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Hear - Why does G-d command us specifically to hear, as opposed to reading silently? We learn out from here (I think) that the obligation is to recite the Shema, and not just to think about it. Something about the verbalization takes the text out of the realm of abstract concept and makes it real, today, just as it was when the Torah was first given. Note also that the Torah was given verbally; G-d did not simply hand us a scroll with commandments written on it and say, "Okay, go study this."

But why tell us this in the context of a verse mentioning G-d's Oneness? Perhaps the intent is to warn us that denial of the Oral Law, which is learned verbally from a rabbi, will ultimately lead, G-d forbid, to idolatry, as in fact happened with Christianity.

The Talmud (Tractate Megillah) learns out from the word "Hear" that the Shema need not be recited in Hebrew, but may be recited in the individual's native language ("any language one hears"). It is preferable, however, to recite it in Hebrew, because (1) one thereby discharges his obligation even if he does not speak Hebrew, because the soul understands on a subconscious level; and (2) many subtleties, such as concepts derived from extra or missing letters, are lost in translation.

Rabbi Ginsberg says that "Shema" - shin mem ayin - stands for "se'u marom eineikhem", "lift up your eyes" and see that everything, whether it appears good or bad from our vantage point, comes from G-d and is to be accepted as such. Rabbi Wilson says that, backwards, the letters stand for "ol malkhus shamayim", the yoke of the kingdom of heaven. I infer, from the fact that the acronym is backwards, that we must be faithful to G-d's commandments even when things appear backwards and things are going poorly for the Jewish people.

Each Hebrew letter has a numerical value associated with it; aleph is 1, beis is 2, etc. up through yud (10), kaph (20), etc. up through qoph (100), resh (200), shin (300), and tav (400). The word "shema" has numerical value 410. Other words with the same numerical value are "mishkan" ("dwelling place"), indicating that we should make ourselves a dwelling place for G-d's presence; "dror" ("freedom"), since without submission to G-d's Torah, we would be slaves to our passions; "kadosh" ("holy"), since G-d set us apart from the nations to be His people; and "yeshimon" ("wilderness" [spelled in the Torah with a missing vav: yud shin yud mem nun]), because G-d led us through the wilderness of Sinai and provided for our every need in a hostile environment.

Israel - The name Israel was given to Jacob after he wrestled with an angel (Genesis 32:24-29), whom the Midrash identifies as Satan, the ministering angel of the children of Esau. The name, as mentioned in the Biblical passage, alludes to Jacob's triumph over the Divine. Like Jacob, we can triumph in our own personal battles with the devil within us. Judaism teaches that life in this world is about striving to improve ourselves and become better people. Negative habits and compulsions, however strong, can be beaten.

There is an interesting relationship among numerical values here. The name Jacob has numerical value 182; Satan, 359; and Israel, 541. Note that 541 is exactly 182 plus 359. Thus we, the Jewish people, attain our most exalted status, symbolized by the name Israel, when we not only suppress our base inclinations, but actually make use of them in the service of G-d, for instance by eating better food on the Sabbath and holidays.

A famous passage of Gemara in Tractate Shabbos states that the letters of the word "emes" ("truth") all stand, because they are supported on two sides, whereas the letters of the word "sheker" ("falsehood") all fall, because they are only supported at one point. Look at the name Israel - yud sin resh aleph lamed. Each and every one of these letters, except the aleph, is supported at only one point and will fall. The aleph has numerical value 1; and structurally it can be visualized as a vav on a slant with a yud on each side, having a total numerical value of 26, the same as Hashem (yud and hey and vav and hey). Thus, Israel stands on the notion of one G-d.

Note also that 541, the numerical value of "Israel", is a prime number. (A prime number is a number which cannot be divided evenly by anything except itself and 1.) This teaches us that the Jewish people are indivisible, and healthy ideological debate must not be allowed to give way to hatred and mudslinging. The digits of 541 also add up to 10, the number of completion. Other numbers which are prime numbers whose digits add up to 10 include 613 (the number of commandments), 433 ("mishpakhah", "family"), and 1153 ("Torah umitzvos", "teaching and commandments"). 541 is the twelfth such number, alluding to the twelve tribes.

The attribute of G-d associated with Jacob is that of truth. 182, the numerical value of Jacob, factors as 7 times 26. The number 7 is associated with nature and G-d in His role as the prime mover behind the forces of nature; 26 is, as noted, the numerical value of Hashem, the name of G-d associated with kindness. Jacob realized that even when things appear to be happening in a natural, "random" way, the observed natural pattern is really Hashem guiding the world from behind a veil; and everything that happens to us is the kindest thing G-d could have done for us, even if we ourselves cannot comprehend it.

