Dear Friends,
The Shema is arguably among our most powerful statements in Jewish life. "Hear O Israel, ADONAI is Our God, ADONAI is One."
It is the foundation of Jewish belief, insofar as there is a canon of Jewish belief, asserting the oneness, uniqueness, singularity, or totality of God as One.
It is the pivotal moment in our daily, shabbat, and festival prayer service, called the Shema and Its Blessings, which structure our prayers with a focus on the unique Jewish relationship with God and Time.
And it is the closing words of the Jewish day and of the Jewish life, the affirmation one may make upon closing one’s eyes—both approaching sleep at the end of the day and at the end of a lifespan.
And it is found in this week’s Torah portion, at Deuteronomy 6:4, with two of its key letters written in enlarged script, both in the manuscript of the Torah and in printed versions of the Torah, Chumash, and prayerbook.
Indeed, without the Shema, we would be lost. It is powerfully galvanizing and striking to me that a little six-word declaration can be the organizing principle and glue of a people for millennia, no matter when and where we live.
Thus, this week, when the Shema is pronounced from the bema during prayer or Torah reading, it is worthy to take an extra moment to ponder and capture its meaning and to be captured by its implications. The Shema…
...demands devotion, and it demands that we listen.
...implicates a national Jewish unity (irrespective of politics in Israel) before a unified God of the Jewish people.
...announces the presence and intimacy of God with each of us daily.
...offers a comfort that obviates aloneness and a Divine care which abides until the grave.
...balances our day with morning and evening equilibrium, recentering us when we lean or tilt.
...is God’s message of love placed in our mouths, to be uttered easily and effortlessly, as a lifetime salve.
How wonderful to be able to boil down Jewish life and obligation to living with this one assertion as our daily mantra, and how much it gives us in return! All it asks of us is to speak it and to listen to God and the world in reply.
This week, we take an extra moment for the Shema: "Hear O Israel, ADONAI is Our God, ADONAI is One."
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
The Shema is arguably among our most powerful statements in Jewish life. "Hear O Israel, ADONAI is Our God, ADONAI is One."
It is the foundation of Jewish belief, insofar as there is a canon of Jewish belief, asserting the oneness, uniqueness, singularity, or totality of God as One.
It is the pivotal moment in our daily, shabbat, and festival prayer service, called the Shema and Its Blessings, which structure our prayers with a focus on the unique Jewish relationship with God and Time.
And it is the closing words of the Jewish day and of the Jewish life, the affirmation one may make upon closing one’s eyes—both approaching sleep at the end of the day and at the end of a lifespan.
And it is found in this week’s Torah portion, at Deuteronomy 6:4, with two of its key letters written in enlarged script, both in the manuscript of the Torah and in printed versions of the Torah, Chumash, and prayerbook.
Indeed, without the Shema, we would be lost. It is powerfully galvanizing and striking to me that a little six-word declaration can be the organizing principle and glue of a people for millennia, no matter when and where we live.
Thus, this week, when the Shema is pronounced from the bema during prayer or Torah reading, it is worthy to take an extra moment to ponder and capture its meaning and to be captured by its implications. The Shema…
...demands devotion, and it demands that we listen.
...implicates a national Jewish unity (irrespective of politics in Israel) before a unified God of the Jewish people.
...announces the presence and intimacy of God with each of us daily.
...offers a comfort that obviates aloneness and a Divine care which abides until the grave.
...balances our day with morning and evening equilibrium, recentering us when we lean or tilt.
...is God’s message of love placed in our mouths, to be uttered easily and effortlessly, as a lifetime salve.
How wonderful to be able to boil down Jewish life and obligation to living with this one assertion as our daily mantra, and how much it gives us in return! All it asks of us is to speak it and to listen to God and the world in reply.
This week, we take an extra moment for the Shema: "Hear O Israel, ADONAI is Our God, ADONAI is One."
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
