The Way of G-d
Part 4: "Divine Service"
Ch. 4: "Shema Yisroel and Its Blessings"
Paragraph 8
The rest of "Shema Yisroel" elaborates on all this and touches upon even
more, including accepting the yoke of G-d's Kingdom upon yourself and
loving Him, accepting the yoke of His mitzvot, and recalling the exodus
from Egypt. We'll explore that all paragraph by paragraph.
The first of the three paragraphs (from Deuteronomy 6:5-9) abjures us all
to "love G-d your L-rd with all your heart, with all your soul, and with
all your might". This obviously urges us all to subject ourselves to and
undergo an all-embracing and thorough love of Him. So, we're to take this
to heart when we recite it and to actualize it right there and then.
We're to then intend to transmit the idea of emanating G-d's holiness and
of accepting upon ourselves the yoke of His Kingdom to our children and
our descendants, in keeping with "teach [these words] dilligently to your
children); of rectifying humankind, in keeping with "[speak of them] while
you remain at home and when you go on your way"); of solidifying our
relationship to G-d, in keeping with "bind [arm-tephillin] for a sign upon
your hand, and they shall be as frontlets [head-tephillin] between your
eyes"); and of perfecting our households, in keeping with "write [these
words] upon the door-posts of your house, and on your gates").
Text Copyright © 2004 by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman and Torah.org.
