When the thinking person will reflect on these matters in the depths of his heart and brain, then as surely as water mirrors the image of a face,
וְהִנֵּה, כַּאֲשֶׁר יָשִׂים הַמַּשְׂכִּיל אֵלֶּה הַדְּבָרִים אֶל עוּמְקָא דְּלִבָּא וּמוֹחָא, אֲזַי מִמֵּילָא, "כַּמַּיִם הַפָּנִים לַפָּנִים" –
When the love likened to “water mirroring the image of a face” takes effect in a person so that G-d’s manifest love for His people arouses in him a corresponding love toward Him, then:
his soul will spontaneously be kindled with love for G-d, and it will clothe itself in a spirit of benevolence, willingly, to lay down and resolutely to abandon all he possesses, for it will no longer be of major importance to him, in order only to cleave unto Him and to be absorbed into His light with an attachment and longing and so forth, in a manner of “kissing” and with an attachment of spirit to Spirit, as has been explained earlier.
תִּתְלַהֵט נַפְשׁוֹ וְתִתְלַבֵּשׁ בְּרוּחַ נְדִיבָה, לְהִתְנַדֵּב לְהַנִּיחַ וְלַעֲזוֹב כָּל אֲשֶׁר לוֹ מִנֶּגֶד, וְרַק לְדָבְקָה בּוֹ יִתְבָּרֵךְ וְלִיכָּלֵל בְּאוֹרוֹ בִּדְבִיקָה חֲשִׁיקָה וְכוּ', בִּבְחִינַת נְשִׁיקִין וְ"אִתְדַּבְּקוּת רוּחָא בְּרוּחָא" כַּנִּזְכָּר לְעֵיל.
Just as kissing involves not only the cleaving of mouths but also a communion of breaths, so, too, does spiritual unity involve the union of man’s spirit with G-d’s: man’s spirit becomes one with G-d’s.
But how does the attachment of spirit to Spirit take place? I.e., what measures are to be taken if one seeks to desire to “only cleave to Him”?
אַךְ אֵיךְ הִיא בְּחִינַת "אִתְדַּבְּקוּת רוּחָא בְּרוּחָא"?
To this end it is stated, soon after the phrase, “with all your heart,” and so on: “And these words shall be…upon your heart…and you shall speak of them….”15 As will soon be explained, this refers to immersing oneself in the study of Torah and speaking words of Torah.
לָזֶה אָמַר: "וְהָיוּ הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה כוּ' עַל לְבָבֶךָ, וְדִבַּרְתָּ בָּם כוּ'",
As is explained in Etz Chaim, the union of “kissing” which incorporates the union of the “attachment of spirit to Spirit” is essentially the union of ChaBaD with ChaBaD—the union of man’s chochmah, binah, and daat with G-d’s; that is, concentration in the Torah, which unites man’s ChaBaD with the intellect of above, i.e., Torah,
וּכְמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב בְּעֵץ חַיִּים, שֶׁיִּחוּד הַנְּשִׁיקִין, עִיקָּרוֹ הוּא יִחוּד חָכְמָה־בִּינָה־דַּעַת בְּחָכְמָה־בִּינָה־דַּעַת, וְהוּא – עִיּוּן הַתּוֹרָה;
while the mouth, as the outlet of the breath and its emergence into a revealed state, represents the category of speech engaged in words of the Torah,
וְהַפֶּה – הוּא מוֹצָא הָרוּחַ וְגִילּוּיוֹ בִּבְחִינַת גִּילּוּי, וְהַיְינוּ – בְּחִינַת הַדִּבּוּר בְּדִבְרֵי תוֹרָה,
The Alter Rebbe will soon conclude that meditating on the concepts appearing in the blessings of the Shema leads a Jew to the proper realization of the Shema—attaining an ardent love for G-d.