Shema-Vaeira-Reciprocal Love

There is yet another righteous way, available to all and easily accessible, to arouse and kindle the light of love for God that is implanted and concealed in our hearts, so that it can shine forth like a burning fire; intensely and openly in heart and mind, to the point that we are prepared to offer up soul, heart, and might to the Lord, totally and completely, from the depths of our heart, in absolute truthfulness, and especially when reciting the Shema and its blessings.

This way is by taking to heart the meaning of the verse, “As in water, face responds to face, so does the heart of man to man (Proverbs 27:19).” In other words, just as the likeness and features of the face we present to the water are reflected back to us by the water, so does our love for a loyal friend awaken love for us in our friend’s heart, thus reciprocally developing the actual love that each of us has for the other, especially as we see our friend’s love for us.

This pattern of response comes naturally to all men even when they are of equal status. How much more so when a great and mighty king shows great and intense love for a commoner who is despised and alone among men, a disgraceful creature cast on the dunghill, yet the king comes down to him from the place of his glory, together with all his retinue, raising him from the dunghill and bring him into his royal palace and into the innermost chamber, a place where neither servant nor prince may enter, and there shares the closest union and true companionship with him, with embraces, kisses, and spiritual attachment, with all his heart and soul.

How much more so will love for the king be aroused, of itself and in double intensity, in the heart of this most common and humble individual, with a true attachment of spirit, heart, and soul, and with endless sincerity. Even if his heart were like stone, it would surely melt and become water, and his soul would pour itself out like water with intensely soulful longing for the king’s love.

In an exactly corresponding manner, but to an infinitely greater degree, has our God dealt with us. For His greatness is beyond comprehension, and He fills all the worlds and surrounds all the worlds.

(Shabbat Shacharit Kedusha) The Angels ask, “Where is the place of His glory?” And they answer, “The whole earth is full of His glory (Isaiah 6:3),” His people Israel. For the Holy One for soak the higher and lower creatures, choosing none of them save His people Israel whom it He brought out of Egypt, “the obscenity of the earth (Genesis 42:9),” the place of filth and impurity.

Not through the agency of an angel, nor of a Seraph, but the Holy One, Blessed is He, Himself in His glory,” descended there, as it is written, “And I have come down to deliver them (Exodus 3:8).” He did this in order to bring them near to Him in true closeness and unity, with a truly soulful attachment on the level of kisses of mouth to mouth by means of speaking the word of God, namely the Halacha, and the fusion of spirit to spirit, that is to say, comprehending the Torah and knowing His will and wisdom, all of which are truly one.

He also draws them to Him with a form of embrace, the fulfillment of the 248 positive commandments, which symbolize the 248 organs of the King. These are generally divided into 3 categories; right, left, and center, namely, Love, Stern Justice, and, Mercy, the two arms and the body, and so forth.

This clarifies the meaning of, “Who has sanctified us by His commandments.” It is like one who betrothed a wife so as to unite her with him in a perfect bond. Exactly similar, and even infinitely surpassing, is the union of the divine soul that is occupied in Torah and mitzvot and of the animating soul and their garments with the light of the Infinite Being. (Tanya; Likkutei Amarim, Chapter 46)