Lessons in Torah Or The Meaning of Shema and Two Loves

The word “ש ְמַע -Hear” can mean two different things:

1. To hear intellectually and understand, like people say in the middle of a conversation “do you hear what I am saying?” or “I feel like so and so is not listening to me,” or “hearing me out,” where the implication is not of physical hearing, but of attentive listening, understanding and internalizing the concepts and feelings being conveyed. According to that translation of “ש ְמַע -Hear,” when the verse says, “Hear Yisroel that Hashem who is our G-d, this Hashem is One,” it means that we need to think about and internalize the idea that Hashem is truly the One and only existence. This is the idea of the contemplation, explained above at length, that will bring a person to one type of love of Hashem.
2. To physically hear the sounds that are reaching a person's ears even if he doesn't understand them. For example, in music, the goal of listening to music is not to gain new information, but to appreciate the actual sound patterns and how they come together harmoniously, even though no information is being processed. According to that translation, the idea of “Hear Yisroel, etc." is just to listen to and appreciate the beauty of Hashem's revelation to us, even if we cannot actually understand it. This is the second type of love for Hashem, which comes from a revelation from Above, while we are just passive recipients to listen and appreciate it without understanding it.

This type of love is called, “the Holy Shekel,” which was a silver coin. In Hebrew, the word כֶּׁסֶׁף which means silver, is related to the word כּו סֶׁף, which is an expression of love, longing or yearning, like it says in the verse about Yaakov Avinu wanting to return to Yitzchok in Eretz Yisroel (Bereishis 31:30): “נִּכְּס ףַַׁׁנִּכְּס פְּת ַָּׁ-you have greatly yearned for and loved to be in your father’s house”.

By calling the silver coin the “Holy Shekel,” it represents a love (כֶּׁסֶׁף-silver related to כּו סֶׁף-love) that comes from the Holiness of Hashem Himself, from a revelation from Above.

Now, the Alter Rebbe will explain why it is called “ש ֶׁקֶׁל-Shekel,” which comes from the word “מִּש ְקָּל-measure:”