The Shema

(4) Hear, O Israel! ה' is our G!d, ה' alone.

1. Listen
2. Yisrael
3. Y. H. V. H.
4. (Is) Our G!d
5. Y. H. V. H
6. One

(29) Said he, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Yisrael, for you have striven with beings divine and human,^-d and have prevailed.”

G!d spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am G!d.

I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as El Shaddai, but I did not make Myself known to them by My name י.ה.ו.ה

ושמי ה׳ לא נודעתי להם BUT BY MY NAME ה׳ WAS I NOT KNOWN TO THEM — It is not written here לא הודעתי [My name ה׳] I did not make known to them, but לא נודעתי [by My name, ה׳], was I not known [unto them] — i. e. I was not recognized by them in My attribute of “keeping faith”, by reason of which My name is called ה׳, which denotes that I am certain to substantiate My promise, for, indeed, I made promises to them but did not fulfill them [during their lifetime].

This is the aspect of “an open statement… extended trustworthiness” (Shabbat 104a). “An open statement” is the aspect of revealing daat, because speaking reveals daat, as it is written (Proverbs 2:6), “daat and discernment are from His mouth.” In Egypt, where daat was in exile, as it is written (Exodus 6:3), “but I did not allow them to know Me by My Name ה׳​​​​​​​,” speech, too, was in exile, in the aspect of “difficult to speak and to find the right language” (ibid. 4:10). But when they went out from Egypt, when daat went out of exile, speech emerged and was disclosed. This is the aspect of “an open statement”—speech is opened and daat is revealed.

This G!d is One G!d; G!d is neither two nor more than two but One to whose Unity there is no comparison among the individual units in the universe; not like the unit of a genus which embraces many individual units, nor like the unit of a body which is divisible into parts and particles, but a Unit to Whose Unity no other unit in the universe is like. Supposing that there are many deities is equivalent to an admission that they are corporeal, because like individual beings do not differ save in chance traits characteristic of bodies and material things only. Thus supposing the Creator to be corporeal and material would force a conclusion that G!d is finite, for, it is impossible to imagine a body which does not end in dissolution; but our G!d, blessed is G!d's Name! beholding that G!d's power is infinite and uninterrupted, for lo, the universal sphere continues to revolve forever. G!d's power is positively not a physical power. And, because G!d is Incorporeal, none of the chance traits, characteristic of bodies, so as to be divisible or an offshoot of another being, can be attributed to G!d. Therefore, the impossibility for G!d to be but One. And, the knowledge of this doctrine of Monotheism is a mandatory commandment, saying: "ה' our G!d is One G!d" (Deut. 6.4).

The Sages taught in another baraita with regard to one who recites Shema and utters the verse, “Hear, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.” Intent of the heart is only required to this point. This is the statement of Rabbi Meir. Rava said: In this matter, the halakha is in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Meir.