The prominence of the Shma passages in Jewish life is so great that, when we come to Parashat Va’etchanan, home of the famous first paragraph of the Shma, it is tempting to focus on those few verses to the exclusion of the rest of the Parashah.
Which is exactly what I am planning to do! You see, as I was review the parashah earlier this week, I was struck by the repeated usages of the verb root Shin-Mem-Ayin. First, I noted that even the combination Shma and Yisrael is used two other times leading up to the epiphanic verse. But beyond that, the root appear no fewer than 23 (!) times in the course of three short chapters, almost 1/10 of all the appearance in the entire Torah – a six-fold increase in concentration. The mantra goes: a sudden increase in frequency of appearance of a given word or verb-root means – this is the key to the whole passage. So, it would seem that understanding what is implied by the word Shma holds the key to the entire parashah.
But what does the word Shma mean? Yes, it means “hear”, but it also means “listen”, “obey”, “understand”, “pay attention”, all accompanied by a host of subtle nuances. So what does “Shma Yisrael” mean here?
I’ll tell you one thing it doesn’t mean. It doesn’t mean, “read these words, plus another two paragraphs, out loud twice a day”. At least, on the level of pshat it doesn’t. On the level of drash – that is, in orally transmitted interpretations we understand as coeval with the Torah text itself, the words of the Shma themselves yield precisely such a directive. I’d like to investigate a dispute between Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Yosi in the Mishnah, as understood in the Gemara, so as to gain a deeper understanding of what Moshe is calling upon Am Yisrael to do when he tells them, “Hear O Israel”.
In Berachot 15b we read in the Mishnah:
One who reads the Shema and doesn't make it heard to his ears, Rabbi Yehuda says: fulfills his obligation
Rabbi Yosi says: He does not fulfill his obligation
If one read and was not exacting [in distinguishing] the letters, Rabbi Yosi says: he fulfills his obligation
Rabbi Yehudah says, he does not fulfill his obligation.
The mishnah can be rephrased:
1) Said it in a manner that he couldn't hear it:
a. Rabbi Yehudah: O.K. post facto
b. Rabbi Yosi: not O.K. post facto
2) Said it in a manner that he didn't distinguish the letters and words from one another:
a. Rabbi Yosi: O.K. post facto
b. Rabbi Yehudah: not O.K. post facto
The gemaras presents a textual/interpretive basis for each of their positions, and the other side explains why he doesn’t find that position convincing. Let’s now analyze their positions:
Rabbi Yosi places the emphasis on the proper and accurate HEARING of the passage. As the gemara explains in his defense when he is challenged regarding whence he learns a different law, the allowance that Shema may be said in any language one understands, if he has already “used up” the word “Shema” : tartei shma minah – "hear" (=learn) TWO things from the word "Shma". Actual hearing, with comprehension, is the critical element of Shema. Lacking that element, one cannot have been said to have fulfilled the mitzvah.
Rabbi Yehudah, on the other hand, places the emphasis on proper and accurate DECLAMING (“reading” in days of yore was always done aloud) of the passage.
Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Yosi have staked out positions which are polar opposites of one another - whence this distinction?
One might express the dispute in the following terms: The Shema is one of several peak moments in Moshe's final address to Bnei Yisrael. In understanding the fulfillment of its stipulations as depending in part upon reciting THAT SAME PASSAGE, the question can be asked: are we to see ourselves as standing in Moshe's place, intoning and proclaiming Hashem's oneness to the world, or in the place of Bnei Yisrael – experiencing and internalizing a message enunciated from beyond. The former places emphasis upon the PRONOUNCING/DECLAMING; the latter places the emphasis upon the HEARING/ INTERNALIZING.
In a curious verse prefacing Moshe’s RE-DECLAMATION of the Ten Commandments, he says, “Face to face did Hashem speak to you from the mountain from within the fire. I stood between Hashem and you at that time, to tell you the word of Hashem, since you were afraid because of (lit. “from the face of”) the first, and you did not ascend the mountain, saying...”. There are many difficulties with this verse, and the one that strikes me most immediately is: If Hashem spoke to them face to face, what does it mean that Moshe stood between Hashem and the people to tell them the word of Hashem?” My answer: Moshe was saying Shma, just as both Rabbi Yosi and Rabbi Yehuda require. He was listening so deeply that the words became imbedding in his soul so that when he said them to a people who could/would/should not hear with such excruciating intimacy, it WAS “panim el panim”.
A careful examination of Va’etchanan will reveal that it a deep sense, the Shma is our daily reinvoking, better, reliving of Mt. Sinai. On the following verse - “These words, which I am commanding you TODAY, shall be on your heart” – Rashi explains that TODAY means that we need to read the Shma with the sense of newness and urgency that we would read the latest bill posted on the billboard in the name of the king. One who reads it like that turns from deep empathetic listener to town crier.
Shma means become a living resonance chamber for Hashem – both on the individual and the communal level. We, as Jews, both individually and collectively, must be the town criers for the global village. We say the Shma precisely inside our souls, allowing it to address each particular of our lives, but its sound must resonate until it is “heard” by the whole world, or else, it’s neither “Keriah” nor “Shma”.
Moshe davenned 515 prayers to Hashem to be allow to enter the Land, but, he tells us, Hashem didn’t listen. The Midrash explains: If he had “defied” G-d and prayed one more prayer, Hashem would have relented.
