(ה) חָתָן פָּטוּר מִקְּרִיאַת שְׁמַע בַּלַּיְלָה הָרִאשׁוֹן עַד מוֹצָאֵי שַׁבָּת, אִם לֹא עָשָׂה מַעֲשֶׂה. מַעֲשֶׂה בְּרַבָּן גַּמְלִיאֵל שֶׁקָּרָא בַלַּיְלָה הָרִאשׁוֹן שֶׁנָּשָׂא. אָמְרוּ לוֹ תַּלְמִידָיו, לֹא לִמַּדְתָּנוּ, רַבֵּנוּ, שֶׁחָתָן פָּטוּר מִקְּרִיאַת שְׁמַע בַּלַּיְלָה הָרִאשׁוֹן. אָמַר לָהֶם, אֵינִי שׁוֹמֵעַ לָכֶם לְבַטֵּל מִמֶּנִּי מַלְכוּת שָׁמַיִם אֲפִלּוּ שָׁעָה אֶחָת:
(5) A groom is exempt from reciting Shema on the first night, until Saturday night if he has not done the deed. A story about Rabban Gamliel who recited [Shema] on the first night that he got married. His students said to him: Didn't you teach us, our teacher, that a groom is exempt from reciting Shema on the first night? He said to them: I will not listen to you, to remove the kingdom of heaven from me for even one hour.
(ד) שְׁמַ֖ע יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל יהוה אֱלֹהֵ֖ינוּ יהוה ׀ אֶחָֽד׃
(4) Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone.
(ד)נוהגין לקרות פסוק ראשון בקול רם כדי לעורר הכוונה:
(ה)נוהגין ליתן ידיהם על פניהם בקריאת פסוק ראשון כדי שלא יסתכל בדבר אחר שמונעו מלכוון:
(4) They are accustomed to recite the first verse in a loud voice in order to awaken the intention
(5) They are accustomed to place their hands on their faces during the recitation of the first verse in order that one will not look at another thing that will restrain him from intending
תנו רבנן שמע ישראל יהוה אלהינו יהוה אחד זו קריאת שמע של רבי יהודה הנשיא אמר ליה רב לרבי חייא לא חזינא ליה לרבי דמקבל עליה מלכות שמים אמר ליה בר פחתי בשעה שמעביר ידיו על פניו מקבל עליו עול מלכות שמים
The Sages taught in a baraita: The single verse, “Hear, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One”; this is Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi’s recitation of Shema. The Gemara relates: Rav said to his uncle, Rabbi Ḥiyya: I did not see Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi accept the kingship of Heaven upon himself, meaning that he did not see him recite Shema. Rabbi Ḥiyya said to him: Son of noblemen [bar paḥtei], when Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi passed his hands over his face in the study hall in the middle of his lesson, he accepted the yoke of the kingdom of Heaven upon himself, as his Shema was comprised of a single verse.
מתני׳ בית שמאי אומרים בערב כל אדם יטה ויקרא ובבקר יעמוד שנאמר ובשכבך ובקומךובית הלל אומרים כל אדם קורא כדרכו שנאמר ובלכתך בדרךאם כן למה נאמר ובשכבך ובקומך בשעה שבני אדם שוכבים ובשעה שבני אדם עומדיםאמר רבי טרפון אני הייתי בא בדרך והטתי לקרות כדברי בית שמאי וסכנתי בעצמי מפני הלסטיםאמרו לו כדי היית לחוב בעצמך שעברת על דברי בית הלל:
MISHNA: Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel disputed the proper way to recite Shema. Beit Shammai say: One should recite Shema in the manner indicated in the text of Shema itself. Therefore, in the evening every person must recline on his side and recite Shema, in fulfillment of the verse: “When you lie down,” and in the morning he must stand and recite Shema, in fulfillment of the verse: When you rise, as it is stated: “When you lie down, and when you rise.”And Beit Hillel say: Every person recitesShemaas he is, and he may do so in whatever position is most comfortable for him, both day and night, as it is stated: “And when you walk along the way,” when one is neither standing nor reclining (Me’iri).If so, according to Beit Hillel, why was it stated: “When you lie down, and when you rise”? This is merely to denote time; at the time when people lie down and the time when people rise.With regard to this halakha, Rabbi Tarfon said: Once, I was coming on the road when I stopped and reclined to reciteShemain accordance with the statement of Beit Shammai. Although Rabbi Tarfon was a disciple of Beit Hillel, he thought that fulfilling the mitzva in accordance with the opinion of Beit Shammai would be a more meticulous fulfillment of the mitzva, acceptable to all opinions. Yet in so doing, I endangered myself due to the highwaymen [listim] who accost travelers.The Sages said to him: You deserved to be in a position where you were liable to pay with your life, as you transgressed the statement of Beit Hillel. This statement will be explained in the Gemara.
ת"ר בה"א עומדין וקורין יושבין וקורין ומטין וקורין הולכין בדרך וקורין עושין במלאכתן וקורין
The Sages taught in a baraita that Beit Hillel say: One may recite Shema in any situation: Standing and reciting, sitting and reciting, reclining and reciting, walking and reciting and even working and reciting.
Reform congregations say the Shma standing. Halacha prescribes sitting, not standing, for the Shma. The issue goes back to a debate between Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai, in whcih Beit Hillel ruled (successfully) that the Shma should be said in whatever position one happened to be when the time of its recitation arrived. In the ninth century, the Babylonian scholar, Amram Gaon, enforced that position, as part of his religio-political attack on the Palestinians who still said the Shema standing. His successful championing of the Hillelite perspective eventually entered the codes of Jewish law...When the Crusaders overran Palestine, destroying native Palestinian Jewish custom in the process, the Palestinian practice of standing died too, so that Jews round the world now sat for the Shma as Amram had insisted.