Rabbi Avraham Carmel, of the Bostoner Hassidic kollel in Jerusalem, once told me that the name Israel could be read midrashically as "yashar (straight) e-l (a name of G-d)". This, he said, alludes to the fact that G-d bestows His providence upon us directly, without the mediation of a ministering angel.

"Hashem is our G-d" - As noted, the name Hashem connotes the attribute of kindness; "elokeinu" (our G-d) comes from "elokim", the name associated with strict justice. This cannot mean merely that G-d judges us with kindness, because G-d judges all humanity with kindness. Rather, since Divine providence is more direct with the Jewish people, it is easier for us than for the Gentiles to examine good and bad events over the course of history and glean the appropriate lessons. It is worth noting that Germany was the place where, in the late 1800's, Jewish leaders first said, "Berlin is our Jerusalem", and began to encourage compromise on matters of Jewish law for the sake of fitting in with non-Jewish society. The Nazis were also the first persecutors to kill Jews indiscriminately, without regard for religious affiliation; other persecutors, such as the Crusaders, would have happily spared any Jew who renounced his faith. (A complete discussion of the Holocaust and all its possible causes is beyond the scope of this work, and I freely grant that there were many pious Jews, as well as children too young to be responsible for their actions, among those murdered by the Nazis.) The terrible drought that we in Israel suffered during the 1990's occurred during a time of ideological mudslinging between advocates of "land for peace" and those who distrusted the Palestinians; the abundant rainfall we have been experiencing recently (I write this in 2005/5765) comes at a time when the peace process has been largely discredited and there is consequently much less to fight over.

The numerical value of the entire verse, "Hear, O Israel: Hashem is our G-d, Hashem is one", is 1,118. As I mentioned above, the Torah commands us to recite the verse twice daily; thus doubling the numerical value yields 2,236. This factors as 26 times 86. 26 is the numerical value of "Hashem", denoting the attribute of kindness; 86 is "Elokim", denoting strict justice. What is the connection to the verse? We proclaim that there is only one G-d. How might someone think otherwise? A person who sees good and bad in the world might conclude that there is a good G-d doing kindness and a bad G-d doing justice. We proclaim, rather, that kindness and justice are flipsides of the same coin. At one extreme, when a formerly wicked person turns over a new leaf and begins doing good deeds, his sins are washed away, and he merits the World to Come. This appears to be complete kindness, without a trace of judgement; however, once he is no longer identified with the old sins, even justice would allow him entry into the World to Come. Conversely, if someone, G-d forbid, does not merit the World to Come, you might think that is pure justice, without a trace of kindness. But if someone is that self-centered, and hardens his heart against any notions of changing himself, then the World to Come - where G-d's will is done, and truth reigns supreme - would be nothing short of eternal hell for the person. The kindest thing G-d could do for him would be to leave him in the ground.

In Torah scrolls, the letter ayin from "Shema" ("Hear") and the letter dalet from "echad" ("one") are enlarged. Together they spell the word "eid" ("witness"). The ArtScroll prayer book cites Rokeach, Kol Bo, and Abudraham that the enlarged letters allude to the fact that we, by reciting the Shema, bear witness to Hashem's unity and proclaim it to the world. In like manner, my friend Kalman Gordon from kollel heard (I forget where) that the dalet, which has numerical value 4, corresponds to G-d's kingship over the four directions. Ba'al HaTurim states that the ayin, which has numerical value 70, corresponds to the 70 Gentile ethnic groups, to whom we bear witness of G-d's unity, as well as the 70 interpretations of each point made in the Torah. Rabbi Shlomo Ashkenasy (also of the Bostoner kollel in Jerusalem) says that the letter khes in "ekhad" (having numerical value 8) refers to G-d's mastery over the seven heavens and one earth.

My friend Hanan Solomon from kollel pointed out to me that if you omit the enlarged ayin from "shema" and the enlarged dalet from "ekhad", the remaining letters spell out "esmakh" ("I will rejoice"). That the letters are out of order - as opposed to forwards or even backwards - indicates to me that we should rejoice in whatever G-d does, regardless of our ability to understand it as either a blessing or a curse.

The ArtScroll cites Rashi and Aruch HaShulchan 61:4 that, at present, Hashem is only "our G-d", but ultimately all the world will proclaim, "Hashem is one!" The ArtScroll also notes that the name Hashem also refers to G-d as the master of all, who always was, now is, and always will be. Rabbi Carmel says that G-d created the heavens with the letter yud and the earth with the letter hey; the vav connects the two; and the final hey represents G-d's Presence on Earth, with an opening at the bottom for the wicked to fall through, and another opening at the top left for penitents to climb back in.

