December 11, 2025 • 11 mins
Join Rabbi Oren Hayon for an inspiring reflection on the deep significance of the Sh’ma — the six Hebrew words that form the backbone of Jewish faith and peoplehood. Discover how the Sh’ma weaves through every stage of the Jewish lifespan, grounding us in tradition and community, and fueling acts of justice and repair. Through ancient legend, Torah teachings, and the wisdom of modern theologians, we explore how the Sh’ma is both a proclamation of faith and a call to ethical action, especially in troubled times. At a time when the world feels broken by conflict and anxiety, this conversation reminds us that we are bound by a sacred mission: to defend our community, embody compassion, and work toward wholeness and peace. The Sh’ma calls us to listen, to act, and to remain hopeful, reaffirming our eternal responsibility to heal and repair our world, together.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
It really is such a joy to see this room filled with people that have
come together to gain strength from the nearness of community,
those of you that are here to celebrate and those of you as well that are here to mourn.
One of the most fulfilling parts of the work of a congregational clergy – especially in a big,
(00:22):
vibrant congregation like ours – the chances that we get to spend with people at the most
pivotal and significant times of their lives: we’re with people at weddings and bar mitzvahs, (00:28):
undefined
to welcome new babies and sanctify new homes. Of course, not all of the milestone events are
happy ones. We spend time in hospital rooms and rehab facilities and at the bedsides
of those who are enduring incredible pain and extraordinary difficulty. And we’re with them,
(00:53):
as well, during their final transitions when their lives come to an end, and – though it’s
sometimes hard for people on the other side of the bimah to understand this – these moments
are often the most meaningful and fulfilling ones that we congregational clergy get to be part of.
At nearly all of the steps along the path of a Jewish lifespan, our ritual includes
(01:18):
an opportunity to recite the Sh’ma – the core declaration of God’s oneness that forms the
backbone of Jewish peoplehood and Jewish belief. Over the course of a life, those six Hebrew words
nestle so deeply into our consciousness that, for many of us, they will never become dislodged.
(01:39):
I’ll tell you that more times than I can count, I have recited the Sh’ma at the bedside of
someone in their last moments, someone who is otherwise not conscious and not responsive,
but when they hear the Sh’ma being recited, their lips start to move to follow the familiar words.
(02:00):
The words of the Sh’ma, which appear in this week’s Torah portion, are ingrained
so deeply in us, so deeply in our Jewish memory that over the course of a lifetime,
they become an unbreakable tie that connect us to our tradition and to each other. Some of us
recite it those words as the first things we say when we wake up in the morning. Others say
(02:22):
the Sh’ma as the last thing before we fall asleep. We teach it to our children just as it was taught
to us by our parents. And, as we did tonight, we sing it when we pray together in worship services.
Although, technically speaking, the Sh’ma isn’t really a prayer at all. We don’t ask God for
anything as part of it. We turn inward, sometimes we close our eyes, and we focus on the connection
(02:49):
that we share with God. The Sh’ma’s affirmation of God’s oneness is a proclamation of faith,
a recitation that functions as the Jewish national hymn. When I was growing up,
the prayerbook we used called it “the watchword of our faith” – which I always
thought was beautiful language, but which I never really understood what that meant.
(03:13):
There is a beautiful legend taught by the ancient rabbis about how the Sh’ma came into being.
According to the story, the phrase came spontaneously into existence at the very
instant when God spoke the Ten Commandments to the Israelites on Mt. Sinai. According to legend,
the phrase was actually born as a dialogue. When God was preparing to present the commandments,
(03:38):
God wanted to make sure that the Children of Israel were paying attention. So God
thundered out (03:41):
“Sh’ma Yisrael!” – “Listen up, oh Israel!” And the Israelites were so awestruck,
so overwhelmed with the powerful reality of God’s presence, that they responded in unison:
“Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Echad!” – “This is our God, and God is one!”
It’s a beautiful story that offers a wonderful kind of reaffirming and reframing practice for us
(04:08):
to reexamine the words that are so familiar to us, to reimagine them as a dialogue, conversation, an
exchange between God and the Jewish people. God’s gift of the Ten Commandments is an expression of
love and commitment to us. And Israel’s response is an affirmation of God’s sovereignty and our
(04:28):
willingness to accept and follow the moral guidance that emerges from the Divine Presence
in the universe. So, today, even thousands of years later, when we recite those six words, we
re-affirm our part in the covenant (04:38):
to observe the commandments that come from our awareness of God’s
presence, and to help bring wholeness and repair to the broken parts of the world where we live.