Reform Jews, however, saw the Shma as central to their claim that Judaism's uniqueness lay in its discovery of ethical monotheism. Wanting to acknowledge the centrality of the Shma, and recognizing that people generally stand for the prayers that matter most, they began standing for the Shma despite the Halacha. They justified their position by arguing that the halachic act of sitting for the "watchword of Jewish faith" was inconsistent with the halachic principle of aceepting the yolk of heaven: how could one not stand to procalim God one?
וכורכין את שמע: היכי עבדי אמר רב יהודה אומרים שמע ישראל יהוה אלהינו יהוה אחד ולא היו מפסיקין רבא אמר מפסיקין היו אלא שהיו אומרים היום על לבבך דמשמע היום על לבבך ולא מחר על לבבך: תנו רבנן כיצד היו כורכין את שמע אומרים שמע ישראל יהוה אלהינו יהוה אחד ולא היו מפסיקין דברי רבי מאיר רבי יהודה אומר מפסיקין היו אלא שלא היו אומרים ברוך שם כבוד מלכותו לעולם ועדואנן מאי טעמא אמרינן ליה כדדריש רבי שמעון בן לקישדאמר רבי שמעון בן לקיש ויקרא יעקב אל בניו ויאמר האספו ואגידה לכם ביקש יעקב לגלות לבניו קץ הימין ונסתלקה ממנו שכינה אמר שמא חס ושלום יש במטתי פסול כאברהם שיצא ממנו ישמעאל ואבי יצחק שיצא ממנו עשו אמרו לו בניו שמע ישראל יהוה אלהינו יהוה אחד אמרו כשם שאין בלבך אלא אחד כך אין בלבנו אלא אחד באותה שעה פתח יעקב אבינו ואמר ברוך שם כבוד מלכותו לעולם ועדאמרי רבנן היכי נעביד נאמרוהו לא אמרו משה רבינו לא נאמרוהו אמרו יעקב התקינו שיהו אומרים אותו בחשאי אמר רבי יצחק אמרי דבי רבי אמי משל לבת מלך שהריחה ציקי קדירה אם תאמר יש לה גנאי לא תאמר יש לה צער התחילו עבדיה להביא בחשאיאמר רבי אבהו התקינו שיהו אומרים אותו בקול רם מפני תרעומת המינין ובנהרדעא דליכא מינין עד השתא אמרי לה בחשאי:
We learned in the mishna that the residents of Jericho would bundle Shema. The Gemara asks: What does it mean that they bundled Shema? How did they do so? Rabbi Yehuda said that they recited: “Hear Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord is One” (Deuteronomy 6:4), and they would not pause between words. Rava said: They would pause between words, but instead of reciting this verse in the proper manner: “That which I command you today, shall be on your heart” (Deuteronomy 6:5), pausing after the word today; they would say: Today shall be on your heart, inferring: Today it will be on your heart, and tomorrow it will not be on your heart. The Sages taught in the Tosefta: How would they bundle Shema? They recited: “Hear Israel, the Lord is our God the Lord is One,” without pausing; this is the statement of Rabbi Meir. Rabbi Yehuda says: They paused, but they would not recite: Blessed be the name of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever.The Gemara asks: What is the reason that we recite that passage: Blessed be the name of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever, even though it does not appear in the Torah? The Gemara answers: We recite it in accordance with that which Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish interpreted homiletically.As Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said that it is written: “And Jacob called his sons and said, Gather around and I will tell you what will occur to you in the end of days” (Genesis 49:1). Jacob wanted to reveal to his sons when the complete redemption would arrive at the end of days (see Daniel 12:13), but the Divine Presence abandoned him, rendering him unable to prophesy. He said: Perhaps the Divine Presence has abandoned me because, Heaven forfend, one of my descendants is unfit, as was the case with my grandfather Abraham, from whom Ishmael emerged, and like my father Isaac, from whom Esau emerged. His sons said to him: Hear Israel, our father, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One. They said: Just as there is only one God in your heart, so too, there is only one in our hearts. At that moment Jacob our father said in praise: Blessed be the name of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever, as all his children were righteous.The Rabbis said: What should we do? Shall we recite this verse? But Moses our teacher did not say it in the Torah as part of Shema; let us not recite it. But Jacob said it. In order to resolve this dilemma they established that this passage should be recited surreptitiously. Rabbi Yitzḥak said that the school of Rabbi Ami said: This is analogous to the daughter of a king who smelled the fragrance of the dried spices stuck to the bottom of the pot and craved to eat them. What can she do? If she tells her servants to give it to her, she will be disgraced, as the dried spices are a contemptible food. However, if she does not say she wants to eat them, she will endure suffering. Her servants began to bring them to her surreptitiously. One should conduct himself in that manner in similar cases of uncertainty.Rabbi Abbahu said: The Sages instituted that the people should recite it aloud due to the grievance of the heretics. It was instituted to prevent the heretics from claiming that the Jews are surreptitiously reciting inappropriate statements. The Gemara adds: In Neharde’a, where there are no heretics, they recite it surreptitiously even now.
(יג)אחר פסוק ראשון צריך לומר בשכמל"ו בחשאי:
(13) After the first verse, one needs to say, "Blessed is the name [of the one], his glorious kingship lasts forever" in a whisper. ...