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The Sh'ma The Sh'ma consists of four parts; the Sh'ma itself, the V'ahavta both taken from Deut. chapter 6; 4-9, V'haya taken from Deut. 11; 13-21, and the Vayomer, which is found in Numbers 15; 37-41. These four paragraphs contain major principles of Judaism and since they are taken from the Bible, they are the oldest prayers in the prayer book. The Sh'ma begins with the exclamation of the Jewish theological credo of monotheism, that the God we worship is One. Note that it is not "Hear O Lord" but "Hear O 'Israel" as if the Jew is speaking to himself reiterating that Jewish prayer is self-instructive. The Rabbis tell us a very interesting story regarding this prayer. Father Jacob was on his death bed. His twelve sons, the fathers of the twelve tribes later to become the Jewish People, were gathered about him. He would like to unveil to them their future history, but the spirit of prophecy suddenly departs from him. He suspected that just as his father and grandfather had sons unworthy of them, so too, one of his sons deflected from his teaching and therefore, the power of prophecy had left him. His sons noting his concern, called out in unison "Hear O Israel the Lord our God, the Lord is one." Upon hearing this, Jacob relaxed and realized that the future was not meant to be revealed. In reply he said to his sons,, "Blessed be His glorious kingdom for ever and ever." Then he proceeded to bestow upon them the blessings that we find in the final chapters of the book of Genesis. We do not know how or why the "Baruch Shem" ("Blessed be his glorious kingdom for ever and ever") was included in this part of our service, since we do not find it anywhere in the Bible and it is probably of rabbinical origin. Furthermore, this verse is said in a whisper throughout the year. On Yom Kippur the Congregation is called upon to say it aloud. Again the Rabbis offer an interesting explanation for this practice, The angels, they tell us, also have the Sh'ma and the response Baruch Shem in their service. We therefore say it quietly not to usurp the privilege of the angels, On the other hand, on Yom Kippur, we abstain from food and deny ourselves the human ordinary requirements, we approach the status of Angels and may say this prayer aloud! The most reasonable explanation, it seems to me is the fact that as I pointed out, the Baruch Shem is in no way connected with this portion of the prayers as they are found in the Torah. In order not to seem to interpolate on the Torah Text, it becomes important that it be said very quietly. However, when the High Priest mentioned the ineffable name during service in the inner sanctuary on Yom Kippur, the Congregation gathered in the court, and would respond "Baruch Shem" etc. Since we do not have this service anymore, we take the occasion during the Shema to follow that custom and the "Baruch Shem" is said aloud. The verse of the Sh'ma is the Credo of the Jewish People. It expresses its complete theology. Unlike any other people of ancient days, who could not conceive that the universe is controlled by the One but created gods for every purpose and function unlike the Christian Dogma that teaches the oneness of God yet proposes a mathematical formula that the trinity are one and one is the three, the Jew never swerves from the absolute unity of God in all of His manifestations. As Jews were led into the arenas of ancient Rome to fight the starved lions barehanded, as they were led to the auto-da-fe in the 15th and 16th century in Spain, as they were victimized in the pogroms of Central Europe after World War I, and as they were marched to the gas chambers and crematoriums and concentration camps of our day, the Jews defied the world. They proclaimed their belief in the oneness of God and at their death repeated the "Sh'ma Israel." This is the most important of all Jewish prayers, and if a Jew does not find the time for a more complete service (or as we know, there are many Jews who by reason of training or education may not be able to observe the full ritual of prayer) it is my belief that this verse of prayer should be on the lips of every Jew morning and night. It is the very core of our more elaborate service. Our mothers of former years taught this verse to their children even before they could talk. It is the profession of our faith and our belief in the Oneness, the indivisibility, the abstractness, the incorporality of the God that we focus on in our worship. The paragraph of the V'ahavta, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul and with all thy might" contains several principles: 1. Reverence for God. Most children obey their parents when they are young out of fear for the consequences that may be in store even though they harbor a natural love for the parents. Some children, as they grow older, learn to love their parents so dearly that they would do nothing which would upset them and therefore revere and obey them out of love. Others never mature but retain the infantile fear for their parents. Whereas in the former, whether the parent is present or not, the child (for what man and woman is there who is not a child), will continue to follow the dictates of their parents lest the parents suffer. On the other hand, those who revere their parents only out of fear, feel completely uninhibited when out of parental surveillance. The Jewish faith prefers the maturer love of God, not to worship Him merely out of fear of consequences but rather out of pure undiluted, unlimited love and reverence for Him. It is a love "with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy might." When Rabbi Akiba was suffering martyrdom at the hands of the Romans and his flesh was being combed with brushes of steel, he was seen