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B. Reciting Shema is Positive Mitzvah #10. One is to recite it twice daily, once in the morning and once at night. For more details regarding the proper timing of this mitzvah, see When is the proper time to recite the Shema?. To make things convenient, they incorporated Shema into the Shacharit and Maariv services. If, however, you won’t be doing those, you can just recite Shema by itself. Either way, cover your eyes with your right hand as you recite that first verse.
C. While most folks are under the impression that Shema is a one-liner, that eternally famous one-liner is actually just the beginning of the first of Shema’s three paragraphs. The first paragraph (Deuteronomy 6:4-10), called Shema, contains the mitzvahs of love of G-d, Tefillin, Jewish education, Torah study, and Mezuzah. The second paragraph (Deuteronomy 11:13-21), called Vehayah, discusses reward and punishment, and repeats the mitzvahs of tefillin, torah study, Jewish education and mezuzah. The third paragraph (Numbers 15:37-41), called Vayomer, discusses the subject of Tzitzit, and also makes mention of the Exodus from Egypt.
Within the three paragraphs of Shema, one will find a microcosm of the most sacred Jewish mitzvahs and principles...
1. Judaism 101
Within the three paragraphs of Shema, one will find a microcosm of the most sacred Jewish mitzvahs and principles. Beginning with the belief in G-d Himself, and how He is to be defined, the Jew declares the very staples of Judaism—the bonding to G-d through tefillin, the demarcation of the Jewish home with Mezuzahs, the perpetuation of our people through education of our youth—as he recites the Shema two times a day.
2. The Ultimate Statement of Faith
As abovementioned, the opening verse of Shema is the most important part of this most important prayer. It is traditionally whispered into the little ears of Jewish newborns, so that the totality of Jewish faith impresses itself onto that tiny consciousness, never to be erased, and is traditionally the last words uttered by a terminally ill Jew on his or her deathbed. Thus, the Jewish life begins and ends with the purest of faith. “Shema Yisrael, Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad!” were also the last words sung out by countless Jewish martyrs through the eons before they were brutally killed by Jew-haters, declaring their unswerving faith in G-d in the face of death.
It is traditionally whispered into the little ears of Jewish newborns... “Shema Yisrael, Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad!” were also the last words sung out by countless Jewish martyrs through the eons... declaring their unswerving faith in G-d in the face of death
Shema is a spiritual ladder with its top in Heaven and its feet planted firmly on Earth. When you say Shema, you begin at the top, meditating on the unity of G-d and how He is everywhere and everything. This is seen in Echad, or One, the concluding word of Shema’s first sentence. Echad is formed of the three Hebrew letters Aleph, Chet and Dalet, whose numerical values are 1, 8, and 4, respectively, signifying that there is One G-d in the Seven Heavens and One Earth, Whose jurisdiction extends to all Four Points of the compass. In Chassidic philosophy, this is called Higher Unity. Practically speaking, this means that G-d is all over the place. Now that you know what G-d is, you bring that idea down the ladder, from the ethereal realm of spirituality into the reality of your life, and from your intellect into your emotions. This is seen in the first mitzvah mentioned in the first paragraph, which instructs us to love G-d “with all your heart, soul, and might”. What is earthier than love? And what is more celestial than G-d? In Chassidic philosophy, this fusion is called Lower Unity, and in Shema, these two opposite extremes come together in a wonderful fusion.
Footnotes
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