Finding Our Unity in Shema: V’Eschanan
Shema Yisroel, HaShem Elokeinu, HaShem Echad.
The most common English translation of it is this:
Hear O Israel, HaShem is our G-d, HaShem is One.
Rashi elaborates on the pasuk and writes it like this:
“HaShem, who is presently our G-d and not the G-d of the other nations, will one day be HaShem, the only One, accepted by all, as it states, on that day HaShem will be One and His Name will be One.”
Ramban seems to disagree with Rashi.
He notices a change in the language, and it seems to bother him. Why does the Torah change the language? Here it says “our G-d,” but everywhere else it says “your G-d”.
Today you cross the jordan…you know today that HaShem, your G-d…
Hear, O Israel, you are coming near to battle…for HaShem, your G-d…
Even Moshe addressing bnei yisroel, continually, “HaShem, your G-d…
It sounds like a convincing argument that Ramban brings.
So what’s the difference between “your” and “our?”
At the Pesach Seder, the rasha refers to the Seder and minhagim as “yours,” not “ours.” He removes himself from the equation.
It seems that, in a way, the same could be said here. When Moshe Rabbeinu was addressing klal yisroel on their future, knowing he would not enter eretz yisroel, it was a “your G-d” deal. But here, when saying HaShem is G-d and G-d alone, that he is part of.
This shows a collective ownership, a responsibility, versus assignment of duties or status. It’s something we claimed. It’s personal and shared among all of us.
The Bobover Ruv teaches on this parsha, connecting it to the zemirah Yom Shabbosan. There’s a stanza he connects it with:
“Then they all joined together in a covenant –
‘We will do and we will listen,’
they said as one.
Then they opened their mouths and called out
‘HaShem is One!’”
How does Na’aseh V’nishma connect to HaShem Echad?
The Ruv brings a Midrash that helps answer the question:
“By what right did the children of Israel merit to recite the shema?
R’ Pinchas bar Chama answers, ‘from what occurred at the giving of the Torah, the children of Israel merited to recite the shema.’
How so?
You find that HaShem opened His discourse at Sinai with none other than the phrase ‘shema yisroel anochi HaShem elokecha.’
Whereupon, they all answered, HaShem Elokeinu HaShem echad.”
Our choosing of Torah changed the narrative from “your” to “our.”
We claimed a communal obligation to Torah and mitzvos, to serving HaShem, to closeness with HaShem. There’s another part of shema that stands out very strongly, and it’s the statement of the unity of HaShem.
As Rabbi Benzion Twerski, shlit”a, has shared in his classes in the past, a Jew believing in the unity of HaShem acts as a land purifier to uplift the area around us and collect the sparks of kedusha.
There is a duality to creation. Simply put, everything is divided into two parts, the giver and the receiver. Giving is represented by water and receiving is represented by the vessel to contain the water. The giver learns and shares Torah and the receiver takes it and applies it to their lives.
The holy Apter Rav has a fascinating teaching on Adam and Chavah.
The Torah tells us how HaShem took from Adam’s side to form Chavah. Chazal teach that Adam Harishon originally had two faces – a male and female. He was the physical embodiment of the unity of the duality. He was comprised of total kedusha and all of klal yisroel.
The Apter Rav brings this up to make a point – that this is what we are to aim to achieve once again. We are to work on our Giving and our Receiving.
Every mitzvah, connection to kedusha, spark we encounter, is giving to the Heavens. The receiving means enjoying the blessings HaShem has for us in a healthy and responsible manner. We are to draw down blessings through our actions, which creates within us the vessel to have blessings flow to others.
One prime example of this is brought by Rebbe Mendel of Linsk. We have a tradition that teaches us that the study of Torah uplifts our prayers. Rebbe Mendel brings that this means we need to immerse ourselves in Torah before davening just as the earth was immersed in flood waters.
The Arizal discusses how before we daven we need to renew our commitment to the mitzvah of ahavas yisroel.
So what do we do? Torah study or focus on loving every Jew?
The answer is found in a Gemara in Kedushin: “two people learning Torah in one courtyard will become beloved to one another.” So it seems the answer Chazal gives is to fulfill both at the same time by learning with a chavrusa before davening.
This is a way we can fulfill mitzvos, double time, so to say, and bring it to HaShem with our tefillos for the spiritual work to result in a physical blessing upon our community.
Shema Yisroel, HaShem Elokeinu, HaShem Echad.
So first we see an important realization – that our relationship with HaShem is ours. We have to own it. We can own it by building it and doing the work.
Second we see that there needs to be a harmony between giving and receiving, to unify ourselves within HaShem’s unity. We can do this by learning with someone and engaging in other mitzvos.
We are Klal Yisroel.
We are a community that have taken on the responsibility of and for each other, as well as the yoke of Torah.
HaShem sees each of us as something special and unique.
We all have our role to play.
That’s why we recite shema several times every day. Because it’s not someone else’s G-d, it’s our G-d.
We continue the tradition of our forefathers to carry the torch of Torah, and we do it by engaging in a personal relationship with HaShem that involves us becoming attached to Him in such a way that we do our best to emulate HaShem’s unity in everything in our lives, by both giving and receiving.
And that brings us back to the Ramban’s point – the change in this week’s text. HaShem is Our G-d. Which makes Him our purpose in life.