Hear O Israel, Havayah is our God, Havayah is One
שְׁמָע יִשְׂרָאֵל י-הוה אֶ-לֹהֵינוּ י-הוה אֶחָד
The one and only time the Shema, the cardinal statement of faith in Judaism, is written in the Torah is in parashat Va’etchnan.[1] Moses states it to the Israelites at the very end of their forty year journey through the wilderness. Also in this parashah, Moses reviews the Giving of the Torah and the Ten Commandments.[2] In fact, the Mishnah Brurah quotes from the Jerusalem Talmud[3] that states that allusions to all Ten Commandments can be found in the verses of the full text of the Shema.[4] From this we learn that the Shema and the Ten Commandments are intrinsically linked in importance as foundational teachings on which the entire Torah and Jewish life rests.
Maimonides in his Sefer Hamitzvot—an enumeration and short description of all 613 commandments found in the Torah—lists the first three commandments as: 1) “I am Havayah, your God who has taken you out of the Land of Egypt,”[5] the first of the Ten Commandments which affirms our belief in God; 2) the commandment to recite the Shema twice daily and therefore assert our belief in the oneness of God[6]; 3) to love God “with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might,”[7] an intrinsic part of the daily recitation of the Shema. This further confirms the essential connection between the Shema and the Ten Commandments.
The Shema implies that the belief in God’s oneness extends to all of reality. From God’s ultimate oneness, we come to realize that all He has created is in essence one and connected. Everything is unified and part of God’s essential Oneness. Human beings reach their highest state of consciousness when they realize that the seeming plurality in the world is really a manifestation of God’s Oneness.[8] From the time of Abraham till this day, the teaching of One God has been at the center of Judaism’s mission in the world. Thus, the Shema stands as a constant reminder of the Jewish people’s unique charge to help manifest God’s Oneness in the world.
God Now and in the Future
Rashi’s commentary on the Shema is simple but powerful:
“Havayah, who is our God presently, but is not the God of the nations, is destined to be the one God of the whole world.” As it says in Zephaniah: “For then I will cause the peoples [to speak] a pure language so that they may all call upon the name of Havayah.”[9] Additionally, it is also written in Zechariah: “On that day Havayah will be one and His Name one.”[10]
Along with the Shema being a statement of faith, it can leap from the soul as a heart-felt plea: Hashem!! Please reveal your Oneness in the world and bring the whole world together in peace and harmony to be one!![11] Even more, it can be taken as a call to action, a commitment to assist God in transforming the world so that unity can be manifest in the here and now.
Shema: Hearing, Seeing and Joy
The sense of hearing in Kabbalah is always associated with the sefirah of binah, understanding.[12] Thus, the word shema, which literally means “Hear,” implies not only physical hearing but a deep sense of understanding. Binah is referred to as the mother principle in Kabbalah, representing the archetypal, receptive feminine energy.[13] Although prayer and the daily discipline of reciting Shema take great initiative, on a deeper level, it is an exercise in receptivity. The understanding we attempt to reach through the Shema is thus a union between active intellectual focus and a more passive self-nullification and openness that allows Divine revelation to fill our whole being.
The three letters of the word Shema (שְׁמַע) are in order the initials of the phrase from Isaiah, “lift your eyes upwards”[14] (שְׂאוּ מָרוֹם עֵינֵיכֶם). Here we see the union between the sefirah of binah which is associated with hearing (Hear O’ Israel) and the sefirah of chochmah which is associated with sight. In fact, the Zohar states that the two sefirot of chochmah and binah are “like two beloved companions who never separate.”[15] By closing our eyes when reciting the Shema, we practice seeing with the inner eye of the soul that which our conscience hears when saying the Shema.
The inner experience of binah is joy, as taught in Kabbalah and Chasidut.[16] This connection between binah—the mother principle—and joy is found in the verse: “the mother of children is joyful.”[17] Binah’s children according to Kabbalah are the seven emotive faculties or sefirot of the heart.
The first verse of the Shema is, “Hear O Israel, Havayah is our God, Havayah is One” (שְׁמָע יִשְׂרָאֵל י-הוה אֶ-לֹהֵינוּ י-הוה אֶחָד). It consists of six words and its numerical value is 1118. This is also the value of the phrase, “I am very happy to give witness to the unity of God” (אֲנִי שָׂמֵחַ מְאֹד לְהָעִיד עַל אַחְדוּת י-הוה). We should be full of joy that not only are we aware of the One God and the unity of all things, but that I can also proclaim and give witness to this reality.[18]
Additionally, 1118 is the smallest number that is a multiple of both 26 and 86, where 26 is the value of God’s essential four-letter Name, Havayah and 86 is the value of His Name, Elokim. This is indeed the very sign of the Shema, that Havayah and Elokim are one![19]
Israel’s Mission
Not only is the Shema the cardinal statement of faith of the Jewish people but as mentioned above, it encapsulates the very mission of the Jewish people. Israel does not only declare that God is One but we, the people of Israel, “one nation in the earth,”[20] are his loyal representatives.
Thus, Israel in the Shema is not only being called to hear/understand the oneness of God but more so to integrate in the deepest recesses of the soul that Israel contains “an actual part of God above.”[21] In doing so we unite our most inner spark of Divinity with its ultimate source in One God.
Permuting the letters of Israel (יִשְׂרָאֵל) reveals the words, “I have a head” (לִי רֹאשׁ). This alludes to the primary emphasis in Judaism of using one’s intellect, the head, to lead the way. The Alter Rebbe taught in Tanya that the mind must rule over the heart, the intellect must make order and sense of the emotions.[22] Yet he then reveals that despite this very important rule, there is an inner point of the heart that ultimately rises above the intellect and in certain crucial decision must be taken into consideration.
