JUDAISM'S DECLARATION OF FAITH – Shema Yisrael – What Does It Mean? – with Rabbi Michael Skobac

In the fifth book of the Torah, Sefer Devarim, or the book of Deuteronomy as we say in English, we have one of the best known verses in the entire Bible. In chapter 6, verse 4, we read Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad. Hear, O Israel, HaShem is our God, HaShem is one. Now, when I say HaShem, it means the name and it refers to the special divine name known as a Tetragrammaton, meaning the four-letter name of God. This four-letter name of God is a synthesis of the Hebrew words HaYah HoVeh Yihyeh, was, is, will be. He was, he is, he will be, and therefore this name of God implies that he is eternal and he's beyond time. And because of the great holiness of this name of God, it was pronounced fully only on rare occasions, such as by the high priest on the day of Yom Kippur, the day of atonement. But normally, Jewish people did not pronounce this name of God. In our prayers, we pronounce it as Adonai. In English, it is sometimes translated as the Lord. So again, you could say, Hear, O Israel, HaShem is our God, HaShem is one. Or if you prefer, Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one. Just know that when we say HaShem or the Lord, we're referring to the Tetragrammaton. We call the Yud Keh Vav Keh, the four-letter name of God. This verse is often the first biblical verse that's taught to very young Jewish children. They are the last words that Jewish people say on their deathbed. And these are the words defiantly screamed out by martyrs as their lives are being taken while sanctifying the name of God. The words of Shema Yisrael are found inside every mezuzah attached to the doorposts of our homes. And the words of Shema Yisrael are also found in the parchment scrolls that are inserted into the black leather boxes that are worn on the arm and the head called to fill in. In our liturgy, the sentence Shema Yisrael is the beginning of a reading of passages from three chapters in the Torah that's recited during the morning prayers and during the evening prayers. The practice is to recite Shema Yisrael right before going to sleep. And it became part of the dramatic conclusion of the Yom Kippur holiday, the Day of Atonement. The very first subject, the very first subject discussed in the vast Talmud concerns the recitation of Shema Yisrael. Shema Yisrael, more than almost any other verse of the Torah, has been seared into the memory and consciousness of Jewish people for millennia. During the dark days of World War II, many orphans and other Jewish babies were entrusted to Christian convents and orphanages. And rabbis came to these places after the war to try and retrieve the Jewish children. But the priests and the nuns were very resistant to giving up these children. One of these rabbis was Yosef Shlomo Kahneman, known as the Panevesher Rav. And he came to one of the Christian orphanages and was told that there were no Jewish children there. But he wouldn't take no for an answer. He did not believe the priest. And he went to the front of the room and in front of all the orphans, he cried out, Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Echad. And right away, young children who had been used to hearing these words as their parents were tucking them into bed at night, began crying and calling out for their parents. It was not too hard to discover which children at the orphanage were Jewish. However, even though the Shema may be the most familiar verse in the Jewish Bible, it is not well understood. Someone once wrote a book whose title purposely distorted the Shema, and the book was called Shema Yisrael. I don't know Adonai. I don't know Eloheinu. I don't know Echad. There's a very sad story about a young Jewish woman who embraced Christianity. And she was asked what led her there to the church. And she shared how she once met some friendly Christians in a park who showed her a verse from the book of Matthew that she said was so incredibly inspiring. So she was asked, what was this verse? And she said, opening up her book of Matthew, she read, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul. This young Jewish woman didn't know the very next verse in the Bible after Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Echad. Chapter 6, verse 5 in Deuteronomy continues, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all of your ability. So despite the fact that the Shema is very well recognized, there's an immense amount of ignorance about it. Back in 1979, I was studying for the year in Jerusalem, and I would often visit Jewish bookstores in Mea Shearim. One of the great regrets of my life was finding a 700-page book just about the verse, Shema Yisrael, Hashem Eloheinu, Hashem Echad, but leaving the store without purchasing the book. I have not since been able to find that book. Now, we're not going to go that deeply into the meaning of this verse tonight, but I would like to share some introductory thoughts after asking two questions. Number one, here, O Israel, Hashem is our God, Hashem is one. Here, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one. Most people understand this to be a declaration of Judaism's belief in monotheism, that there is only one God, and this idea is certainly implied in this verse. But if that's all that it means, if all we're learning from the Shema is that there's one God, why are we commanded to recite Shema Yisrael twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening, every day of our lives? You could teach a young child when they're in third grade or fifth grade, teach them once or twice that there's only one God. There