SHEMA ISRAEL: Pasuq 5. Love for God in actions and thoughts.

“And you shall bind them [the words which declare our love for God] for a sign upon your hand and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes”.
We are commanded to bind the words “And you shall love HaShem your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” upon our hands and between our eyes. This means that love for God must influence what we do with our hands–our actions–and what we think with our brains–our thoughts.
This and the previous verse together (see here) teach us that our love for God must make us speak, do, and think what is right.
This verse is the origin of the use of the Tefilin or phylacteries, which contain four sections of the Tora, which set forth all that is dear and holy for the Jewish people. They are worn, therefore, because of what they teach and because of their influence, when rightly understood, upon our conduct.  Similarly the High Priest wore on his forehead the inscription “Holy to HaShem,” to teach holiness as the ideal of human conduct.
“Wearing” the Shema Israel as a frontlet thus becomes a reminder of right conduct through love of God.
These ideas are conveyed in the words of the meditation which many Jews recite when about to wear Tefilin: “Through the influence of this command, the Tefilin, may we be blessed with sacred impulses and pure thoughts, with no desire for sin or iniquity. May evil imagination have no power to allure us and lead us astray, but may we be led to worship HaShem as it is in our hearts to do.”
Adapted from the book “Jewish religion ethically presented” by rabbi Hayim Pereira- Mendes (1905)  

Click here to read:  “TEFILLIN: Everything you need to know about those powerful black boxes, placed on the head and arm” by  Rabbi Shraga Simmons, from Aish.


Shema Israel. Pasuq 4. Declaring our love of God.

(1)And you shall teach (these words) to your children, and you shall speak of them (2) when you are sitting in your house and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up.
In this pasuq the Tora commands us to express our love for God with our words and speech. 
  
In the first part of this pasuq (=verse) we learn about the duties of the parents to teach their children to love HaShem with all their heart, with all their soul and with all their might. Additionally, we are told, we must speak of our love for God and prove that it is real and that it influences our conduct at all times.   Our rabbis explained that the education process of our children always takes place as mimetic (imitative) experience. They said: When (or How) does it happen that we teach our children the love of God? At the time that we convey our love of God with our words.  Not when we preach to them about loving God, but when they see us practicing it: studying Tora, praying to Him and thanking Him for all we have.  
The second part of this pasuq teaches us that love of God is an integral part of our daily lives. We should not limit our prayers and words to Him just when we are in Synagogue. The pasuq emphasizes that we should express our love for Him when we are sitting at home, by ourselves or with our families in the privacy of our home, but also outside home, in the street, in front of others.  Our love for God should be the first thing we declare when we get up in the morning, and the last, when we go to sleep.
A good example of expressing our love for God constantly with our words, is when we say at all times (MEANING IT!) “barukh HaShem”= “Thanks God” , or “be’ezrat haShem” =”with God’s help”.


√ TRY ALSO THIS:   
The SHEMA ISRAEL  by Rabbi Hayim Pereira-Mendes (1905)


Shema Israel: Pasuq 3: “Words and the heart”

In previous weeks we’ve learned from Verse One the principles of Jewish faith (see here) and from Verse Two our duty to love our God (see here). Today we will analyze Verse Three. 
 “And these words which I command you this day, shall be upon your heart”.
The words which are to be upon our hearts are the words: “You shall love HaShem your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.”
What does it mean: “that these words should be over the heart”? It means that love for God must rule over our hearts and shape our conduct. Merely saying ‘with words’ that we love Him is not enough. Our actions, what we do, must prove our words and feelings. Same as in a relation between husband and wife, feelings only count when they are expressed by compatible actions.   When our words conflict with our deeds, what count is our deeds. Children know this better than anyone else. They are the best polygraphs! They don’t listen to what parents say: the see what we parents do.  We don’t need words to transmit religious values to our children. They will not necessarily follow our preaching, but they will surely imitate our doing.
These words… should be over the heart… Loving haShem with ALL our heart means that we should avoid wrong thoughts–like excessive material ambitions– and wrong feelings–like jealousy or hatred– to take over our heart. Wicked thoughts and wrong values drive love for God out of our hearts. So, even when we cannot help wrong thoughts and negative feelings coming to our heart, we can, and must, prevent them remaining in our hearts.
  
