{"id":8380,"date":"2016-02-16T04:00:01","date_gmt":"2016-02-16T02:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/?p=8380"},"modified":"2018-05-24T12:57:10","modified_gmt":"2018-05-24T09:57:10","slug":"03-16-04","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/03-16-04\/","title":{"rendered":"04. The Content of the Shema Paragraph"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <em>Shema<\/em> paragraph (Devarim 6:4-9) consists of three sections: 1) the principle of faith; 2) the meaning of this principle in our lives; 3) guidance on imbuing our lives with faith.<\/p>\n<p>1) The first verse, \u201cHear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One,\u201d teaches the core principle of Jewish monotheistic faith: that God is Master of all and there is no power in the world other than Him. Even though it may seem to us that there are other distinct powers, in truth God is the One and Only, Who sustains all. There is none but Him.<\/p>\n<p>2) This belief bears great significance on our lives. It implies that there is no value in this world outside adherence to God, and we are thus enjoined to love Him \u201cwith all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.\u201d The Sages (<em>Berakhot<\/em> 54a) interpret these words: \u201c\u2018With all your heart\u2019 \u2013 with both of your inclinations: your good inclination and your evil inclination,\u201d because one\u2019s evil inclination must be controlled to serve God, whether by force or by transforming it into good; \u201c\u2018And with all your soul\u2019 \u2013 even if it takes your life,\u201d for one must be ready to give his life for his belief in God; \u201c\u2018And with all your might\u2019 (\u2018<em>me\u2019odekha<\/em>\u2019) \u2013 with all your money (\u2018<em>mamonekha<\/em>\u2019)\u201d \u2013 even one\u2019s money should serve as a basis and a means to serve God, so that if it were demanded of a Jew to violate his religion or lose all his wealth, he would forfeit his money rather than defy his belief. Alternatively, they interpret, \u201c\u2018With all your might\u2019 \u2013 no matter what He metes out to you (\u2018<em>be-khol mida u-mida she-Hu moded lekha<\/em>\u2019), be very grateful to him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>3) In the third part of this paragraph, the Torah offers guidance for incorporating these principles of faith. First, \u201cThese words that I command you today shall be upon your heart,\u201d and then, \u201cteach them to your children.\u201d Even after one learns the basics of faith very well, if he does not repeat them to himself every day, the worries of his life and his dealings can cause him to forget them. Therefore we are commanded, \u201cAnd you shall speak them when you sit at home, when you walk on your way, when you lie down, and when you rise.\u201d From here we derive the obligation to recite <em>Shema<\/em> both in the morning and at night. Nevertheless, the Torah is not content with recitation alone; it adds the mitzva to place these paragraphs on faith into our <em>tefillin<\/em> and to bind them to our arms and heads: \u201cYou shall bind them as a sign on your arm and they should be a symbol between your eyes.\u201d We are moreover commanded to fix them firmly in the <em>mezuzot<\/em> on our doorposts, as it is written, \u201cwrite them on the doorposts (<em>mezuzot<\/em>) of your homes and your gates.\u201d This is so that every time we enter and exit our homes, we notice the <em>mezuza<\/em> and recall the fundamentals of Jewish faith.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Shema paragraph (Devarim 6:4-9) consists of three sections: 1) the principle of faith; 2) the meaning of this principle in our lives; 3) guidance on imbuing our lives with faith. 1) The first verse, \u201cHear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One,\u201d teaches the core principle of Jewish monotheistic faith: that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[120],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-03-16"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>04. 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