aren't two gods, there aren't three gods. Yonatan, there's only one God. They will know this for the rest of their life. Why do they need to repeat this over and over and over and over every day, at least twice a day? Question number two, the wording of the Shema, if you look at it carefully, is difficult. Here, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one. The Hebrew has the name of God written three times in a row. Shema Yisrael, here, O Israel, Hashem, God, God, God is one. Christians make the ridiculous assertion that you see that it's talking about the Trinity here. You could say that maybe it should have been shortened. Maybe this verse could have said, Shema Yisrael, Hashem Echad. Here, O Israel, Hashem is one. Or Shema Yisrael, Hashem Elokeinu Echad. Here, O Israel, the Lord our God is one. What is this business about having God's name three times in a row in this verse? It's a bit wordy. It's a bit wordy. Also, to add on to this question, we need to appreciate that there are various terms for God in the Bible. Two of the most common terms for God are the Tetragrammaton, Hashem, the Yud Kei Vav Kei, the four-letter name of God, and the name Elohim. If you read Genesis chapter 1, the whole chapter only uses the name Elohim. In the beginning, God created, and God said this, and God said that. It's all Elohim. In here, in Deuteronomy chapter 6, it doesn't say Elohim, it says Eloheinu, our God. But basically, it's referring to God. So why does the verse here cite two divine names of God? Why does it speak about two divine names of God? Wouldn't it have been simpler to just have one divine name of God? The verse could have said, Shema Yisrael, Hashem Echad. Here, O Israel, Hashem is one. Or Shema Yisrael. Here, O Israel, Eloheinu Echad, our God is one. Why do we have two different terms for God? So we begin our declaration of faith in the one infinite God, who exists beyond time and space, by saying Shema Yisrael. That's how we begin. Shema Yisrael. Listen, Israel. Here, O Israel. Not there, O Israel. Here, O Israel. So why do we begin by saying Shema Yisrael? Listen, Israel. So it's not enough for each of us to personally believe in God's reality. That's not enough. We therefore call upon all other Jews, all of Israel, to pay attention to this truth. The word Shema, listen here, means pay attention. Listen carefully. So we're calling on all other Jews, pay attention. Hashem, our God, Hashem is one. Why? Why is it so important to call on other Jews to have this faith? Because the prophet Isaiah, in chapter 43 verse 10, says, You are my witnesses, Israel. Israel are the witnesses of God. One of the main purposes of Israel being a light to the nations, and one of the main purposes of Israel being a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, is to be witnesses, to testify to the reality of God. This is what we're learning in the Bible. The great messianic vision of Judaism is that one day the entire world will know God. This is one of the central pillars of the messianic vision in Judaism. As Isaiah chapter 11 says, that the knowledge of God will cover the earth like the waters cover the seabed. This dream of the entire world embracing God is one of the major themes during the prayers of Rosh Hashanah, our new year, and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. If you look at the liturgy on these two great holy days, this is one of the themes, our hope and our prayer, that every human being come to a knowledge of God. And the Shema expresses this hope. Shema Yisrael, listen Israel, Hashem Elokeinu. Hashem, the Lord, is our God. And it goes on to say, Hashem, Hashem, you have to insert the word according to Rashi. Hashem will be one. Right now, we are believers in God. Right now, Israel says that Hashem is our God. We only pledge our loyalty to God. But the Shema is telling us that that's not the end of the story. Right now, Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem is our God. But Hashem, the Lord, will be one. And this is what we end every Jewish prayer service with. The last prayer of every Jewish prayer service is Aleinu L'Shabeach, which ends by Yom HaHu Yiyeh Adonai Echad U'shmo Echad. In that day, Hashem will be one and his name will be one, which is taken directly from the prophet Zechariah chapter 14, verse 9. This is the great messianic hope of Judaism, that one day every human being will come to a knowledge of God. Secondly, when we say Hashem Echad, that God is one, it implies much more than his singularity versus polytheism. Again, if it was just telling us there's one God and not two or three or four gods, you wouldn't need to drive that into your head twice a day for the rest of your life. People are not that thick that they need to hear this message so often. But the message of Hashem Echad, that God is one, is much deeper and much more difficult to grasp. When it says Hashem Echad, God is one, it's speaking of his unity and his uniqueness, his one and his only-ness. What does that mean? It means that there are no independent forces or powers in the world. And compared to the truth of his necessary existence, there's nothing else beside him. As the Torah says, ein od milvado, there is nothing else, none other than him. Only God has absolute necessary existence. Everything else, their existence is contingent. It depends upon God. Nothing else has to exist. God is unique in that God is the only real reality. God is the only necessary absolute existence. And the Torah tells us several times, you look in the fourth chapter of Deuteronomy, repeats this, there's nothing but him, nothing else but God. Nothing is as real as God. And this is not such an easy