{"id":8394,"date":"2016-02-16T11:00:13","date_gmt":"2016-02-16T09:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/?p=8394"},"modified":"2018-05-24T12:58:40","modified_gmt":"2018-05-24T09:58:40","slug":"03-16-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/03-16-11\/","title":{"rendered":"11.  248 Words"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Torah gives life and health to the world and to humanity. This is especially true of <em>Shema<\/em>, which contains the principles of faith and the fulfillment of the <em>mitzvot<\/em>. The Sages teach that <em>Shema<\/em> is comprised of 248 words, just as there are 248 limbs in the human body; when one recites <em>Shema<\/em> properly, each and every limb corresponds to one word and is healed by it. However, in the three paragraphs of <em>Shema<\/em> there are actually 245 words. In order to reach 248, the <em>\u0125azan<\/em> repeats the last three words, \u201c<em>Hashem Elokeikhem emet<\/em>\u201d (\u201cthe Lord, your God, is true\u201d), thereby completing the count to 248 (<em>Zohar \u0124adash Ruth<\/em> 95:1; see also <em>Peninei Halakha: Prayer<\/em> 15:12).<\/p>\n<p>Women, who do not pray in the synagogue, do not hear the <em>\u0125azan<\/em>, and therefore must practice one would when praying individually. That is, according to Ashkenazic custom, before beginning <em>Shema<\/em> she says, \u201c<em>Kel Melekh ne\u2019eman<\/em>\u201d (\u201cGod, faithful King\u201d). Even though women have 252 limbs, as the womb has two doors and two hinges (<em>Bekhorot <\/em>45a), since all people have 248 limbs, perhaps it is most important to direct the blessings toward them, and the blessing will then continue to the limbs unique to women (<em>Min\u0125at Elazar <\/em>2:28; <em>Ha-elef Lekha Shlomo <\/em>O\u0124 120).<\/p>\n<p>According to Sephardic custom, one praying individually should also complete the three missing words on her own and repeat \u201c<em>Hashem<\/em> <em>Elokeikhem<\/em> <em>emet<\/em>\u201d (<em>Kaf Ha-\u0125ayim<\/em> 61:15-16).\u00a0 Some say that according to Sephardic custom a woman should say \u201c<em>Kel Melekh Ne\u2019eman<\/em>\u201d before and also repeat \u201c<em>Hashem Elokeikhem emet<\/em>\u201d after <em>Shema<\/em>, thereby reaching 252 words, matching the number of her limbs (<em>She\u2019eirit Yosef <\/em>vol. 2, p. 186).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Torah gives life and health to the world and to humanity. This is especially true of Shema, which contains the principles of faith and the fulfillment of the mitzvot. The Sages teach that Shema is comprised of 248 words, just as there are 248 limbs in the human body; when one recites Shema properly, [&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-8394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-03-16"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>11. 248 Words - Peninei Halakha<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/03-16-11\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"11. 248 Words - Peninei Halakha\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Torah gives life and health to the world and to humanity. This is especially true of Shema, which contains the principles of faith and the fulfillment of the mitzvot. 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