We are the 516th prayer. Let us articulate our lives precisely and resonantly – so that we can all enter together.
Which is exactly what I am planning to do! You see, as I was review the parashah earlier this week, I was struck by the repeated usages of the verb root Shin-Mem-Ayin. First, I noted that even the combination Shma and Yisrael is used two other times leading up to the epiphanic verse. But beyond that, the root appear no fewer than 23 (!) times in the course of three short chapters, almost 1/10 of all the appearance in the entire Torah – a six-fold increase in concentration. The mantra goes: a sudden increase in frequency of appearance of a given word or verb-root means – this is the key to the whole passage. So, it would seem that understanding what is implied by the word Shma holds the key to the entire parashah.
But what does the word Shma mean? Yes, it means “hear”, but it also means “listen”, “obey”, “understand”, “pay attention”, all accompanied by a host of subtle nuances. So what does “Shma Yisrael” mean here?
I’ll tell you one thing it doesn’t mean. It doesn’t mean, “read these words, plus another two paragraphs, out loud twice a day”. At least, on the level of pshat it doesn’t. On the level of drash – that is, in orally transmitted interpretations we understand as coeval with the Torah text itself, the words of the Shma themselves yield precisely such a directive. I’d like to investigate a dispute between Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Yosi in the Mishnah, as understood in the Gemara, so as to gain a deeper understanding of what Moshe is calling upon Am Yisrael to do when he tells them, “Hear O Israel”.
In Berachot 15b we read in the Mishnah:
One who reads the Shema and doesn't make it heard to his ears, Rabbi Yehuda says: fulfills his obligation
Rabbi Yosi says: He does not fulfill his obligation
If one read and was not exacting [in distinguishing] the letters, Rabbi Yosi says: he fulfills his obligation
Rabbi Yehudah says, he does not fulfill his obligation.
The mishnah can be rephrased:
1) Said it in a manner that he couldn't hear it:
a. Rabbi Yehudah: O.K. post facto
b. Rabbi Yosi: not O.K. post facto
2) Said it in a manner that he didn't distinguish the letters and words from one another:
a. Rabbi Yosi: O.K. post facto
b. Rabbi Yehudah: not O.K. post facto
The gemaras presents a textual/interpretive basis for each of their positions, and the other side explains why he doesn’t find that position convincing. Let’s now analyze their positions:
Rabbi Yosi places the emphasis on the proper and accurate HEARING of the passage. As the gemara explains in his defense when he is challenged regarding whence he learns a different law, the allowance that Shema may be said in any language one understands, if he has already “used up” the word “Shema” : tartei shma minah – "hear" (=learn) TWO things from the word "Shma". Actual hearing, with comprehension, is the critical element of Shema. Lacking that element, one cannot have been said to have fulfilled the mitzvah.
Rabbi Yehudah, on the other hand, places the emphasis on proper and accurate DECLAMING (“reading” in days of yore was always done aloud) of the passage.
Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Yosi have staked out positions which are polar opposites of one another - whence this distinction?
One might express the dispute in the following terms: The Shema is one of several peak moments in Moshe's final address to Bnei Yisrael. In understanding the fulfillment of its stipulations as depending in part upon reciting THAT SAME PASSAGE, the question can be asked: are we to see ourselves as standing in Moshe's place, intoning and proclaiming Hashem's oneness to the world, or in the place of Bnei Yisrael – experiencing and internalizing a message enunciated from beyond. The former places emphasis upon the PRONOUNCING/DECLAMING; the latter places the emphasis upon the HEARING/ INTERNALIZING.
In a curious verse prefacing Moshe’s RE-DECLAMATION of the Ten Commandments, he says, “Face to face did Hashem speak to you from the mountain from within the fire. I stood between Hashem and you at that time, to tell you the word of Hashem, since you were afraid because of (lit. “from the face of”) the first, and you did not ascend the mountain, saying...”. There are many difficulties with this verse, and the one that strikes me most immediately is: If Hashem spoke to them face to face, what does it mean that Moshe stood between Hashem and the people to tell them the word of Hashem?” My answer: Moshe was saying Shma, just as both Rabbi Yosi and Rabbi Yehuda require. He was listening so deeply that the words became imbedding in his soul so that when he said them to a people who could/would/should not hear with such excruciating intimacy, it WAS “panim el panim”.
A careful examination of Va’etchanan will reveal that it a deep sense, the Shma is our daily reinvoking, better, reliving of Mt. Sinai. On the following verse - “These words, which I am commanding you TODAY, shall be on your heart” – Rashi explains that TODAY means that we need to read the Shma with the sense of newness and urgency that we would read the latest bill posted on the billboard in the name of the king. One who reads it like that turns from deep empathetic listener to town crier.
Shma means become a living resonance chamber for Hashem – both on the individual and the communal level. We, as Jews, both individually and collectively, must be the town criers for the global village. We say the Shma precisely inside our souls, allowing it to address each particular of our lives, but its sound must resonate until it is “heard” by the whole world, or else, it’s neither “Keriah” nor “Shma”.
Moshe davenned 515 prayers to Hashem to be allow to enter the Land, but, he tells us, Hashem didn’t listen. The Midrash explains: If he had “defied” G-d and prayed one more prayer, Hashem would have relented.
We are the 516th prayer. Let us articulate our lives precisely and resonantly – so that we can all enter together.
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