The Synagogue Survival Kit by Jordan Lee Wagner

Author:Jordan Lee Wagner
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780765709738
Publisher: Jason Aronson, Inc.

WHEN AND WHERE TO FIND THE SH’MA

The Sh’ma is a self-referential statement. It contains Deuteronomy 6:7, which is a commandment incumbent upon Jews, that we fulfill by reciting the Sh’ma. We are reciting Deuteronomy 6:7 in fulfillment of Deuteronomy 6:7. (The next two biblical lines contain commandments that are the basis for t’fillin and mezzuzot, both of which contain a parchment of the Sh’ma.)

Since one recites the Sh’ma in fulfillment of the self­referential biblical commandment to “speak of [these words) when you lie down and when you rise up,” the Sh’ma is included in Shacharit (the daily morning service) and Maariv (the daily evening service), but not Mincha (the daily afternoon service).13

K’riyat Sh’ma (recitation of the Sh’ma) refers to the commandment to recite the Sh’ma, or to its performance. This is qualitatively different from Talmud Torah (performing the commandment to study Torah, in which the same text could be encountered), and from general Bible-reading activity (in which the same text could also be encountered). What one is in fact doing when reading the text of the Sh’ma depends on one’s kavannah (inner intent).

Recalling that Jewish days begin at sundown, our services now schematically look like this:14

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