thing to grasp. If there are no other powers in the world, then it means that he is the source of everything. It means that God is the source of everything. Now it's easy to acknowledge God as being in control when we see a beautiful world and a world of nobility. We don't have any problem seeing God's presence. When the world is in harmony, I have no problem. But to acknowledge Hashem as the one who is in charge of everything, even when we encounter tragedy and evil and darkness, and not only to acknowledge that God is in charge of the world at that time, but that somehow everything he does is ultimately for good, no matter how bad things seem, that's not so easy. We do not easily grasp such a concept. According to our sages, the divine name Hashem, the four-letter name of God, implies God's attribute of mercy and loving-kindness. And this is when God seems close to us. The divine name of Elohim is his attribute of judgment, which can seem harsh and cold. We know that the Zoroastrians, and not an ancient faith by the way, they still exist, so the Zoroastrians and other dualistic religions, and to a great extent Christianity is a dualistic God and Satan. So all dualistic religions see a dualistic world. They see a world of light and darkness, of good and evil, and they believe there are two powers. That is the way they explain. How do you explain the fact that there's so much evil in the world? For people that believe in one God, it's a very difficult question. How do we account for evil and tragedy in the world and suffering? That's a huge difficulty for believers in God. For people that are dualists, no problem. When things are going good, that's the God of light. That's the good God. When things are going lousy and miserable, that's the God of darkness is in control. They have a very simple solution to what we call the problem of theodicy, the problem of evil and suffering. But we don't say that as Jews. Judaism says, Hashem Echad. There's just one power in the world. Sometimes God seems imminent and close, like a father, kind and loving, and we refer to this as Hashem. At other times, God seems transcendent and distant, less father and more judge and king, and that's reflected in the divine name of Elohim. And the Shema mysteriously says, Shema Yisrael, Hashem and Elokeinu, these qualities, it's Hashem Echad. At the end of the day, even when life seems dark and cold, what's behind it is Hashem, a God who is ultimately all love and all kindness. And you need to meditate on this twice a day for your whole life to really deeply connect to this idea. It's not an easy idea. There's a custom that we have to cover our eyes with our right hand when we say Shema Yisrael. One of the reasons is that, as I mentioned, this verse, Shema Yisrael, mentions God's name three times. And these three mentions of God's name have 14 letters, 14 letters of God's names in this verse. And the word Yad, hand, in Hebrew is spelled Yud Dalet. Yud Dalet is 10 and 4, 14. So we cover our eyes with our hand, which is the number 14, and we have the 14 letters of the names of God in this verse. Interestingly, the reason why the hand is called Yad, 14, is that there are 14 digits in the hand, three digits in each of these fingers, and two in the thumb. So 4 times 3 is 12 and 2 is 14. That's one reason why we cover our eyes with our hand when we say the Shema. Another reason is simply to help us concentrate and focus and meditate. It's not easy to do this. You know, there's a fascinating custom that we're told in the Code of Jewish Law that when you pray, you should stand in front of a wall. And the source of this is in the book of Isaiah, where it speaks about King Hezekiah, who was told by the prophet Isaiah, you are going to die, your life is over. And Hezekiah goes and he prays. He prays for his very life. And it must have been a very powerful prayer because God grants his request, and he's given 15 more years of life. But we're told that he went and he stood in front of a wall to pray. Now, the Code of Jewish Law says you should stand in front of a wall to eliminate distractions, you'll be able to more easily focus on your prayers. Rabbi David Cohen from Brooklyn, New York asks an amazing question. He says, if you can think of anyone in the history of the world who's not going to get distracted when he's praying, it would have been Hezekiah at that time. Imagine he's now begging for his life, his mind's not going to wander. Oh, did I turn off the stove? Did I pay my bills? What is he going to get distracted from? He's literally begging for his very life. And yet, he needed this device of standing in front of a wall to be able to focus his mind. So we, when we're saying Shema Yisrael, we simply cover our eyes so we eliminate distractions and we can focus on this very, very deep verse. Don't forget, there's a 700 page book out there discussing the meanings of this verse. Another reason for closing our eyes with our hand is we block out everything. We block out everything. Nothing else exists. We cannot see anything. And we're sort of making the statement that nothing exists but the one that we're thinking about. Nothing exists but God. Ein od milvado. There's nothing but him. There's nothing but him. And you act that out by closing your eyes and blocking out all other reality. Also, when you close your eyes, everything goes dark. It's all dark. And we're symbolically saying that life often seems dark and frightening. Life can often be very dark and frightening. But we believe, as we declare in the Shema Yisrael, that God is always with us and he can get us through any challenge. And we acknowledge that by closing our eyes with our hand.