An idea that the ethical imperative is at the core of the Sh’ma’s religious meaning is one that was
written about at length by Rabbi Elliot Dorff, who’s one of the preeminent living theologians
(05:01):
of the Conservative Movement. Rabbi Dorff writes this: “[We] recite the Shema each day because it
proclaims that God’s justice must be a critical element of the God that we affirm. … [S]ince God
is the model for human beings, the possibility of justice must be inherent in us as well.”
So for Rabbi Dorff, the Sh’ma’s importance as a religious text is matched by its importance
(05:25):
as an ethical text, an invitation that calls us toward human acts of righteousness in the
work of tikkun olam, of repairing the world. Consider that ancient legend which conceived
of those six words as a dialogue, in which our response to receiving
the Divine Presence made manifest, we exclaimed in unison: “This is our God,
(05:46):
and God is one!” Spontaneous expression of awe and gratitude gives rise to our willingness to
engage as God’s partners in unifying our world through acts of justice and repair.
It is an important reminder, always, I think, but especially these days, when so much around
(06:07):
us seems to be in a state of disrepair. The profound dysfunction of the political
apparatus here in Texas, the boiling anger and paralyzing anxiety all throughout our nation,
and the looming expansion of the war in Gaza which will certainly bring untold death and
destruction – all these things claw at the theological wrappings of the Sh’ma. We feel
(06:33):
despair, maybe, that our daily declarations of unity and love have become hollow.
But we are not permitted the luxury of despair. We are not permitted to throw
up our hands and abandon the work of tikkun olam, or to relinquish our commitment to the
universal values of democracy and peaceful coexistence. That’s who we are. That’s our
mission in the world (06:56):
to be attuned to the pain of our people, fiercely defensive of
our community’s well-being – and, at the same time, sensitive to the suffering of others.
And it’s not naïve and it’s not idealistic to believe that we can hold both of those
values simultaneously; it is just what we do as faithful, believing Jews.
(07:19):
Especially, I must say, when it comes to the unfolding calamity of this war,
which we watch with grief and trepidation from thousands of miles away. At times we
think maybe that the correct ethical impulse is to prioritize security at all costs,
above all else. And at other times maybe we feel a pull in the opposite direction,
that the right thing is to prioritize gentleness and empathy above everything else.
(07:45):
It is a tough spot to find ourselves in, between those two pulls in opposite
directions. And believing that we can choose one and only one of those two extremes,
and that if we choose the wrong one it will someday be revealed
that we were mindless – or heartless – to have advocated for the path we did.
(08:07):
You already know what I’m going to say. The right solution is to reject the notion that this is a
binary choice at all. The right solution is to hold self-protectiveness in one hand and
compassion in the other and acknowledge that the only viable future is one built out of
both materials. Doing that well requires such skill, such seriousness, such vision, and such
(08:33):
moral dedication that I am not sure we can pull it off. At least not if we’re working alone. A
future like that, I suspect, can only be built by adding God’s will and God’s resources to our own.
The Sh’ma opens as an exhortation to pay attention: “Sh’ma Yisrael” – “You have to listen,
(08:55):
O Israel. There is an overwhelming amount of work to be done. Pay attention.” And
that call is answered with our own humble, spirit-filled willingness: “Adonai Eloheinu,
Adonai Echad!” – “You are our one unique God, and we will do what You have asked.” We acknowledge
the deep oneness that binds us together in mutual responsibility and connects us to You, Oh God,
(09:23):
in moral obligation. And we will commit ourselves to our people and our tradition,
while remaining attentive to the suffering and the needs of others.
Those six words of the Sh’ma remind us that that even when our courage flags, even when
our strength diminishes, we have the capacity to repair the broken parts of our world. They
(09:46):
urge us to stay hopeful, not to lose faith in our fellow human beings. They command us to tear down
the walls of cynicism and build in their place an edifice of wholeness and real, lasting peace.
