The Shema At the New London Salon

(1) We [are obligated to] recite the Shema twice daily - in the evening and in the morning - as [Deuteronomy 6:7] states: "...when you lie down and when you rise" - i.e., when people are accustomed to sleep - this being the night - and when people are accustomed to rise, this being daytime.

Beit Shammai say: in the evening every person must recline and in the morning he must stand as it is stated: “When you lie down, and when you rise.”

And Beit Hillel say: Every person recites as they are as it is stated: “And when you walk along the way,”

If so why was it stated: “When you lie down, and when you rise”? This is to denote ; at the time when people lie down and the time when people rise.

Rabbi Tarfon said: I was coming on the road reclined to recite in accordance with the statement of Beit Shammai. I endangered myself due to the highwaymen [listim] The Sages said to him: You deserved to pay with your life, as you transgressed the statement of Beit Hillel.

(2) And what is it that one recites? These three sections:
"Hear O Israel..." (Deuteronomy 6:4-9),
"And if you will listen..." (Deuteronomy 11:13-21),and
"And God said..." (Numbers 15:37-41).

We begin with the section of "Hear O Israel" since it contains [the concept of] the unity of God, [the commandment of] loving Him and the study of Torah, it being a fundamental principle upon which everything is based.

After it, [we read] "And if you will listen...," since it contains the imperative to fulfil the rest of the commandments, and finally the portion of tzitzit, since it also contains the imperative of remembering all the commandments.

(4) Hear, O Israel! יקוק is our God, יקוק alone. (5) You shall love your God יקוק with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. (6) Places on you heart these instructions with which I charge you this day. (7) Repeat them to your children. Recite them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up. (8) Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead; (9) inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

(1) King David said to the entire assemblage, “God has chosen my son Solomon alone, an untried lad, although the work to be done is vast—for the temple is not for a man but for the LORD God.

Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak said to Rav Ḥiyya bar Avin: What is written in the tefillin of the Master of the world? Rav Ḥiyya bar Avin replied: “Who is like Your people, Israel, one nation in the land?” (I Chronicles 17:21).

Is the Holy One, Blessed be He, glorified through the glory of Israel? Yes as it is stated: "You have affirmed, this day, the Lord" And the next verse states: “And the Lord has affirmed, this day, that you are His treasure, (Deuteronomy 26:17–18).

The Holy Blessed One said to Israel: You have made Me one entity [ḥativa] in the world. And I will make you one entity in the world.

As it is stated “Hear, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One” (Deuteronomy 6:4). And I will make you one entity in the world, “Who is like Your people, Israel, one nation in the land?”

(4) When reciting the Shema, after completing the first verse, one says quietly "Blessed be the name of the glory of His Kingdom forever." He then continues to read the first section in its normal fashion: "And you shall love God, your Lord..."
Why do we read it in this fashion? It is our tradition that when the patriarch, Jacob, gathered all his sons together in Egypt close to his death, he commanded and urged them regarding the Unity of God and the path of God upon which Abraham and Isaac, his father, had tread.
He asked them: "My sons, perhaps there are dregs among you, one who does not stand with me in the Unity of God?" This is comparable to the manner in which Moses, our teacher, said to us: "Lest there be among you a man or woman [whose heart turns this day from God...]" (Deuteronomy 29:17).
They all answered and said: "Listen, Israel, God is our Lord, God is One," i.e., listen to us, Israel, our father, God is our Lord, God is One.
The wise elder responded: "Blessed be the Name of the Glory of His Kingdom forever." Therefore, the Jews are accustomed to utter the praise that Israel, the wise elder, uttered after this verse.

(1) With the beginning (Gen. 1:1). This is what Scripture means when it says: The Lord with wisdom founded the earth (Prov. 3:19). That is, when the Holy One, blessed be He, was about to create this world, He consulted the Torah before embarking upon the work of creation, as it is said: Counsel is mine and sound wisdom; I am understanding, power is mine (ibid. 8:14). How was the Torah written? It was written with letters of black fire on a surface of white fire, as is said: His locks are curled and black as a raven (Song 5:11). What is meant by His locks are curled? It means that each crowned stroke on the letters of the Torah contains heaps and heaps of law. For example, it is written in the Torah: Profane not My Holy Name (Lev. 22:2); but if you should change the het in the word yehallelu (“profane”) into a heh, the word would read “praise,” and you would thereby destroy the world. Conversely, where it is written Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord (Ps. 150:6), if you should alter the heh in the word tehallel (“praise”) into a het, the word would read “profane,” and you would thereby destroy the world.

(2) Similarly, in the verse Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One (Deut. 6:4), if you should change the dalet in the word ehad (“one”) into a resh, the word would then read aher (“another”), and you would thereby destroy the world, since it is said: For thou shalt not bow to another god (Exod. 34:14). Likewise, in the verse They have lied against the Lord (Jer. 5:12), if you should change the preposition bet (“against”) into the preposition kaf (“like”), you would thereby destroy the world.

(3) Again, in the verse There is none holy as the Lord (I Sam. 2:2), if you alter the preposition kaf (“as”) to read bet (“in”), you would thereby destroy the world.

(4) If a slight change in a single letter can produce such drastic consequences, how much more so the alteration of a complete word. Such, then, is the meaning of His locks are curled.

(1) (Devarim 33:5) "And He was a King in Yeshurun": When Israel are of one counsel below, His great name is exalted above, viz. "And He was a King in Yeshurun" — When? "when the heads of the people gathered." And there is no "gathering" but that of the elders, as it is written (Bamidbar 11:16) "Gather unto Me seventy men from the elders of Israel."

(2) (Devarim, Ibid.) "together, the tribes of Israel" — when they constitute one unit, and not when they are divided into many factions, as it is written (Amos 9:6) "Who builds His heights in the heavens and His bond on earth endures." — R. Shimon b. Yochai says: This is analogous to one's bringing two ships, connecting them with braces and bars, and building stately edifices upon them. So long as the ships are bound, the edifices endure; once the ships separate, the edifices no longer endure. So, with Israel: When they do the will of the L-rd, their heights are in the heavens and His bond on earth endures. Similarly, (Shemoth 15:20) "This is my G-d and I will extol Him ("ve'anvehu"): When I acknowledge Him, He is "beautiful" ("naveh, as in ve'anvehu"), and (even) when I do not acknowledge Him," He is "beautiful." Similarly, (Isaiah 43:12) "And you are My witnesses, says the L-rd, and I am G-d ("Kel")": When you are My witnesses, I am G-d, and if you are not My witnesses I am not G-d" (i.e., I do not manifest Myself as "Kel"). Similarly, (Psalms 23:1) "To You I have raised my eyes, Who dwells in Heaven." If not, I would not dwell in heaven. Here, too, "together, the tribes of Israel" — when they are one bond (agudah), and not when they are of many agudoth (factions). Thus, "together the tribes of Israel."