Three times a day we glibly say the first verse of the Shema, articulating the belief that most defines our Jewishness. But what is its origin, what does it really mean and why is it so central to our prayers?
The preeminent phrase in all of Jewish liturgy, Shema Yisrael: Hear Israel, Hashem is our G-d, Hashem is One, was composed inParshas Vayechi by the sons of Ya'acov. It is the key to awareness of Divine intent in everything we experience.
Traditionally we assume that in the Shema we address our nation, Israel. Each of us directs the community of which we are a part to accept and understand Hashem's unity. But the Midrash (Bereishis Rabbah 98:4) suggests that the statement is actually addressed to our forefather Ya'acov who was also known as Yisrael.
R. Berechya and R. Chelbo both said in the name of Shemuel: This is why the nation of Israel says early each morning and every evening: "Hear, our father Yisrael from the Ma'aras Hamachpeilah in which you are buried, that which you instructed us is still with us:Hashem is our G-d, Hashem is One."
The Midrash also describes the background to this declaration of faith. Before his death Yaacov feared that his sons might not fully subscribe to the absolute indivisibility of G-d. We do not know the reason for his concern. Perhaps he feared the influence of Egyptian culture. Or, perhaps seeing how different and unique each of his sons was, he wanted to be sure they all subscribed to the integrated, overarching belief that defines their Jewishness - the integrity (oneness) of Hashem. He asked them whether they perceive any separateness in the idea of Hashem. They answered, "Listen our father Yisrael, in the same way that you experience no separateness in G-d so we too experience no separateness. Hashem is our G-d, Hashem is One." The twelve sons of Ya'acov began a tradition that we continue every day, assuring their (and our) father Ya'acov, that we experience G-d as one integrated, almighty force in our lives in the same way that he did.
Avinu Malkeinu
From the sons' answer we see that the separateness of Divine experience about which Ya'acov was concerned referred to two specific dimensions of Hashem: i) The G-d of love and mercy (YHVH), and ii) the G-d of discipline and accountability, Elokkim. The integration of these two almost paradoxical forces into a single, integrated Deity, Hashem, is the cornerstone and the uniqueness of our belief. Islam emphasizes the harshness of Divine discipline. Christianity focuses on the softness of Divine love. In Judaism, love without discipline is appeasement, and discipline without love is cruelty. Like good parents, Hashem develops our characters with discipline and with love, but unlike parents His discipline and His love are indivisible. This is why we refer to Hashem as Avinu Malkeinu, our father (love) - our King (accountability) without the conjunctivevav in between: the two properties of Father and King are One just as Hashem Elokeinu is One.
Did Ya'acov's sons understand that the hardships of their lives came from the same source as their joys and that this is not a contradiction? This was Ya'acov's concern. They answered in the affirmative: "Hashem (YHVH) is our Elokim, Hashem is One."
This oneness of the source of nourishing love and tough discipline is essential to our outlook on life. We can only see the true value of hardship and the privilege of joy when we see them both as messages from the same Divine source, both intended to make us better. Kesheim shemevareich al ha tova…."just as we give thanks for that which is good, we also give thanks for that which we experience as bad." (Talmud Berachos 48b)
If we don't accept this unity of Divine force, then we could see either good experiences or bad ones (or both) as random acts. Randomness comes with no responsibility and so there is some ease in believing in randomness. As Jews we do not believe in randomness. We see Divine deliberation and intent with their concomitant responsibility, in every occurrence. Both the seven years of Egyptian famine and the years of plenty were deliberate Divine interventions. The sale of Yoseif and his incarceration were as intentional as was his appointment as Viceroy of Egypt and the deliverance of his father and brothers. Whether we experience life's forces as acts of Divine love or as harsh discipline, the source is the same, the source is One.
Hashgacha and Randomness
The degree to which we truly buy into the quintessential monotheism expressed in the Shema as opposed to randomness, also impacts what we see as the powers that influence our lives. Are we subject to many forces that impact our success and failure or are we governed by only One holy force? Do we really regard Hashem as the only power in our lives in the way we suggest in the Shema? And if so, why do we invest more time, thought and effort in our material endeavors to ensure their success, than in our Tefilla (prayer)? When things are not going as well as we would like them to, why don't we modify our characters and behaviors rather than find the causes for our failures outside of ourselves?
Consider for example how often we attribute loss or illness to forces beyond our control. By doing so we secularize our lives and strip Divine intent from our experience. If we believe in the Shema that we so often recite, we should probe more deeply into our own actions and intentions to uncover the causes of both our positive and negative life experiences because everything that occurs is a deliberate message from Hashem. Nothing is random; there is no coincidence.
Well, perhaps not exactly. There are times when things do happen randomly. When Hashem unleashes a destructive force in the world, it does not discern between the wicked and the righteous (See Rashi, Shemos 12:22). If there is a flood or an earthquake righteous and wicked people can suffer loss simply because they were at the wrong place in the wrong moment. In the same way a global or even national recession can impact the wealth of both good and bad people. The need to examine ones personal deeds and intentions to explain events applies only to those experiences that are both somewhat out of the ordinary and unique to us.
Cheshbon Haneffesh - Personal Mastery
With randomness excluded (other than in the circumstances described above) from our understanding of why things happen to us, we can begin the process of personal mastery over our characters and over our lives. Knowing that there is One source for everything that happens and One deliberate power that guides our lives, we learn to question the why's of life, not just its how's. As we do this, we can learn what in our lives and characters we need to modify or improve.
The answers to the why questions, are not always apparent and sometimes they emerge only after many years. Sometimes however, clear correlations emerge between our actions or attitudes and our experiences. By modifying our actions and attitudes we can change the experiences we have. This is the practice the Ba'alei Mussar(Mussar masters) called Cheshbon Haneffesh, the gateway to personal self-mastery and spiritual growth.