That imperative, the Jewish legacy of human dignity, and justice, and peace,
that is the noble reminder that echoes back at us every time we repeat the words of our
(10:11):
Jewish national hymn. Even when our time on earth is done and nothing else remains,
those words stay with us. Those words we teach diligently to our children,
the ones we speak in our home and when we are away, when we lie down and when we rise up. Our
eternal reminder of the Presence beyond presences, Whose oneness and unity connects us to our eternal
(10:38):
tradition, to each other, and to the One who created us to bring healing to a broken world.
May this be God’s will. Amen.
It really is such a joy to see this room filled with people that have
come together to gain strength from the nearness of community,
those of you that are here to celebrate and those of you as well that are here to mourn.
One of the most fulfilling parts of the work of a congregational clergy – especially in a big,
(00:22):
vibrant congregation like ours – the chances that we get to spend with people at the most
pivotal and significant times of their lives: we’re with people at weddings and bar mitzvahs, (00:28):
undefined
to welcome new babies and sanctify new homes. Of course, not all of the milestone events are
happy ones. We spend time in hospital rooms and rehab facilities and at the bedsides
of those who are enduring incredible pain and extraordinary difficulty. And we’re with them,
(00:53):
as well, during their final transitions when their lives come to an end, and – though it’s
sometimes hard for people on the other side of the bimah to understand this – these moments
are often the most meaningful and fulfilling ones that we congregational clergy get to be part of.
At nearly all of the steps along the path of a Jewish lifespan, our ritual includes
(01:18):
an opportunity to recite the Sh’ma – the core declaration of God’s oneness that forms the
backbone of Jewish peoplehood and Jewish belief. Over the course of a life, those six Hebrew words
nestle so deeply into our consciousness that, for many of us, they will never become dislodged.
(01:39):
I’ll tell you that more times than I can count, I have recited the Sh’ma at the bedside of
someone in their last moments, someone who is otherwise not conscious and not responsive,
but when they hear the Sh’ma being recited, their lips start to move to follow the familiar words.
(02:00):
The words of the Sh’ma, which appear in this week’s Torah portion, are ingrained
so deeply in us, so deeply in our Jewish memory that over the course of a lifetime,
they become an unbreakable tie that connect us to our tradition and to each other. Some of us
recite it those words as the first things we say when we wake up in the morning. Others say
(02:22):
the Sh’ma as the last thing before we fall asleep. We teach it to our children just as it was taught
to us by our parents. And, as we did tonight, we sing it when we pray together in worship services.
Although, technically speaking, the Sh’ma isn’t really a prayer at all. We don’t ask God for
anything as part of it. We turn inward, sometimes we close our eyes, and we focus on the connection
(02:49):
that we share with God. The Sh’ma’s affirmation of God’s oneness is a proclamation of faith,
a recitation that functions as the Jewish national hymn. When I was growing up,
the prayerbook we used called it “the watchword of our faith” – which I always
thought was beautiful language, but which I never really understood what that meant.
(03:13):
There is a beautiful legend taught by the ancient rabbis about how the Sh’ma came into being.
According to the story, the phrase came spontaneously into existence at the very
instant when God spoke the Ten Commandments to the Israelites on Mt. Sinai. According to legend,
the phrase was actually born as a dialogue. When God was preparing to present the commandments,
(03:38):
God wanted to make sure that the Children of Israel were paying attention. So God
thundered out (03:41):
“Sh’ma Yisrael!” – “Listen up, oh Israel!” And the Israelites were so awestruck,
so overwhelmed with the powerful reality of God’s presence, that they responded in unison:
“Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Echad!” – “This is our God, and God is one!”
It’s a beautiful story that offers a wonderful kind of reaffirming and reframing practice for us
(04:08):
to reexamine the words that are so familiar to us, to reimagine them as a dialogue, conversation, an
exchange between God and the Jewish people. God’s gift of the Ten Commandments is an expression of
love and commitment to us. And Israel’s response is an affirmation of God’s sovereignty and our
(04:28):
willingness to accept and follow the moral guidance that emerges from the Divine Presence
in the universe. So, today, even thousands of years later, when we recite those six words, we
re-affirm our part in the covenant (04:38):
to observe the commandments that come from our awareness of God’s
presence, and to help bring wholeness and repair to the broken parts of the world where we live.
