15 - Keriat Shema

11 – Tefillin and Tzitzit while Reciting Shema

We must pray and recite Shema of Shacharit with tefillin, as it says in the Shema paragraph, “And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.” The Chachamim say, “A person who recites Shema without wearing tefillin is as if he gives false testimony of himself” (Berachot 14b). Nevertheless, even a person who does not have tefillin is required to recite Shema, since these two mitzvot are not interdependent. If a person cannot fulfill the mitzvah of tefillin, he should at least fulfill the mitzvah of Shema, and he is not considered giving false testimony, since it is due to circumstances beyond his control (Mishnah Berurah 46:33; see earlier in this book 12:9, footnote 10).

It is customary to touch the tefillin of the arm when saying, “Bind them as a sign on your hand,” and the tefillin of the head while saying, “And they shall be as frontlets between your eyes,” and then to kiss the hand that touched the tefillin (Shulchan Aruch 61:25; Chayei Adam 14:15).

It is also customary to wrap oneself in tzitzit before Shacharit since the third paragraph of Shema discusses the mitzvah of tzitzit. It is customary to hold the tzitziyot with one’s left hand adjacent to the heart during the time one says Shema as a reminder of what is written, “Put these words… on your heart” (Shulchan Aruch 24:2). Some take the two tzitziyot in front and others gather all four tzitziyot.[9]

It is customary before the paragraph of Vayomer to take the tzitziyot with one’s right hand (Mishnah Berurah 24:4) or with both hands (Kaf HaChaim 24:8) and while saying the word “tzitzit,” kiss the tzitzit, and while saying, “u’re’item oto”, (“and you shall see them”), look at them. Some pass them over their eyes and kiss them. It is also customary to kiss the tzitzit at the end of the paragraph while saying “emet.” We continue to hold the tzitziyot until the words, “v’nechemadim la’ad,” in Birkat Emet V’Yatziv, and then we kiss the tzitziyot again and put them down (Mishnah Berurah 24:4; Kaf HaChaim 24:8, 18). There are additional customs concerning this; however, all these customs are enhancements of the mitzvah and do not prevent one from fulfilling one’s obligation if they are not performed.

[9]. The ShulchanAruch, in 24:5 and 61:25, explains that a person takes the two tzitziyot in front of him. So writes Yam Shel Shlomo and the Gra in Ma’aseh Rav 39. There is an additional reason to do so, for sometimes the search for the two tzitziyot in back can disrupt one’s concentration while saying BirkatAhavatOlam. However, the Ari says that one should take hold of all four tzitziyot, as is brought by KafHaChaim 24:8, and so it is written in the BirkeiYosef and KitzurShulchanAruch 17:7. The BirkeiYosef writes in the name of the Ari that one should hold his tzitziyot in his left hand between his ring finger and his pinky; so writes the MishnahBerurah 24:4. Also see KafHaChaim 24:9.
A few Acharonim write that a person should gather his tzitziyot when he says, “And bring us in peace from the four corners of the earth” in the berachah of Ahavat Olam (Derech HaChaim, Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 17:7).

12 – 248 Words

The Torah provides life and healing to the world and to mankind. This is especially true concerning Keriat Shema, in which the fundamentals of faith and the fulfillment of the mitzvot are included. The Chachamim teach that Shema is comprised of 248 words and that in a person’s body there are 248 organs. When a person recites Shema properly, each and every organ is healed by the word corresponding to it. However, in the three paragraphs of Shema there are actually 245 words, and in order to total 248, the chazan repeats the last three words, “Hashem Elokeichem emet” (“Hashem, your God, is true”), thereby completing the count to 248 (Zohar Chadash Ruth 95:1).

A person who prays individually is missing the last three words. There are a few minhagim concerning their completion. According to the Ashkenazic minhag, before Shema a person says, “Kel Melech Ne’eman” (“Almighty faithful King”). According to the Shulchan Aruch, one should have specific kavanah while pronouncing the first fifteen “vavs” in the opening words of Birkat Emet V’Yatziv (“V’Yatziv, V’Nachon, V’Kayam, V’Yashar, etc.…”) because they allude to three names of Hashem and are a substitute for the three missing words (Shulchan Aruch and Rama 61:3).

It is the minhag of most Sephardim that a person praying individually should complete the three missing words on his own and repeat “Hashem Elokeichem emet,” instead of the chazan. Although an individual’s repetition of these words is clearly less important than the chazan’s reiteration, nevertheless, there is a certain substitution in it. Additionally, a person who finishes reciting Shema after the chazan concludes “Hashem Elokeichem emet” should repeat those last words so as to complete the three missing words (Kaf HaChaim 61: 15-16).[10]

[10]. The Acharonim are divided. According to the MahariAyash, Sha’areiTeshuvah, and many others, because he heard the chazan say “HashemElokeichememet,” even though he did not finish saying Shema, those three words are considered part of the 248 words. That is the Ashkenazic minhag and the minhag of a few Sephardim (as is clarified in Sha’areiTefillah). However, the KafHaChaim 16 writes, based on Kavanot HaAri, that the recital of the three words must be in order. Therefore, if he heard the chazan say them before he concluded his recital of Shema, he repeats individually “HashemElokeichememet.”There is also a difference of minhag regarding how the chazan (and according to the Kaf HaChaim also an individual praying) should complete these words, for if he says, “Hashem Elokeichem emet” twice, he will have recited 249 words. Asarah Ma’amarot and the Gra maintain that when the chazan finishes reciting Shema he should only say “Hashem Elokeichem” and afterwards go back and say “Hashem Elokeichem emet.” The Shulchan Aruch and the Pri Megadim write that the chazan should also say “emet” the first time so as not to interrupt between “Elokeichem” and “emet” and that one of them is not considered part of the 248 because it belongs to the berachah “Emet V’Yatziv.” That is how Ashkenazim practice. It is the custom of the Sephardim that at the conclusion of the Shema the chazan says out loud “Hashem Elokeichem” and the congregation completes the words and says after him “emet.” At the same time, the chazan says “emet” quietly. Afterwards the chazan repeats the words “Hashem Elokeichem emet” out loud (Kaf HaChaim 61:12).

According to the Chesed La’alafim, it is the Sephardic custom that the congregation only says “emet” out loud after the chazan when they finish together with the chazan. However, if they finish before him, they say “emet” individually so as not to pause between “Elokeichem” and “emet” and they should not repeat the word “emet” after the chazan recites it. According to the Kaf HaChaim 61:12, when they finish individually, they do not say “emet,” but rather wait until the chazan finishes and answer after him “emet.”

In Ma’ariv, a person who did not hear the chazan, according to the Kaf HaChaim, should individually complete the words “Hashem Elokeichem emet.” The Ashkenazic minhag is either to say “Kel Melech Ne’eman” before the recital of Shema or, while saying “emet,” to have in mind that it represents the three names of Hashem (Mishnah Berurah 12). Ma’amar Mordechai writes that it is not necessary to complete 248 words in Ma’ariv, since the ruling in the Gemara is that there is no requirement to say the Vayomer paragraph at night.

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