What Is The Shema
“What is the Shema?”
Shema ("hear") is the Hebrew word that begins the most important prayer in Judaism., which begins with the command to "Hear."
Deuteronomy 6:4"Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone"
The whole Shema prayer, which includes verses 4-9, is spoken daily in the Jewish tradition:"Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."Later Jewish tradition developed a three-part Shema prayer that also included.
Deuteronomy 11:13-29"If you carefully obey all the commands I am giving you today, and if you love the Lord your God and serve him with all your heart and soul, then he will send the rains in their proper seasons-the early and late rains-so you can bring in your harvests of grain, new wine, and olive oil. He will give you lush pastureland for your livestock, and you yourselves will have all you want to eat.
"But be careful. Don't let your heart be deceived so that you turn away from the Lord and serve and worship other gods.If you do, the Lord's anger will burn against you. He will shut up the sky and hold back the rain, and the ground will fail to produce its harvests. Then you will quickly die in that good land the Lord is giving you.
"So commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these words of mine. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,so that as long as the sky remains above the earth, you and your children may flourish in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors.
"Be careful to obey all these commands I am giving you. Show love to the Lord your God by walking in his ways and holding tightly to him.23 Then the Lord will drive out all the nations ahead of you, though they are much greater and stronger than you, and you will take over their land.24 Wherever you set foot, that land will be yours. Your frontiers will stretch from the wilderness in the south to Lebanon in the north, and from the Euphrates River in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the westNo one will be able to stand against you, for the Lord your God will cause the people to fear and dread you, as he promised, wherever you go in the whole land.
"Look, today I am giving you the choice between a blessing and a curse! You will be blessed if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today. But you will be cursed if you reject the commands of the Lord your God and turn away from him and worship gods you have not known before."When the Lord your God brings you into the land and helps you take possession of it, you must pronounce the blessing at MountGerizim and the curse at MountEbal.
Numbers 15:37-41Then the Lord said to Moses, "Give the following instructions to the people of Israel: Throughout the generations to come you must make tassels for the hems of your clothing and attach them with a blue cord.When you see the tassels, you will remember and obey all the commands of the Lord instead of following your own desires and defiling yourselves, as you are prone to do. The tassels will help you remember that you must obey all my commands and be holy to your God. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt that I might be your God. I am the Lord your God!"
Tradition states these three parts cover all aspects of the Ten Commandments.
The Shema prayer was so influential and important that Jesus used it as the beginning of His answer to the question "what is greatest commandment"
Mark 12:28-31One of the teachers of religious law (scribes)was standing there listening to the debate. He realized that Jesus had answered well, so he asked, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?"
Jesus replied, "The most important commandment is this: 'Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord.And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.' The second is equally important: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'[] No other commandment is greater than these."
When Jesus began His answer with the Shema prayer, He acknowledged the Lord God as most important and that complete devotion to Him is the most important of the commandments. It is no surprise that the scribe replied this way Mark 12:32-33“The teacher of religious law replied, "Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth by saying that there is only one God and no other.33 And I know it is important to love him with all my heart and all my understanding and all my strength, and to love my neighbor as myself. This is more important than to offer all of the burnt offerings and sacrifices required in the law."Even today, Christians can look to the words of the Shema as a wonderful expression that the Lord is the one true God. As we acknowledge His lordship, our response remains to "hear" Him, love Him with all our heart, soul, and might, and love our neighbor as ourselves.