The word for "I" here is "anochi", as opposed to the somewhat more common "ani". The Talmud (Tractate Shabbos) says that the word is an Aramaic acronym; according to one opinion, it stands for "ana nafshi kasvis yahavis" ("I myself have written and given"), while another opinion says it stands for "amirah ne'imah k'sivnah yehivnah" ("A sweet saying I have written and given"). This ties in with the above paragraph: we should serve G-d with our good inclination, because G-d has spoken, and also with our base motives, because the Torah is pleasant.

The verse says "today"; the ArtScroll cites Sifre that we are to regard the commandments with as much freshness and enthusiasm as if they were being given today. I notice that the word "you" (the "kha" at the end of the word "m'tzav'kha") is in the singular tense, addressing each of us individually; if there were only one Jew on Planet Earth, the Torah would have been given just for him/her.

As I understand it, the prohibition is taught here, in the context of the command to teach our children Torah, because it is sometimes helpful to discuss extraneous subject matter to grab and hold a child's attention; we are thus cautioned against going overboard and discussing extraneous matters purely for their own sake.

The word "bam", here translated "of them", is spelled beis mem. My friend Hanan Solomon pointed out to me that the letter beis is the first letter in the Written Torah ("Bereishis", "In the beginning"), and mem is the first letter in the Talmud, the Oral Torah ("Me'eimasai", "From when may we recite the evening Shema?").

The words "when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way" are actually literally translated "in your sitting in your house, and in your walking on the way". The Talmud (Tractate Sukkos) thus learns that the commandments are incumbent upon us when what we are doing is for our own sake; but if we are already engaged in a good deed, we are exempt from beginning another good deed. Thus, if two people are available to visit a sick person in the hospital, and one of the people would otherwise be learning Torah during that time, whereas the other would not, the other one should visit the sick person.

The Talmud (Tractate Berakhos) learns out from "and when you lie down, and when you rise up" the obligation to recite the Shema in the morning (the first quarter of the day) and at night (after three stars come out), because that is when most people wake up and go to sleep. Note that the qualifier in the above paragraph does not exist here; I suspect that this is to teach us that obligations which cannot be done by others, such as one's own recitation of Shema, must be performed even if it means interrupting the performance of other commandments. Thus we find in the Passover Hagaddah that a certain gathering of Sages in B'nei Barak were discussing the Exodus from Egypt (which, being Torah, is certainly meritorious to discuss) all night, yet interrupted their discussion at dawn so they could recite the Shema. Likewise, if the only person who can visit a sick person, raise money for a particular charity, etc. is someone who would otherwise be studying Torah, he should interrupt his study to do the mitzvah.

Customs vary on how to wind the strap of the arm-tefillin, but all agree that it should be wound seven times around the lower arm, and another three times (to form the letter shin) on the hand (Lubavitch Hassidim form the shin on the upper arm). Seven is, as noted, the number corresponding to G-d as He operates through the forces of nature. The shin corresponds to Shakai, the name of G-d associated with divine providence and G-d's moment-by-moment involvement in world events (as opposed to the Deist heresy, which holds that G-d set the world in motion at Creation and has let it go by itself ever since). Thus there are a total of ten windings, ten being the number of completion. Our purpose as G-d's chosen people is to show the world that what seem to be random natural occurrences are really Divine providence, concealed to allow for free will.

I forget where, but I read once that the repetition "shamoa tishme'u" (literally, "hearing you will hear") means that if we diligently review the Torah we have already learned, G-d will give us the ability to learn more. I learn out from the apparently extra word "v'hayah" ("and it will be") - which has the same letters as "Hashem", denoting the attribute of kindness - that someone who is presently ignorant of certain laws, but keeps such laws as he/she is aware of and strives to learn more, will be judged favorably for his/her unintentional transgressions. Note that "your heart" here is "l'vav'chem", which comes from "l'vav". Applying Rashi's commentary from Deuteronomy 6:5 above, this is a reference to service of G-d with both good and evil inclinations. Grammatically, however, the word is singular ("your heart", as opposed to "your hearts"); I thus learn that the blessing promised in this paragraph is conditioned on a certain degree of unity among the Jewish people.

The verse mentions service of G-d "with all your heart and with all your soul", but omits the phrase "with all your resources" (which indeed appears in Deuteronomy 6:5). This is because, while some individuals may love their money more than their lives, this trait is sufficiently rare to warrant omission from a verse addressed in the plural form to the entire Jewish nation.

The verse singles out grain, wine, and oil for mention, though plentiful and timely rain would seem to benefit all crops. I believe that this is intended to teach that grain, wine, and oil are especially desirable, and perhaps this is why the Sages enacted that we eat bread on the Sabbath, sanctify the day over a cup of wine (or grape juice), and kindle lights (for which olive oil is preferable but not essential). The order, however, appears reversed: first we kindle the lights, then we sanctify the day, then we eat bread. Rabbi Carmel explained to me that the order specified is that in which the crops are harvested: first the grain ripens, then the grapes, and finally the olives.