, it's a nature, which is a limit. It needs more explanation, and I don't want to go into the details of this, but there is a level of connection a Yid has to Hashem deeper than the connection of a child to a son, to a father. And I'm not going to explain it, I'll just prove it. Not prove it even of what's happening, but from the Torah. We know that before יציאת, before מתן תורה, before Hashem gave us the Torah, the Yidden already then were called children of Hashem. When Hashem said to Moshe Rabbeinu by the סנה, this week's פרשה, by the burning bush, \"Go to Pharaoh, tell him to let the Yidden out.\" He said to him, \"בני בכורי ישראל.\" \"My firstborn son, the Yidden, are in galut. Go tell Pharaoh, 'שלח את בני,' let my child go.\" So we see that before the Torah was given yet, the Yidden were considered children of Hashem. Nevertheless, when they came to מתן תורה, it says, by מתן תורה, השם chose the Yidden. What do you mean he chose the Yidden? If the Yidden were already considered his chosen children before, then what do we mean he chose them? But it says clearly, when it says אתה בחרתנו מכל העמים, you chose us, it took place by מתן תורה. It says in Shulchan Aruch that when we say before Kriat Shema in Ahavat Olam the words ובנו בחרת מכל עם ולשון that you chose us from all nations, it says you have to keep in mind that this happened by מתן תורה. Obviously, there was something deeper than being a child. If the highest level of connection a Yid has to Hashem is the fact that we are like children to Hashem, then that was already before מתן תורה. What extra thing took place in מתן תורה, השם now chose us? So whatever the explanation should be, this needs a shiur in itself. But we do see one thing, that by מתן תורה something deeper took place. The connection between Yid and Hashem deeper than the connection between a child and a father. And that's the level of אהבה בכל מאדך, because even a child to a father, and the same thing as a father to a child, but we're talking about us to Hashem, so it's like a child to a father, as much as we say that that's an essential love that is not because of any reasoning, so it's not limited to the type of reasoning that you have, but it's beyond reasoning, but at the same time there is some limitation to it, because this itself is a limit. Because it's a nature, so it's a limit. There is something deeper. And that's the level of אהבה בכל מאדך, which means bli gevul, without any limit. In Chassidut it says that this is another, this is connected to the other pshat that בכל מאדך means with all your money. But I'm not going to explain it, why with all your money? How does it have to do with money? We're talking about such a high level, here we're saying all your money. So it explains that when you reach a very, very high level, then it goes penetrates all the way down to the lowest, that even your money becomes holy because you're so great. But that's a separate story, we're not going to get into that. But this is the basic meaning of בכל מאדך. In Chassidut

it says from a different angle, not mamash, but from a different angle, that these three levels of love, בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך ובכל מאדך, come as a result of a hitbonenut, of a contemplation, of a meditation in three different levels of the way Hashem is connected to us. We know, and this is already I'm going to get purely into Chassidut, so those who are not familiar with the terms, I'll try to explain it, but we just have a few minutes. We know that when we say Hashem controls the world, there are two levels. There is ממלא כל עלמין and סובב כל עלמין. ממלא כל עלמין means Hashem fills the world. Hashem put himself into the world, and Hashem controls the world, he fills the world, and he is in the world of nature. Then we have סובב כל עלמין means that Hashem surrounds the world, he's beyond the world. And then we have a third level, which is higher even as סובב כל עלמין, and that is כלא קמיה לא חשיב, that compared to Hashem there is no world, there's nothing there. And it says like this, when a person is מתבונן, a person thinks about Hashem the way Hashem is in the world, and actually the word ממלא is taken from the Gemara. Gemara in Berachot says, \"מה הנשמה ממלא את הגוף, כך הקדוש ברוך הוא ממלא את העולם.\" Just like the neshama, the life, the soul fills the body, so does Hashem fill the world. So Hashem is ממלא. And just like the neshama, we don't see the neshama, and the neshama is inside the body, and makes the body work, and it's covered, concealed by the body, so too is Hashem, he's in the world, makes everything happen, but he's concealed. But if we start thinking about it, we realize that all these things that happen, they all come from Hashem. Just like when we think about our body, anybody who sits down and thinks for a few moments, realizes that there is a neshama here. You don't see the neshama, but you know it's there. And we're not even talking about a neshama the holy neshama, a nefesh, a soul. Let's call it for simple, a life force. You know there is a life force. The best proof is when a person is not alive, has the same body, what's missing there? The nefesh, there is no life in there. So there is a concept of life. So when you start thinking in the world, you see the same thing. How does the world go? So you realize that Hashem makes it happen. So all the great things in the world come from Hashem. That's ממלא כל עלמין. Then when you think further, you see you realize that that's true, but in truth Hashem is beyond the world. In truth this is only the fact that he lowered himself to put himself in the world, but he in truth, Hashem in truth is really beyond the