More than any other book of Jewish text or literature, we jews read the siddur, the prayer book. As we imagine and re-imagine our relationship to our people and to God, we engage our heart, mind, and soul in the words of the siddur, sifting through generations of Jewish theology, belief, practice and history. No prayer is more central to daily liturgy than the Shema, the quintessential statement of faith that reminds us of the totality of the covenant we share with God.
Each morning, each evening, when we lay down, when we rise, in the waters of the mikvah as one converts, at the end of the day, on the deathbed - we pray the words of the Shema in unity asserting God's uniqueness and testifying to the covenantal relationship that exists between God and the Jewish people. Yet, the three paragraphs of the Shema in our prayerbooks are not consecutive verses in the Torah. They are actually a collection of three different selections from different books in the Torah. In this week's Torah portion, V'etchanan, we read the first of those paragraphs - the Shema and V'ahavta components.
In the context of the Torah portion, however, these words do not seem to be a prayer at all; Rather, they are part of Moses' sermon to the people on the first of the Ten Commandments: "I am the Lord your God..." Using the typical opening to Deuteronomic speeches, Moses calls for attention amongst the people with the words used in four other places in this book of the Torah: " Shema Yisael - Hear O' Israel." (see also Deuteronomy 5:1, 9:1, 20:3 and 27:9) Like an ancient announcer, Moses summons the people to listen to what he is about to say for it is important. In each case, he proceeds to deliver his speech... So, what makes this Shema line so unique that the rabbis placed it as central to Jewish worship?
Within the words of the Shema and V'ahavta are the most poignant and basic tenants of Jewish theology that are well worth a reminder on this Shabbat V'etchanan. Let's consider them briefly:
There is one God. As monotheists, we affirm our belief in one God, our God. In the Torah, the final letters of both the first and last words of the Shema - the ayinof the word Shema, and the dalet of the word Echad - are larger than the rest of the letters. Together, they spell ayd, the Hebrew word for "witness." As Jews, we are responsible for being witnesses to God's oneness, unity and power by observing God's commandments in ritual and in behavior one to another.
God is unique. The word echad is understood to mean one as in there is only one God; not two, or three, or any more. But, Adonai Echad can also mean God alone, as in singular, without comparison - unique. There can be no other like God nor will there ever be.
The Jewish people have a special relationship with God. Just as two lovers are wholly devoted to one another in totality, so too, we are devoted to God. B'chol levavcha, b'chol nafshecha, u-v'chol me'odecha.... With all that we are, with all that we have, and with all that is within us, our heart, mind, and soul are engaged with and for God. Furthermore, this relationship is with us always, no matter where we are or what we are doing. As Rabbi Elliot Dorff has taught me, "when you lie down or when you rise up" is a merism, a literary device through which the Torah refers to two ends of a spectrum and everything in between. The words of Torah, the relationship with God, therefore, are what we speak of and live when we lie down, when we rise up, and every moment in between - during every waking moment.
Relationship with God brings with it obligations and duties. We affirm our commitment to the covenant. We demonstrate our love of God through the fulfillment of the mitzvot and the study of Torah. So, we indeed 'bind them as a sign upon the hand and a reminder between the eyes' and 'we inscribe them upon the doorposts of the home and on the gates'.
Shema Yisrael - Hear O' Israel, we remind and challenge ourselves to recognize in words of prayer that there is one God, that God is unique, that we hold a special connection to God, and that Torah and mitzvot are fundamental characteristics of that relationship. Still, we are left to consider "V'shenantam levanecha - you shall teach them to your children." We could certainly read these two words as one of the ways that we demonstrate our collective fulfillment of the promise and duty to study Torah and observe mitzvot. But, I think there is in these two words a message of the Shema that is all its own that is equally as important and meaningful as each of the theological reminders already discussed.
Every parent dreams of the legacy s/he will leave behind for the children and grandchildren. Wanting the best for our children, we pray that their lives will be full of meaning and connection, success and growth. There is a wonderful midrash on the Shema which beautifully demonstrates this point. In a poignant domestic scene between the dying Jacob and his children, Jacob calls his sons together. Worrying that after his death his sons will abandon their tradition, anxious about the future of his faith and what we will happen when he dies, Jacob attempts to remind them of from where they come, whispering to them: "Shema Yisrael - Hear O (my sons) Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one." Imagine what it must have been like for Jacob and sons when they in kind, respond "Just as you believe, so too do we, Adonai is our God, Adonai is one!"
As we recite the Shema, we too are like Jacob, hoping that the connection of our tradition will link us one to another, surpassing physical boundaries of life and death. In that moment, we are as one with our parents and grandparents and the generations who came before us, with the children and grandchildren and many generations that will follow who will say to us Adonai is our God. And, in those brief moments, we are indeed witnesses to something unique and transcendent.
May we ever be able to utter the words of the Shema knowing that Adonai is indeed our God.
Shabbat Shalom.