Shmai YeshreAl (Shema Israel)
Shema Yisrael ( Part 1)
What is behind the most famous Jewish prayer?
by Rabbi Shraga Simmons
In 1945, Rabbi Eliezer Silver was sent to Europe to help
reclaim Jewish children who had been hidden during the
Holocaust with non-Jewish families. How was he able to
discover the Jewish children? He would go to gatherings of
children and loudly proclaim Shema Yisrael – "Hear O Israel,
YHWH our Elohim , YHWH is One."
Then he would look at the faces of the children for those
with tears in their eyes – those children whose distant
memory of being Jewish was their mothers putting them to
bed each night and saying the Shema with them.
Shema Yisrael – "Hear O Israel, YHWH our Elohim , YHWH
is One" – is perhaps the most famous of all Jewish sayings.
The Shema is a declaration of faith, a pledge of allegiance
to One Elohim . It is said upon arising in the morning and upon
going to sleep at night. It is said when praising Elohim and
when beseeching Him. It is the first prayer that a Jewish
child is taught to say. It is the last words a Jew says prior
to death.
The Talmud says that when Jacob was about to reveal the
end of days to his children, he was concerned that one of
them might be a non-believer. His sons reassured him
immediately and cried out, "Shema Yisrael."
The Torah records Moshe including the Shema in his
farewell address to the Jewish people.
We recite Shema when preparing to read the Torah on
Sabbaths and festivals. And we recite Shema at the end of
the holiest day of Yom Kippur when we reach the level of
angels.
Shema is contained in the mezuzah we affix to the doorpost
of our home, and in the tefillin that we bind to our arm and
head.
The cry of Shema symbolizes the ultimate faith in the
gravest situations.
Throughout the ages, the cry of Shema has always
symbolized the ultimate manifestation of faith in the gravest
situations. With the Shema on their lips, Jews accepted
martyrdom at the Inquisitor's stake and in the Nazi gas
chambers.
What is the deeper meaning of this historic affirmation of
Judaism's central creed?
Shema: "How-To"
We are commanded to say the Shema twice each day: once
in the morning and again in the evening. This requirement is
derived from the verse: "And you should speak about them
when you... lie down and when you get up" (Deut. 6:7). The
Talmud explains that when you "lie down and when you get
up" does not refer to the literal position of one's body, but
rather designates the time of day to say the Shema (Brachot
10b).
In technical terms, the time for reciting the evening Shema
starts at nightfall (about 40 minutes after sundown) and
continues until midnight (or if necessary, until dawn the next
day). The time for the morning Shema starts about an hour
before sunrise (from when you can recognize a friend from
four cubits away), and continues until about 8 a.m. (the end
of three complete seasonal hours).
The Shema speaks of loving Elohim and passing Jewish
traditions to our children.
The full Shema is comprised of 3 paragraphs from the
Torah. The first paragraph, Deut. 6:4-9, contains the
concepts of loving Elohim , learning Torah, and passing on
Jewish tradition to our children.
These verses also refer specifically to the mitzvot of tefillin
and mezuzah. While praying, we wear tefillin as a visible
sign of Elohim close to our hearts and close to our brains, to
show that our every thought and emotions are directed
toward Elohim . The mezuzah scroll is affixed to our doorposts
to show that we are secure in Elohim's presence.
The second paragraph, Deut. 11:13-21, speaks about the
positive consequences of fulfilling the mitzvot, and the
negative consequences of not.
The third paragraph, Numbers 15:37-41, speaks specifically
about the mitzvah to wear tzitzit, and the Exodus from
Egypt. Tzitzit are a physical reminder of the 613
commandments in the Torah. This is derived from the
numerical value of the word tzitzit (600), plus the five knots
and eight strings on each corner, totaling 613.
What is behind the most famous Jewish prayer?
by Rabbi Shraga Simmons
In 1945, Rabbi Eliezer Silver was sent to Europe to help
reclaim Jewish children who had been hidden during the
Holocaust with non-Jewish families. How was he able to
discover the Jewish children? He would go to gatherings of
children and loudly proclaim Shema Yisrael – "Hear O Israel,
YHWH our Elohim , YHWH is One."
Then he would look at the faces of the children for those
with tears in their eyes – those children whose distant
memory of being Jewish was their mothers putting them to
bed each night and saying the Shema with them.
Shema Yisrael – "Hear O Israel, YHWH our Elohim , YHWH
is One" – is perhaps the most famous of all Jewish sayings.
The Shema is a declaration of faith, a pledge of allegiance
to One Elohim . It is said upon arising in the morning and upon
going to sleep at night. It is said when praising Elohim and
when beseeching Him. It is the first prayer that a Jewish
child is taught to say. It is the last words a Jew says prior
to death.
The Talmud says that when Jacob was about to reveal the
end of days to his children, he was concerned that one of
them might be a non-believer. His sons reassured him
immediately and cried out, "Shema Yisrael."
The Torah records Moshe including the Shema in his
farewell address to the Jewish people.
We recite Shema when preparing to read the Torah on
Sabbaths and festivals. And we recite Shema at the end of
the holiest day of Yom Kippur when we reach the level of
angels.
Shema is contained in the mezuzah we affix to the doorpost
of our home, and in the tefillin that we bind to our arm and
head.
The cry of Shema symbolizes the ultimate faith in the
gravest situations.
Throughout the ages, the cry of Shema has always
symbolized the ultimate manifestation of faith in the gravest
situations. With the Shema on their lips, Jews accepted
martyrdom at the Inquisitor's stake and in the Nazi gas
chambers.
What is the deeper meaning of this historic affirmation of
Judaism's central creed?
Shema: "How-To"
We are commanded to say the Shema twice each day: once
in the morning and again in the evening. This requirement is
derived from the verse: "And you should speak about them
when you... lie down and when you get up" (Deut. 6:7). The
Talmud explains that when you "lie down and when you get
up" does not refer to the literal position of one's body, but
rather designates the time of day to say the Shema (Brachot
10b).
In technical terms, the time for reciting the evening Shema
starts at nightfall (about 40 minutes after sundown) and
continues until midnight (or if necessary, until dawn the next
day). The time for the morning Shema starts about an hour
before sunrise (from when you can recognize a friend from
four cubits away), and continues until about 8 a.m. (the end
of three complete seasonal hours).
The Shema speaks of loving Elohim and passing Jewish
traditions to our children.
The full Shema is comprised of 3 paragraphs from the
Torah. The first paragraph, Deut. 6:4-9, contains the
concepts of loving Elohim , learning Torah, and passing on
Jewish tradition to our children.
These verses also refer specifically to the mitzvot of tefillin
and mezuzah. While praying, we wear tefillin as a visible
sign of Elohim close to our hearts and close to our brains, to
show that our every thought and emotions are directed
toward Elohim . The mezuzah scroll is affixed to our doorposts
to show that we are secure in Elohim's presence.
The second paragraph, Deut. 11:13-21, speaks about the
positive consequences of fulfilling the mitzvot, and the
negative consequences of not.
The third paragraph, Numbers 15:37-41, speaks specifically
about the mitzvah to wear tzitzit, and the Exodus from
Egypt. Tzitzit are a physical reminder of the 613
commandments in the Torah. This is derived from the
numerical value of the word tzitzit (600), plus the five knots
and eight strings on each corner, totaling 613.
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