Heart, soul, might across the Yamim Noraim

רמז לש"ת ואהבת את ה' אלקיך בכל לבבך כו' נפשך כו' מאדך והיו הדברים האלה כו'.

A hint for Simchas Torah: "And you shall love Hashem your God with all your heart... your soul... your might," and "these words shall be..." (Devarim 6:5-6).

The Sefas Emes maps the verses of Shema — heart, soul, and might — onto the avodah of the Yamim Noraim and Sukkos, culminating in Shemini Atzeres.

לבבך הוא בר"ה ועשי"ת שבנ"י שבים וחפצים לשעבד גם מחשבות הרעות להשי"ת.

"Your heart" is on Rosh Hashanah and the Aseres Yemei Teshuvah, when Bnei Yisrael do teshuvah and desire to subjugate even their evil thoughts to Hashem Yisbarach.

Loving Hashem "with all your heart" is the avodah of the Ten Days: turning the whole heart — even its stray, improper thoughts — over to Hashem.

וזהו בשני יצריך.

And this is [the meaning of loving Hashem] "with both your inclinations" (Berachos 54a).

Chazal read "with all your heart" (levavecha, doubled letter) as 'with both your yetzarim' — pressing even the yetzer hara into the service of Hashem.

נפשך הוא ביוכ"פ ועניתם את נפשותיכם.

"Your soul" is on Yom Kippur — "and you shall afflict your souls" (Vayikra 16:31).

Loving Hashem 'with all your soul' is fulfilled on Yom Kippur, when we afflict the nefesh and are ready to give over our very life-force for Him.

מאדך הוא בסוכות זמן האסיף באספך כו' ואעפ"כ מניחין כל מאודיהם לישב בדירת ארעי ולחסות בצלו ית'.

"Your might" (me'odecha) is on Sukkos, the time of the ingathering — "when you gather in [your produce]" — and even so they leave all their possessions to dwell in a temporary dwelling and take shelter in His shade, Yisbarach.

Me'od is read as wealth/possessions. Sukkos comes at harvest, when a person has the most; yet we leave it all to sit in the flimsy sukkah, showing that our 'might' too belongs to Hashem.

ואח"כ והיו הדברים האלה כו' על לבבך שאח"ז יכול אדם לקבל דברי תורה בלבו.

And afterward, "these words shall be... upon your heart" — for after this a person is able to receive words of Torah into his heart.

Only once heart, soul, and might have all been given over does a person become a fit vessel; now the words of Torah can truly enter and settle in his heart.

והוא שמיני עצרת לעצור ולקבל הארת התורה בעומק הלב:

And this is Shemini Atzeres — to 'hold back' (la'atzor) and to absorb the illumination of the Torah into the depths of the heart.

Atzeres means to gather in and retain. After all the avodah of the season, Shemini Atzeres is the day to seal the light of the Torah deep within the heart — which is the joy of Simchas Torah.

Summary: The three expressions of Shema — heart, soul, and might — correspond to Rosh Hashanah's teshuvah, Yom Kippur's affliction, and Sukkos' leaving all possessions for the sukkah. Only after a person gives over heart, soul, and might can the words of Torah enter him; that absorption is Shemini Atzeres and Simchas Torah.