(Adapted from R. Hayim Pereira-Mendes: “Jewish Religion Ethically Presented”)
Shabbat Shalom!
Candle lighting in NYC: 4.10 PM
Shabbat ends in NYC: 5:18 PM
  


Shema Israel. Pasuq 2. “You shall love HaShem your God”

The words of the Shema Israel are so important that we say them three times a day, every day of our lives.
The first thing we are taught in the Shema is to love God.
“You shall love HaShem your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might.” 
To love God “with all our heart”   How can you make sure that you really love HaShem? When you are happy doing what is right in His eyes, and unhappy when you do what is wrong in His eyes.  On the contrary, if you feel obligated but unhappy to do what is right in His eyes, then you might “fear” God, but not “love” God.
To love God “with all our soul” means to love Him so sincerely that we will willingly give our life for Him.   Our ancestors risked their lives and were willing to be killed in order to remain Jewish. If so many of our ancestors gave up their lives for the sake of HaShem, should not we be willing to live our lives for the sake of HaShem?
Loving HaShem with “all our might” means: with all our possessions, our money, our time.  In this sense we should understand “to love God” as “to prioritize God” over our possessions, our money, our time.  The strength of our love for God is proved by the greatness of the sacrifices we are willing to make for Him.
J.B. 2021
To love means you should sacrifice for your loved one, what is more precious to you.
בכל לבבך With all your attention:
ובכל נפשך With all your time:
ובכל מאודך With all your possessions
Listen and learn the first part (perasha) of the Shema Israel, Sephardic style. 
  


Shema Israel, word by word

And you shall love, HaShem your God, with all your heart… (Debarim 6:5)
Loving, in the Hebrew mind, is voluntary. Otherwise, it would not have been mandatory (You “shall” love…). Love is not the spontaneous feeling of affection that is there or disappears at the will of cupid or a magic potion, but the product of a series of elective actions and thoughts.   “Loving someone” at the most basic level means “thinking about someone”. This thought is then translated into “Taking care of…”, “Looking out for…”, “Doing for…” etc.  We know we love a person when we have that person in our mind.  If we are indifferent to that person, chances are that we might like or even need that person, but we might not love him or her. 
When we really love someone with passion (our spouse, our children) we can’t stop thinking about them. The best proof we love ourselves so much (and so passionately) is that we are constantly thinking about ourselves! 
Loving God means, bringing ourselves to think about God. Reminding ourselves of Him, of His presence, of His kindness, of His constant care for us. The more we bring God to our mind, the more we love God, and vice versa.  
This is how Maimonides (H. Teshuba, 10:5) explains our verse: Loving God with all our heart means loving Him with passion (ahaba ‘aza ‘ad me-od). Ideally, a Jew should be in-love with God, which means, thinking about Him constantly (veshoge bah tamid). 
Maimonides also explains there that we should not serve God for a reward (that would be another way of loving “ourselves”) and not even for yir-a or fear of a punishment (that will be a way of “looking out” for ourselves) but for pure love of Him.  
Excellent presentation on Lashon haRa!!!


