Siddur full of Shema By: Shiri Kolom

(ד) שְׁמַ֖ע יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵ֖ינוּ יְהוָ֥ה ׀ אֶחָֽד׃ (ה) וְאָ֣הַבְתָּ֔ אֵ֖ת יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֑יךָ בְּכָל־לְבָבְךָ֥ וּבְכָל־נַפְשְׁךָ֖ וּבְכָל־מְאֹדֶֽךָ׃ (ו) וְהָי֞וּ הַדְּבָרִ֣ים הָאֵ֗לֶּה אֲשֶׁ֨ר אָנֹכִ֧י מְצַוְּךָ֛ הַיּ֖וֹם עַל־לְבָבֶֽךָ׃ (ז) וְשִׁנַּנְתָּ֣ם לְבָנֶ֔יךָ וְדִבַּרְתָּ֖ בָּ֑ם בְּשִׁבְתְּךָ֤ בְּבֵיתֶ֙ךָ֙ וּבְלֶכְתְּךָ֣ בַדֶּ֔רֶךְ וּֽבְשָׁכְבְּךָ֖ וּבְקוּמֶֽךָ׃ (ח) וּקְשַׁרְתָּ֥ם לְא֖וֹת עַל־יָדֶ֑ךָ וְהָי֥וּ לְטֹטָפֹ֖ת בֵּ֥ין עֵינֶֽיךָ׃ (ט) וּכְתַבְתָּ֛ם עַל־מְזוּזֹ֥ת בֵּיתֶ֖ךָ וּבִשְׁעָרֶֽיךָ׃

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

4: Hear Israel, Hashem our G-d Hashem is one. 5: You should love Hashem your G-D with all your heart, all your soul, and all of your money. 6: And these are things that I am commanding you today on your hearts, 7: that you will teach your children, speak about when you are home or when you are walking outside, and when you go to sleep and wake up. 8: And you will tie these words on your hands and put between your eyes. 9: And you will put these words on the doorposts of your house and your gates.

Shema simplifies what we should be doing in our lives. This is why we are constantly saying it. Shema starts off by Moshe making sure that Bnei is listening. This makes it obvious that Shema is very important. (שְׁמַ֖ע יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל) Then Moshe states that Hashem is one. After this Moshe is making sure that we love Hashem, and that we have a relationship with him. He continues and tells us that we should be remembering, including, and talking about the words of torah, all of time in our daily lives. (פסוק ז) Then he even lists examples: like tefilin and mezuzah to make sure that we are constantly reminded by Torah. (וְהָי֥וּ לְטֹטָפֹ֖ת בֵּ֥ין עֵינֶֽיךָ and וּכְתַבְתָּ֛ם עַל־מְזוּזֹ֥ת בֵּיתֶ֖ךָ וּבִשְׁעָרֶֽיךָ׃) Shema is so important for us to hold onto because it gives us a way to get closer with Hashem. It gives us instructions on what Hashem would want us to be doing. Shema also allows us to say it no matter what we are going through, happy or sad, good or bad. This makes shema part of our lives and the center of it too. This may all seem very clear to us but because Torah is poetry, we look deeper into the words of shema like any other words of Torah.

וְשִׁנַּנְתָּ֣ם- Rashi notices that the word וְשִׁנַּנְתָּ֣ם is used weirdly in this case. Why does it say וְשִׁנַּנְתָּ֣ם instead of ולמדתם, and you will teach them? He then answers his own question as follows: וְשִׁנַּנְתָּ֣ם is a language of sharpening. We can take from this that the words of shema should always be sharp in our mouths. Also when you are teaching these words and someone asks a question you should be able to answer the question without hesitation. So וְשִׁנַּנְתָּ֣ם is telling us that we have to teach our children in a neat sharp way. (Rashi ו:ז דברים וְשִׁנַּנְתָּ֣ם)

If we don’t teach our children sharply, it will sound like we don’t really understand or know the Torah. Normally when people don’t know things it is a sign that it isn’t important to them. Then it will be showing our children that the Torah isn’t important, therefore we have to teach our children sharply.

וּבְכָל־נַפְשְׁךָ֖- We should love Hashem so much that we are to serve him with all our soul. To serve him with all our soul, we have to love him even when we die, and he takes our soul.
(Rashi ו:ה וּבְכָל־נַפְשְׁךָ֖)

וּבְכָל־נַפְשְׁךָ֖- We should love Hashem so much that we are serve him with all our soul. To serve him with all our soul, we have to love him even when we die, and he takes our soul.

אֲשֶׁ֨ר אָנֹכִ֧י מְצַוְּךָ֛ הַיּ֖וֹם- Why does Moshe say “these words that I command to you today” if he really commanded them to us 40 years ago, because this is a repetition of the Torah? The answer is that we should not look at the Torah and think it’s old. Everytime we think of it, it should be like brand new. (Rashi ו:ו אֲשֶׁ֨ר אָנֹכִ֧י מְצַוְּךָ֛ הַיּ֖וֹם)

If we think of the Torah as brand new, it then compares to anything else new that everybody wants to get and is interested in. Although if we look at it as something old, it then compares to everything that's old, boring and already forgotten. Therefore we must look at the Torah as if it is something new, because we should always be interested in it, and we should never forget it.

שְׁמַ֖ע- Written in the Torah in the word שְׁמַ֖ע the ע appears to be bigger then the other letters. The reason is related to the gematria of the letter ע, seventy. The number 70 connects to 3 things. One: There are 70 different names for israel. Two: There are 70 names for Hashem. Three: There are 70 ways to explain the Torah. 70 is a big number to know a lot of things about one thing. When you know something in depth you know a lot of names for it. You pretty much live and breathe these things. So the ע is trying to show us that we should focus on; Hashem, Israel, and the Torah. (בעל הטורים- רבי יעקב)

Just like a Doctor knows many names for different parts of your body, we as Jews, should know a lot about Hashem, Israel, and the Torah.

אֱלֹהֵ֖ינוּ-וְאָ֣הַבְתָּ֔ אֵ֖ת יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֑יךָ- In the beggining of Shema it starts out by saying “our G-D” which is plural then it goes to singular by saying “ you should love.” It does this because first we all have to believe in Hashem as a nation, but then in order to actually love Hashem, we all have to do that on our own and in our own way. (רב הירש)

Another way to think of this is: You can call a basketball team, a really good team, but in the team there are individual players. Clearly the players are good based on the first statement but in order for them to be good they would each have to understand the game and be devoted on their own.