(1) And this is the Instruction—the laws and the rules—that your God יהוה has commanded [me] to impart to you, to be observed in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy, (2) so that you, your children, and your children’s children may revere your God יהוה and follow, as long as you live, all the divine laws and commandments that I enjoin upon you, to the end that you may long endure. (3) Obey, O Israel, willingly and faithfully, that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly [in] a land flowing with milk and honey, as יהוה, the God of your ancestors, spoke to you.
7:3 You shall not intermarry with them: do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons. (4) for they will turn your children away from Me to worship other G-ds, and the Lord's anger will blaze forth against you and He will promptly wipe you out. Instead... you shall tear down their altars, smash their pillars, cut down their sacred posts, and consign their images to the fire. (6) For you are a people consecrated to the Lord your G-d: of all peoples on earth the Lord your G-d chose you to be [G-d's] treasured people...
7:9 Know therefore that only the Lord your G-d is G-d -- the steadfast G-d who keeps [G-d's] covenant faithfully to the thousandth generation of those who love [G-d] and keep [G-d's] commandments...
(4) Hear, O Israel! יהוה is our God, יהוה alone. Sh'ma Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Echad
[Others translate: “The Lord our God, the Lord is One.]
This verse comes the closest to being Judaism's credo. In just six Hebrew words (known in Hebrew by Jews of all languages worldwide), it sums up Judaism's belief in monotheism, and its rejection of all idols. For two thousand years, the Sh'ma has been the verse with which many Jewish martyrs have gone to their deaths, while those fortunate enough to meet more peaceful endings try to die with the Sh/ma on their lips. To this day, traditional Jews are supposed to recite the Sh'ma four times a day, twice during morning prayers, once during the evening service, and finally at home just before going to sleep.
In addition to the first six words, the Sh'ma usually is recited with three additional paragraphs, all from the Torah [but only the first one comes from this parasha]. They include the commandments of (a) Monotheism, (b) Loving G-d, (c) teaching Judaism to one's children. (Telushikin, Jewish Literacy, p.746-7)
[Note the Sh'ma's initial emphasis on "our G-d" (instead of "thy/your G-d," as is so often used elsewhere in Torah). Important to remember the context for the Sh'ma as part of this portion of Moses' speech, being just before their war of conquest of the Land of Canaan.]
(20) When, in time to come, your children ask you, “What mean the decrees, laws, and rules that our God יהוה has enjoined upon you?” (21) you shall say to your children, “We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt and יהוה freed us from Egypt with a mighty hand. (22) יהוה wrought before our eyes marvelous and destructive signs and portents in Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his household; (23) and us [God] freed from there, in order to take us and give us the land promised on oath to our fathers. (24) Then יהוה commanded us to observe all these laws, to revere our God יהוה, for our lasting good and for our survival, as is now the case. (25) It will be therefore to our merit before our God יהוה to observe faithfully this whole Instruction, as [God] has commanded us.”
(5) You shall love your God יהוה with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
(a) You shall Love: There seems to be a paradox here of "commanding a feeling" (or internal sentiment or private emotion), but it is resolved as "covenantal love" focused on loyalty of action toward G-d and one's neighbor.
Rashi: ...'and you shall love [Adonai]" meaning fulfill G-d's commandments out of love, for one who acts out of love is not like (is on a higher plane than) someone who acts out of fear. The one who serves their master out of fear, if the master troubles them overmuch, that servant leaves the master and goes away. (Sifrei Devarim 3 2:1)
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(6) Take to heart these instructions with which I charge you this day. (7) Impress them upon your children. Recite them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up. (8) Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead [Lit. “between your eyes”] (9) inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Rabbi Joseph Telushkin on Jewish Literacy, pp 625-626)
"The mitzvah of study is commanded in the Torah in the paragraph of the Sh'ma prayer. Parents are instructed "and you shall teach [the Torah] to your children..." Largely in consequence of this biblical injunction, Jewish law ruled two thousand years ago that parents are forbidden to live in a city without school. Talmudic law even said that no teacher was to be assigned more than twenty-five pupils; if the class was larger, a second teacher had to be hired. The poop, it also ruled, must be taught free of charge. The penchant for education among Jews was well-known. In medieval Europe, when nearly all Christian and Muslim men, and certainly women, were illiterate, nearly all Jews could read and write, and many achieved high levels of knowledge. A twelfth-century Catholic monk reported that "a Jew, however poor, if he has ten children, would put them all to letters, not for gain (as the Christians do), but for the understanding of G-d's Law, and not only his sons but his daughters.... Jewish education, however, was by no means restricted to the young. Adult Jews, as well, met in regular study."
In Maimonides' code of Jewish law, the Mishneh Torah, written in the twelfth century: "If a parent wishes to study Torah, and [they] has a child who must also learn, the parent takes precedence. However, if the child is more insightful or quicker to grasp what there is to be learned, the child takes precedence. Even though the child gains priority thereby, the parent must not ignore [their] own study, for just as it is a mitzvah to educate the child, so too is the parent commanded to teach [them]self." A few paragraphs later, Maimonides concludes "Until what period in life ought one study Torah? Until the day of one's death." (1:10)
In a world that glorified power, Jewish tradition glorified study. As the Talmud ruled "A scholar takes precedence over a king of Israel, for if a scholar dies no one can replace him, while if a king dies, all Israel is eligible for king-ship" (Harayot 13a).
An additional command in the Sh'ma's first paragraph relates to the Mezuzah:
Mezzuzah is the Hebrew word for doorpost, and for thousands of years Jews have posted small boxes there, inside of which is a small scroll that contains the first and second paragraphs of the Sh'ma. When a Jew enters a Jewish home, s/he sees the mezuzah and is thereby reminded how s/he should act in the home. Likewise, when a Jew leaves the house, the mezuzah reminds them of the high level of behavior they are expected to maintain wherever they go. (Telushkin, Jewish Literacy p. 710)
What does it mean for the concept of Jewish education that we post a mini scroll with these key words of Torah, and re-focus on them every time we enter or leave a Jewish home?