An idea that the ethical imperative is at the core of the Sh’ma’s religious meaning is one that was
written about at length by Rabbi Elliot Dorff, who’s one of the preeminent living theologians
(05:01):
of the Conservative Movement. Rabbi Dorff writes this: “[We] recite the Shema each day because it
proclaims that God’s justice must be a critical element of the God that we affirm. … [S]ince God
is the model for human beings, the possibility of justice must be inherent in us as well.”
So for Rabbi Dorff, the Sh’ma’s importance as a religious text is matched by its importance
(05:25):
as an ethical text, an invitation that calls us toward human acts of righteousness in the
work of tikkun olam, of repairing the world. Consider that ancient legend which conceived
of those six words as a dialogue, in which our response to receiving
the Divine Presence made manifest, we exclaimed in unison: “This is our God,
(05:46):
and God is one!” Spontaneous expression of awe and gratitude gives rise to our willingness to
engage as God’s partners in unifying our world through acts of justice and repair.
It is an important reminder, always, I think, but especially these days, when so much around
(06:07):
us seems to be in a state of disrepair. The profound dysfunction of the political
apparatus here in Texas, the boiling anger and paralyzing anxiety all throughout our nation,
and the looming expansion of the war in Gaza which will certainly bring untold death and
destruction – all these things claw at the theological wrappings of the Sh’ma. We feel
(06:33):
despair, maybe, that our daily declarations of unity and love have become hollow.
But we are not permitted the luxury of despair. We are not permitted to throw
up our hands and abandon the work of tikkun olam, or to relinquish our commitment to the
universal values of democracy and peaceful coexistence. That’s who we are. That’s our
mission in the world (06:56):
to be attuned to the pain of our people, fiercely defensive of
our community’s well-being – and, at the same time, sensitive to the suffering of others.
And it’s not naïve and it’s not idealistic to believe that we can hold both of those
values simultaneously; it is just what we do as faithful, believing Jews.
(07:19):
Especially, I must say, when it comes to the unfolding calamity of this war,
which we watch with grief and trepidation from thousands of miles away. At times we
think maybe that the correct ethical impulse is to prioritize security at all costs,
above all else. And at other times maybe we feel a pull in the opposite direction,
that the right thing is to prioritize gentleness and empathy above everything else.
(07:45):
It is a tough spot to find ourselves in, between those two pulls in opposite
directions. And believing that we can choose one and only one of those two extremes,
and that if we choose the wrong one it will someday be revealed
that we were mindless – or heartless – to have advocated for the path we did.
(08:07):
You already know what I’m going to say. The right solution is to reject the notion that this is a
binary choice at all. The right solution is to hold self-protectiveness in one hand and
compassion in the other and acknowledge that the only viable future is one built out of
both materials. Doing that well requires such skill, such seriousness, such vision, and such
(08:33):
moral dedication that I am not sure we can pull it off. At least not if we’re working alone. A
future like that, I suspect, can only be built by adding God’s will and God’s resources to our own.
The Sh’ma opens as an exhortation to pay attention: “Sh’ma Yisrael” – “You have to listen,
(08:55):
O Israel. There is an overwhelming amount of work to be done. Pay attention.” And
that call is answered with our own humble, spirit-filled willingness: “Adonai Eloheinu,
Adonai Echad!” – “You are our one unique God, and we will do what You have asked.” We acknowledge
the deep oneness that binds us together in mutual responsibility and connects us to You, Oh God,
(09:23):
in moral obligation. And we will commit ourselves to our people and our tradition,
while remaining attentive to the suffering and the needs of others.
Those six words of the Sh’ma remind us that that even when our courage flags, even when
our strength diminishes, we have the capacity to repair the broken parts of our world. They
(09:46):
urge us to stay hopeful, not to lose faith in our fellow human beings. They command us to tear down
the walls of cynicism and build in their place an edifice of wholeness and real, lasting peace.
That imperative, the Jewish legacy of human dignity, and justice, and peace,
that is the noble reminder that echoes back at us every time we repeat the words of our
(10:11):
Jewish national hymn. Even when our time on earth is done and nothing else remains,
those words stay with us. Those words we teach diligently to our children,
the ones we speak in our home and when we are away, when we lie down and when we rise up. Our
eternal reminder of the Presence beyond presences, Whose oneness and unity connects us to our eternal
(10:38):
tradition, to each other, and to the One who created us to bring healing to a broken world.
May this be God’s will. Amen.
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