The Shema which declares the unity of God must be based on one’s own sense of inner unity of mind and heart, intellect and emotion.
Havayah is our God
God’s four-letter Name, Havayah, characterizes in general God’s more transcendent posture vis-à-vis the world, whereas the name Elokim which equals numerically the all-encompassing word for nature, pronounced hateva (הַטֶּבַע), symbolizes God’s imminent Presence in the world. In Kabbalah, God’s being transcendent is termed “He who surrounds all worlds”; God’s imminence is called memale kol almin, meaning, “He fills all worlds.” Yet these two manifestations of God are ultimately one.[23]
The four-letter Name of God is not pronounced as written, rather pronounce it using the Name of God, Adni.[24] When permuting the letters of Adni (אֲ-דֹנָי) we find the word din (דִּין), judgment. Yet the four-letter Name as it is written is always associated with mercy, love and compassion. The unity of these two seemingly opposite attributes also lies at the heart of the unity proclaimed in the Shema.
The word “our God” (אֱלֹהֵינוּ) equals 102, the same as the “faith” (אֱמוּנָה). The faith that Havayah is “our God” now but in the future the awareness of the One God will be universally accepted is, at the heart of Shema being the cardinal statement of faith in Judaism. The middle letter of the Shema—the 13th of its 25 letters—is the alef of the word Elokenu (אֱלֹהֵינוּ). Alef is the first letter of the word for faith, and thus the pivotal, middle point of the Shema.[25]
This faith should be understood intellectually, felt emotionally and acted upon in our interactions with the world.
God is One
The Zohar states that God is, “One, but not in number.”[26] The Zohar’s intent is to state that God is not one as opposed to two. Instead, the word “one” in the Shema should be understood as the oneness of God that is unique and transcends any human concept of oneness and unity. Therefore, we should not think in terms of the number one, rather a state of oneness that includes and encompasses all reality yet transcends any and all attempts of defining that unity.
God’s Oneness is only truly revealed in a place of revealed unity. Therefore, the awesome revelation of God at Mount Sinai could only occur because the people arrived at Mount Sinai “like one person with one heart.”[27] As stated above, “one” (אֶחָד) numerically equals 13, as does the word “love” (אַהֲבָה). Together they equal 26, the same as the four-letter Name of God.[28] In both the morning and evening, the reading of the Shema is preceded by a blessing. In the morning it is: “Blessed are you, Havayah, who chooses His people Israel with love” while in the evening it is: “Blessed are you, Havayah, Who loves his nation Israel.” In both cases the blessing expresses the great love God has for Israel.
Immediately following the recitation of the Shema, we begin the first of three passages the Sages instituted to be said with the Shema morning and evening with the words: “and you shall love Havayah, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might.”[29] This statement expresses the great love of God the Jewish people are to strive for.
Thus, we see that Kriyat Shema is surrounded by love: the love of God for Israel and the love of Israel for God. “Havayah is one,” the unity of God, is meant to be experienced as pure love.
The numerical equivalents of the three letters that make up the word “one” (א ח ד) are 1, 8, and 4, respectively. They provide the background for a basic intent one should have when reciting the Shema: God who is One (alef), is drawn down through the seven heavens and earth where God’s Oneness will spread out and be manifest to the four directions (dalet).[30]
In fact, saying the Shema accomplishes not only drawing down God’s Oneness into this material world but also is a powerful paradigm for drawing down the soul’s root into active consciousness.
The Shema is written in parashat Va’etchanan immediately after the description of the Land of Israel, “a land flowing in milk and honey.”[31] The three letters of the word echad (אֶחָד) are the same three letters that begin the three words “a land flowing with milk and honey” (אֶרֶץ חָלָב דְּבַשׁ).[32] From this we see that the revelation of the unity of God is most easily done in the Holy Land, flowing like milk and honey.
[1]. Deuteronomy 6:4.
[2]. Ibid 5:6-18.
[3]. Berachot 1:5.
[4]. Orach Chaim 61:1.
[5]. Exodus 20:2; Deuteronomy 5:6.
[6]. Deuteronomy 6:4.
[7]. Ibid 6:5.
[8]. Yaiyn Yitzchak, Va’etchanan, §52.
[9]. 3:9.
[10]. 14:9.
[11]. Yaiyn Yitzchak, Va’etchanan, §61.
[12]. Ibid, section 60.
[13]. Anatomy of the Soul, pp. 93-94.
[14]. 40:26; Tikkunei Zohar 85a.
[15]. Anatomy of the Soul, pp. 93-94.
[16]. Ibid.
[17]. Psalms 113:9.
[18]. Yaiyn Yitzchak, Va’etchanan, §58.
[19]. 137: The Riddle of Creation, p. 68.
[20]. 2 Samuel 7:23.
[21]. Tanya, chapter 2.
[22]. Chapters 12 and 17.
[23]. Yaiyn Yitzchak, Va’etchanan, §65.
[24]. See Rashi on Exodus 3:15.
[25]. The Hebrew Letters, p. 36.
[26]. Opening of Patach Eliyahu.
[27]. See Rashi on Exodus 19:2.
[28]. Yaiyn Yitzchak, Va’etchanan, §48.
[29]. Deuteronomy 6:5.
[30]. Orach Chaim 61:5.
[31]. Deuteronomy 6:3.
[32]. (10) .מאמרי תש"ה – ד"ה שובה ישראל
