With all my Hearts

A little tribute to V-day....

Every day, twice a day, a person has the mitzvah of saying the ‘Shema’, the declaration of G-d’s Unity in this world. There are so many deep things to meditate on in this short but tremendously powerful prayer but I’ll start with something simple, beautiful, and completely relatable to anyone who struggles between the two inherent drives found within each of us, the part of us who wants to be a complete ascetic, sitting on a mountain connecting with holiness all the time and the other part of us who wants to eat cake, drink wine, and partake in physical pleasures found in this world (both equally credible expressions of love of life).

In the first sentence of the Shema we make the commitment to serve G-d with our ‘heart”. Fair enough, but after learning some Hebrew, I realized that the word heart was spelled funny…is it possible that every prayer book messed up, forgot to hit spellcheck? Of course not, we learn that every single word and its placement has significance. The word heart in Hebrew is “Lav” (I speculate that the word “love” is derived from it or maybe I am turning into the father from My Big Fat Greek Wedding who thinks everything is derived from the Hebrew language) but in the prayer, heart is spelled “Lavov” with two ‘v”s. So what’s really good with the two v’s…….

It is said that man is actually made of two hearts, two diametrically opposite forces: the animalistic soul and the G-dly soul. The biblical source for this is in the first chapter of Genesis in the creation of man, G-d literally picks up some dirt from the ground forms it into man and then he blows life into his nose. This description of creation perfectly demonstrates the innate duel composition of man. Dirt, which is so physical and grounded in this world and that of air, the intangible soul within us which is literally the breath of HaShem. Half of us is sooo deeply rooted in the physical, whats tangible, whats pleasurable, what earthly, what feels good, what looks good, what tastes good, what's graspable with our hands. The other component of us is so connected with the infinite, with G-d, with holiness, with meaning. Both sides are equally zealous in their pursuit and, as my Rabbi so delicately phrased it, aren't going to come to the table any time soon for peace talks.

So we must rely on the ultimate mediator (and their services are generally free): our intellect. Our intellect is meant to talk both of our souls into reaching a middle ground, into negotiating. The dialogue generally goes something like this:

Hey, G-dly soul, I know living in this world is painful because all you want to do is go back to the source and connect with G-d, but we weren’t put on this earth to escape it all day. You were clothed in a physical body for a reason, you have a mission in this world.

Hey Animal soul, I know it feels good to party all day, to indulge, to eat chocolate ice cream, smoke that joint, to chill with your friends, to make that money, to accumulate material things. But don't you think perhaps you have a deeper mission in this world? Don't you think you could take all that energy and passion and be slightly more productive?

Hey two souls, I bet you could both learn something from each other, you can learn how to live in the world and make it a meaningful experience, why don't you sign a peace treaty and start working together?

Ahh, the intellect, such a powerful tool if harnessed and honed.

And so when we pray, we pray with both our souls, both our hearts, in hopes of focusing them both to serve G-d and make meaningfull all we do, with Lavov not just the lav. With the G-dly soul and the animal soul, both equally essential.

Eating cake and sitting on a hill…both extremes can be negative, but we are meant to harness both energies, not drown one out. The Lubavitcher Rebbe refers to it all two kings trying to conquer a city, sometimes one is stronger and sometimes the other reigns freely. But the point it, it’s always a battle. Perhaps this is where the concept of checks and balances comes into play?

The ultimate goal of course is to take the G-dly soul and infuse it into the animalistic soul, live in this world and while elevating it with meaning and goodness.