For years, in the shema and v'ahavta, I've been saying in both Hebrew and English the opening lines of Devarim 6:5, which talk about loving H' with "all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your resources." It's a verse - a beautiful line, to be sure - I've repeated so many times that I've never actually quite fully stopped to link about what it means.
Yesterday, I discussed how the phrase "all your heart," especially when read in contrast to not following "your heart" and going astray stated later in relation to why we wear tzitzit, could be a reference to both the "Divine heart" and the "animal heart" and how both should be in service of G-d, with the former directing the latter.
Heart, in contrast to how we normally think of it as the seat of the emotion, "heart" seems to be a reference to some combination of intellectual and emotional powers - a place where these fuse into a singular type of desire.
The same sort of dichotomy exists in reference to "all your soul." As Bireishit states, while all life has a nefesh (soul), it is only mankind who is also given a neshama (breath/soul) from G-d in order to become a "living soul." This is a reference, even under the plainest of interpretations, to another "Divine soul" and "animal soul," and how both - this time with more divine overtones (in contrast to the heart, which facially seems just more . . . human) should be united in such service as well.
But how about the word mi'odecha - which is alternatively translated as "might" or "resources." (Candidly, I have absolutely no idea where my siddur got the "resources" translation as this seems - and I could be entirely wrong - to be taking some serious poetic license with the Hebrew). Regardless, even "might" still seems off. Ask any beginner Hebrew learner and they will tell you that mi'od means one thing - "very." Taken literally, the Torah is, therefore, telling us to love G-d with all our "veryness."
More than emotional and intellectual desire (heart), more than upper and lower divine root (soul), "veryness" seem, upon a brief meditation, to be speaking of only one thing: personality. What is a personality? It's not heart, and it's not soul - it's an entirely separate creature, likely part genetic/assigned, part learned and moldable. It's an attitude, approach, and outlook on life. It's how each and every situation is dealt with. It can shift depending on internal and external factors.
Today, it is almost a joke to talk about being "extra." Sure, if you're faking being outlandish and embellishing, or hiding, or intentionally exaggerating your traits - that's the negative side of being "extra." But living through our personality - our veryness - our mi'od - and letting them breathe and shine to their greatest capability, seems to be one of the highest forms of divine recognition, gratitude, and prayer. G-d either made us or put us in certain situations for a reason - all of those combining to form a very unique and undeniable personality - and that should be expressed to the maximum at all times.
This is, therefore, exactly what this verse in Devarim and the shema is coming to teach us - with all your desire, with all your divine holy root, and with all of your veryness/personality - serve G-d, and serve G-d to the maximum.
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