world. And he is in truth מושלל. מושלל means he is How would you start translating מושלל? Not Muslim, מושלל. In other words, that he is not merely what the world is. When we say all the מעלות, the greatness about Hashem, we don't really mean that he has that. When we say Hashem is a חכם, can we limit Hashem to חכם? All we can say that he's not not a חכם. We can't say he's not missing anything. Basically there are two types of ידיעה. There is two types of understanding, it says, there is ידיעת החיוב and ידיעת השלילה. ידיעת החיוב means you know something positively. In a positive way, you know this is it. ידיעת השלילה means I don't know what this is, but all I know that this is not that, and not that, and not that, it's beyond that. You say Hashem, the lower level you say, Hashem, oh Hashem is so great, he makes the grass grow, he makes the trees grow, he makes the sun rise. And then you start realizing that's what Hashem is? No. Hashem is beyond that. Hashem is not limited to the fact that the sun rises, he's beyond that, he's beyond the fact that grass grow. So we start thinking about Hashem in a form of ידיעת השלילה. Now what is he? We don't know, because we are part of this world, so we can't have any understanding in things which are beyond. But one thing we know that he's not that, he is not all these things that we think about. In a lower level he is, he puts himself into, but that's really what he is. That's called סובב כל עלמין. Means that he's beyond, he surrounds, he's beyond. But then in truth if you start thinking deeper, you can't even say that either. You can't say Hashem is not the way we think that he gives life to the world. We can't even say that he's not. What do you mean that he is? No, the fact that we say he's not is already a limit. The mashal given in Tanya is if if someone would say a speech, if someone would give tell us a good sevara, an idea, a deep thought, and you'd come around and you say, oh, this idea that this guy said is so deep you can't even touch it. So כל השומע יצחק לי, everyone is going to laugh. Why, it's not true? You couldn't touch it. But it's not in the category of touching. Even to say that this is not, has to be in that category. If you say that it's so deep you can't understand it, fine. But you say you can't touch it, it's not in the level of touching or not touching if you can say it's not. The same thing, you start realizing that you can't even say, well Hashem is not limited to the world. What do you mean he's not limited to the world? As if he's in the category that he could be limited. So there are three levels. One level is Hashem the way he is in the world, limited to the limitations of the world, he puts himself into it. Then you have but truth Hashem is beyond that. He's not limited to these limitations of the world. And then you come to a third level to say, how could you even say that? He's not limited to limitations of the world, as if it's possible to say that he would be limited and you're telling me he's not. He is completely beyond, the whole world is not part of anything that has to do with him. These are three levels of understanding. So chasidut says like this, if a person understands the first level of ממלא כל עלמין, that will bring him to בכל לבבך, that'll bring him to ואהבת את השם אלקיך בכל לבבך, you love Hashem with all your heart, with the yetzer hara, because you realize Hashem is in the world, and my נפש הבהמית, my my animal feels it, and we love Hashem. Then when you start realizing a higher level, no, Hashem is not in, he can be limited to the world, he's completely beyond that, he's מושלל, he's not shayach to be limited to the world. And therefore what does that cause in the person? בכל נפשך. If he is completely beyond the world, so anything that's part of nature, why should I want it? What do I really want, Hashem, in all forms and shapes, that's בכל נפשך, even to give up my life. But when you realize Hashem is even beyond that, that Hashem is completely beyond even to be shayach to say is not limited to the world, then chasidut says, then a person will reach a level of בכל מאדך, בלי גבול. בלי גבול means not even limited to not to not even limited to not being limited. Because to say that we're that I'm not limited to any limitations is also a limit. Because we're saying What does a limit mean? I don't want to get too carried away. What's a limit? A limit means that something is not. When I say this is limited, it means that it's not further than here, not further than here. A limit means something is not. If I say something is not limited, there is something that it's not. That's itself a limit. So a yid is able to love Hashem beyond even saying he's מוסר נפש, he's not limited to the רצון that he has. He's completely beyond. That's בכל מאדך that it goes deeper in the depth of him that he and Hashem will be one. And that's the level of אהבה בכל מאדך. And this is really what the Torah wants a person to know. Now, to say how many people really reach this level of בכל מאדך is hard to say. But on the other hand, if we at least know what exists in the world, where tzadikim reach, it makes us understand something. At least we know what there is and what Hashem would want of us. And this is what the true meaning of the first parashah of Keriat Shema is. Even though like I said, we continue into other things, but they're all a result of the ahavah. And when we have the ahavah, then we can have the וקשרתם, the וכתבתם, but this is the main point of Keriat Shema. And then we will continue from here, what is the second point of part of Keriat Shema, which are the mitzvot, and then we'll go on to the third, which is the parashah of tzitzit.