Avodat Hashem Shiur #05: Keriat Shema (V): Accepting the Yoke of God’s Kingship and the Third Passage of the Shema Harav Baruch Gigi VBM—The Israel Koschitzky Virtual Beit Midrash of Yeshivat Har Etzion Series

(5) One must mention the exodus from Egypt at night. Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah said: "Behold, I am like a seventy-year-old man, yet I could not win [the argument against the other sages] having the exodus from Egypt recited at night, until Ben Zoma derived it [from a Biblical source]." "[He derived it as follows:] It says (Deut. 16:3), 'In order that you may remember the day when you left Egypt for all the days of your life.'" "Now, 'days of your life' means the days; 'All the days of your life' [includes also] the nights." But the Sages say: "Days of your life" means the present world; "All the days of your life" includes also the era of Mashiach.

MISHNAH Should a man be reading in the Torah [the section of the Shema'] and the time of reciting the Shema' arrived, if he directed his heart, he has fulfilled his obligation. Between the sections, he may greet a man out of respect for him and return a salutation ; but in the middle [of the sections] he may greet a man because of fear for him and return a salutation. These are the words of R. Meir. R. Judah says: In the middle, he may greet a man because of fear for him, and return a salutation out of respect ; and between the sections, he may greet a man out of respect for him and return the salutation of any person. II. The following are "between the sections" : Between the first benediction and the second ; between the second and "Hear, O Israel" ; between "Hear, O Israel" and "And it shall come to pass if ye shall hearken" ; between "And it shall come to pass if ye shall hearken" and "And the Lord spake" ; between "And the Lord spake" and "True and firm." R. Judah says : One must make no interruption between "And the Lord spake" and "True and firm." R. Joshua b. Karhah said: Why does the section "Hear, O Israel" precede "And it shall come to pass if ye shall hearken"? So that a man shall first receive upon himself the yoke of the kingdom of heaven, and afterwards receive upon himself the yoke of the commandments. And why does "And it shall came to pass if ye shall hearken" precede "And the Lord spake"? Because the former applies both during the day and night, but the latter during the day only.

(2) What does one recite? [There are] three sections, and they are: "Shema" (Deuteronomy 6:4-9), "If ye shall hearken" (Deuteronomy 11:13-21), and "And the Lord spoke" (Numbers 15:37-41). One begins with the section "Shema" because it has in it of the unity of God, loving Him, and learning [of Torah], which is the greatest essence on which everything depends. After [the Shema], "If ye shall hearken" [is next] as in is the commandment of the rest of the commandments, and after thus is the portion [referring to] the fringes, that also have in it the commandment of remembering all the commandments.

(3) Even though the commandment of wearing fringes does not apply at night, one reads the passage [concerning it] because it has a reminder of the Exodus from Egypt. It is a commandment to recite the Exodus from Egypt as it is stated, "So that you will remember the Exodus from Egypt all the days of your life" (Deuteronomy 16:3). These three sections ordered as such form the recitation of the Shema.

MISHNAH V The exodus from Egypt must be mentioned at night. R. Eleazar b. 'Azariah said : Behold I am like one seventy years old, and I have never been worthy [to hear the reason] why the exodus from Egypt should he mentioned at night, until Ben Zoma expounded it [as follows]. It is said, "That thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life" (Deut. xvi. 3). [Had the Scriptures stated] "the days of thy life" [it would have meant] the days only ; but "all the days of thy life" [must be intended to include] the nights. The Sages explain the verse thus : "The days of thy life" signifies [thy life-time] in this world; "all" is to include the days of the Messiah. GEMARA There is a teaching : Ben Zoma said to the Sages : Will the exodus from Egypt be mentioned in the days of the Messiah ? Has it not long ago been declared, "Therefore behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that they shall no more say. As the Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt ; but, as the Lord liveth, that brought up and that led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all the countries whither I had driven them" (Jer. xxiii. 7f.)? They answered him : [This passage does not mean] that the memory of the exodus from Egypt is to be obliterated, but that [the memory of the release from] the servitude of the kingdoms will be fundamental and the exodus of Egypt secondary to it. Take the following as an analogy: "Thy name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name" (Gen. xxxv. 10).