reciting the Sh'ma. He remarked to his pupils who were standing around about him: "I have always known what is meant 'Thou shalt love thy God with all thy heart.' I also understood how one could love God with all his might, with all his material possessions, but I had never known that one could also love God with all his soul, with his very life." There are only three things on account of which the Jew must subject himself to martyrdom; for all other things our Rabbis teach "Transgress but be not killed." The Jew must suffer the supreme sacrifice when he is called upon to transgress against the Jewish concept of the Divinity and acknowledge another. The reverence that the Jew is to develop for God is dependent neither upon reward nor punishment but in full recognition of His might, His power and His glory. "And these words which I command thee shall be in thine heart." Only through constant study and concentrated thought may we develop that pure, lofty reverence of God. Therefore, the religious way of life as promulgated in the Torah must always be in our hearts and on our conscience for thereby we can reach out for the higher, better life. To behave in the presence of a visible police threat is ordinary and common, but to do so only as human beings is to attain moral stature and maturity. It is for that moral stature ad maturity that the Jew should strive -- for an awareness that the Unseen sees all and that there is no moment when we can relax our self-control because we are always in the presence of the Invisible. Man is perishable. He therefore must transmit to his children the progress, the understanding and the teachings that he inherits from the past and the contributions that he himself makes. Therefore we read "Thou shalt teach them unto thy children" not merely at moments of leisure but at all times, for in our acts, in all our ways, in all our doings, parents must be exemplary to their children. Religion is not merely to be practiced at certain set definite intervals when we are fenced in by the walls of a Synagogue but should penetrate into our everyday life at home, on the road, morning, noon and night. People say they have religion in their hearts. But abstractness is often lost in the material world in which we live. Man's thoughts often wander, man's deeds sometime get out of control. He must have constant physical reminders to keep him aware of God in order to implement his teaching in his daily life. "Thou shalt bind them upon thine hand and place them as frontlets between thy eyes," our Rabbis interpret as referring to the tefillin, and "Thou shalt write them upon the doorposts of thy house and upon thy gates" they say refers to the mezuzah, visible concrete reminders of the teaching of our faith and that we are in the presence of our God. However, some people never mature and though the abstract love of God is preferable, the second paragraph of the Sh'ma, namely the "V'haya Im Shamoa" -- "It shall come to pass, ye shall hearken diligently to My commandments" -- gives promise of reward if we observe God's commandments and punishment if we do not. The problem of reward and punishment is a very philosophical question and the Rabbis point out emphatically that there is no reward or punishment in this world. They beg the entire question by extending reward and punishment to an existence after death. However, we can readily understand that when the natural laws are violated, man must suffer consequences. The frequent droughts or poor harvests in ancient days would be attributed to the wickedness and sinfulness of man. We need not go too far afield to realize that if the individual lives an uninhibited, selfish life, society must suffer dire consequences. The third paragraph of this section of the Service is taken from the book of Numbers and, for some time, does not seem to have been part of the Sh'ma. The Talmudic discussion regarding the insertion of the third paragraph in the evening service should be familiar to all of us who recite the Haggadah on Passover eve. The paragraph deals with the requirement of the Jew to wear fringes upon the four corners of their garments, another visible symbol "that ye may look upon it and remember the commandments of the Lord." I have had occasion to point out that the four cornered garment at one time was the daily garb of the Jew even as the nomad desert Arab still wears today. It is upon the corners of this garment that the Jew was commanded to attach the tsitzith -- fringes. However, when the Jew adopted other forms of dress, he retained the four cornered garment for religious purposes in the form of the tallit at the morning services (and for Kol Nidre.) The debate whether this paragraph was to be included in the evening Sh'ma or not raged for many years. However, because it has historical reference to the Exodus, the opinion of Ben Zoma prevailed and this paragraph became an integral part of the Maariv service. A very mysterious item is the small phrase that we generally find in prayer books introducing the Sh'ma -- "Kel Melech Ne'eman." It is said when the individual prays by himself. In the quorum of ten, a minyan, it is omitted. Some are of the opinion that these three words form the acrostic for the Amen at the end of the preceding blessing. Others look at it differently -- the ancients believed that there are 248 limbs to a man's body. Since by count, the three paragraphs contain 245 words and when the individual davens at home alone, the Cantor does not repeat the last three words "Adoshem Elokeichem Emet," he adds three words in the beginning, thus bringing up the total to 248. Who knows and who can tell? It is there, and when we pray in public it is not said, but in private it is included. |
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