Barukh Shem Kebod Malkhuto le’Olam va’Ed

After we say the first pasuq “HaShem is our God, HaShem is one”, we read a sentence which is not part of the Biblical text of the Shema Israel:  “barukh shem kebod malkhuto le’olam va’ed”.  “May the Glorious Name of His Kingship be blessed forever”.  We dare to utter God’s Name, in the same way we pronounce any name. That is why we disclaim by this phrase that the understanding of His Name lies beyond our human capacity.  This phrase is considered a very high form of praise, where we praise God, by praising the glory (=the ineffability) of God’s Name.  
The rabbis in the Talmud tells us that this phrase was first said by Yaacob Abinu: In his deathbed he gathered all his children to find out if all of them were following his footsteps. When they said: “HaShem is our God, HaShem is one”, he replied:  “barukh shem kebod…” as an expression of gratitude, peace of mind  and praise to HaShem knowing that  all his children were following his ways. 
In the times of the Bet-haMiqdash, this phrase was said by the whole community of Israel gathered there for Yom Kippur, when the Cohen Gadol (High Priest) pronounced the ineffable name of God of four letters.  Besides being one of the highest expressions of praising to His name, barukh shem kebod…  also served to hide the Name of God, by saying it out-loud by all, while the Name of God was pronounced by the Cohen Gadol.   
Every day when we say the Shema Israel we read barukh shem kebod silently, whispering it. To signal that it does not belong to the original Biblical text. Except for one day in the year. On Yom Kippur we say barukh shem kebod malkhuto out-loud in remembrance of what took place in the Bet-haMiqdash. 


Shema Israel: Pasuq 1. God exists. He is our God. And He is one.

Last week we explained the first word “Shema”. Which in Hebrew means, listening while paying attention and understanding what you are told.

Elsewhere, I have shared with the readers a derasha on the second word: “Israel”, and how it hints to the names of our three patriarchs and four matriarchs.
These two words are announcing that a very important message will be delivered to the members of the Nation of Israel.

“HaShem is our God, HaShem is one”

“HaShem”, literally means “The Name” and it alludes to God. So, anytime you find “HaShem” you could mentally replace it for “The God of Israel”.

Rabbenu Bahya Ebn Paquda (Span, XI century) in his book Chobot haLebabaot explains that this verse includes three principles, the core beliefs of the Jewish faith.

1. HaShem IS our God…: The first thing you affirm when you say “the book is blue” is that the book “is” = exists. Similarly. The first message of “Shema Israel” is that HaShem exists.

2. HaShem is OUR God: Evidently, HaShem is the God of every human being. He is the Creator of heavens, earth and life. What does it mean then OUR God?“Our” God is saying more about US than about God. It means that God established a special covenant, a unique relationship with us, by choosing us and giving us His Tora. He made us HIS People, the “chosen people”. Which implies that we have more responsibilities and we are expected to follow higher moral standards than gentiles.

3. HaShem is ONE: The unity of God is a cardinal principle. There are no gods or other forces outside God’s control. One example: We don’t believe in “Nature” as an independent force. God is the artifice of nature. He controls, runs and operates nature.


Understanding the Shema Israel

The Shulchan Arukh clearly writes that the kavana (usually translated as attention, or focus) we are required to have when we pray consists primarily in understanding the meaning of the words we are pronouncing.

If we are not fluent in Hebrew, we should make the effort to understand the meaning of the words we pronounce. In the following weeks, B’H, we are going to explain the words of the Shema Israel and the ideas behind it.

When we pray, we should know first the simple meaning of a word. But then, we should also delve into the ideas behind the words. For example: the word ATA, means in Hebrew “YOU”. And the idea behind “YOU” is that we are addressing God in the second person! When we say baruch ata, after we understand that ATA means “YOU”, we must also realize and bring ourselves to think and feel that we are standing directly in front of Him. That God Almighty is present here and now.

Let us explore now the first word: shema’.

“shema” means “listen”, in the imperative form. In addition, and same as in English when in opposition to “hear”, “shema” means: listening while paying close attention. The rabbis mentioned that in this sense,“listen” precisely implies “understand” (bekhol lashon sheata shomea).

Our rabbis explained that the word “shema” also indicates that when we read the Shema Israel we need to be completely focused on it. It is obviously forbidden to talk and even to make a sound or a body signal, even to greet someone. We must reach a state of total concentration while reciting the Shema Israel.

In sum: “shema israel” means: You, members of the Jewish Nation, pay close attention, focus and understand the following crucial statement: “Hashem is our God, HaShem is one”.


ISRAEL TODAY

Israel and the apartheid slander, by Richard J. Goldstone