Shema prayer transliteration11/6/2023 ![]() Teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit at home and when you travel on the way, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be an emblem between your eyes. Therefore, set these, My words, on your heart and soul. The land will not yield its crops, and you will perish swiftly from the good land that the Lord is giving you. Then the Lord’s anger will flare against you and He will close the heavens so that there will be no rain. Be careful lest your heart be tempted and you go astray and worship other gods, bowing down to them. I will give grass in your field for your cattle, and you shall eat and be satisfied. If you indeed heed My commandments with which I charge you today, to love the Lord your God and worship Him with all your heart and with all your soul, I will give rain in your land in its season, the early and the late rain and you shall gather in your grain, wine and oil. The second paragraph is translated into English as follows: The 2 nd paragraph also introduces the concept of reward and punishment for actions performed. These commandments are repeated in the 2 nd paragraph of the Shema, but whereas the 1 st paragraph is written in the 2 nd person singular, thus imposing obligations on individual Jews, the 2 nd paragraph is written in the second person plural and thus imposes obligations on the Jewish community as a whole. Write them on the doorposts of your house and gates.Īfter talking about man’s relationship with God, this paragraph contains commandments to educate children religiously and to observe the commandments of tefillin and mezuzah. Teach them repeatedly to your children, speaking of them when you sit at home and when you travel on the way, when you lie down and when you rise. These words which I command you today shall be on your heart. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. Listen, Israel: the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.īlessed be the name of His glorious kingdom for ever and all time. Although the wording of the English translation may vary somewhat, the clear intention of the sentence is to assert the monotheistic nature of Judaism.įollowing is the translation of the first paragraph of the Shema prayer according to Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks (previously Chief Rabbi of the British Commonwealth): Another, equally valid, translation is ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord alone’. The best known translation of this verse is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One’ (the phrase ‘O Israel’ indicates that the statement is being addressed to the Jewish people – ‘Israel’ – as a whole). Translation of the sentence is not a straight-forward task due to the nuances of the Hebrew language which allow this sentence to be understood (and translated) in more than one way. Shema Yisra’el, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Echad. The opening line of the prayer is its most significant: Religious Jews recite the Shema prayer twice a day, upon arising in the morning and upon going to bed at night, and the prayer also forms an important part of the morning and evening prayer services. The significance of the Shema prayer in Judaism can be seen from the fact that not only is it one of the first prayers taught to small children, but its first line in particular is recited as a confession of faith by those about to die. But, like Judaism itself, the prayer does not confine itself to theological positions and contains a number of practical observances to be undertaken by a religious Jew. The prayer starts with the most fundamental of Jewish beliefs – monotheism, the belief that there is only one God (for many centuries this was the major point of distinction between Judaism and other faiths and this changed only with the birth of the other monotheistic faiths, Christianity and Islam). The first passage is Deuteronomy 6: 4-9, the second passage is Deuteronomy 11: 13-21, and the third passage is Numbers 15: 37-41. These three passages are referred to as the three paragraphs of the Shema. The prayer in fact consists of three biblical passages with just a single line of additional text inserted after the first line of the first passage. This Jewish prayer, like many others, is known by its opening words, ‘Shema Yisrael’ or, more simply, as the ‘Shema’. The Hebrew words ‘Shema Yisra’el’ are the opening words of the Shema prayer
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