Parshas Emor
May 9th-10th, 2003
8 Iyar, 5763

"You shall observe My commandments, and perform them; I am Hashem. You shall not desecrate My holy Name, rather I should be sanctified among the Children of Israel; I am Hashem Who sanctifies you." (22, 31-32)

I pose to you the following simple question. What should we be thinking about when reciting the Shema, that holy watchword of our faith which Jews are commanded to say morning and evening? [Remember that besides the first verse, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our G-d, the Lord is One," the Shema consists of three paragraphs from the Torah. The first begins with the famous words: "You shall love the Lord, your G-d, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might."]

Of course, the easy answer is: "The meaning of the words themselves!"

That’s not as obvious as it may seem, perhaps, for there are surely those among the praying population who forget that merely uttering (or muttering) sounds and syllables is not the ultimate goal of the Shema, or of the prayer service in general. Broadly put, the point is to transform ourselves through reflection on the lofty meaning of the words, to deepen our relationship to G-d, Source of all life and blessing, and our awareness that we are dependent on Him. And anyhow, even if it is obvious that we should be thinking about the meaning of the words we utter, well, we all need constant reminders to wake up and do the thing right (or do the right thing). How easily we shift into high gear (or switch on the auto pilot), rather than slowing down to appreciate (and utilize) the spiritual connection offered by each and every mitzvah!

Okay, but besides the simple meaning of the words themselves, though, is there any other particular thought that is supposed to accompany the Shema?

Why, yes, there is, in fact! What’s more, this thought directly relates to the verse from this week’s parsha that I’ve put in bold letters above, and happens to be an extremely important pillar of our service unto G-d. We could even say that it expresses the very essence of what it means to "serve" G-d.

"…I should be sanctified among the Children of Israel." This is the biblical source of the commandment known as "kiddush Hashem," sanctifying the Name of G-d. In the most general sense, it includes keeping the commandments and living our lives in such a way that we bring honor and glory to G-d, His Torah and the Jewish people. More specifically, the Talmud explains, it requires us to allow ourselves be killed rather than transgress the three "cardinal sins" of idolatry, adultery or murder. [In contrast, we may save our lives, if threatened with death, by committing any of the other transgressions of the Torah. This is true except in a case of organized religious persecution, when our enemies our consciously trying to uproot our Torah; in such a case, we would have to sanctify G-d’s Name by giving up our lives rather than violate any of the commandments.]

We make G-d’s Name holy, i.e. we testify to His greatness and absolute sovereignty, by living our lives according to His word (both in letter and in spirit)…and sometimes, if need be, by giving up our own lives.

We say in the Shema, "You shall love the Lord, your G-d, with all your heart," and we should concentrate on feeling love for our Creator. Then we say the words, "with all your soul," and our Sages tell us that, at that point, we should think that we love G-d to such an extent that we would even give up our souls (our lives) for Him. As the Sefer Charedim (a famous work on the commandments) puts it, when saying those words"…one should resolve with complete acceptance that if he should come to the point of such a test [i.e., being faced with the threat of death by persecutors], he would strengthen himself and sacrifice his soul and his possessions with joy, like Rabbi Akiva and the sons of Chana [in the Chanukah story]…"

Some of the commentators write that when we say the Shema with that thought/intention, we are actually fulfilling the commandment of kiddush Hashem! Meaning that in a normal situation, when our lives are not actually in danger, we fulfill the mitzvah of sanctifying G-d’s name by making ourselves ready to give up our lives for G-d, by preparing ourselves inwardly for the theoretical possibility of such an extreme occurrence and test.

Perhaps it seems a bit creepy to even talk about this subject of sanctifying G-d’s Name when we see (l’havdil) devotees of a certain other monotheistic religion rushing forward to give up their own lives--and take lots of others with them--to fulfill their own crazed perversion of this mitzvah! (But we see such a difference: our holy Torah commands us to give up our lives rather than shed the blood of another person, except in self-defense.) However, we need to understand the true and holy devotion we Jews are supposed to have for our G-d and for the "tree of Life" that is the Torah. A "servant" is one who is absolutely dedicated to his master, and is ready to do anything on his behalf…and we were created to be servants of G-d. (Avraham, our forefather, showed he was a true servant: he was ready to sacrifice his beloved son, Yitzhak, when called on to do so…and Yitzhak, who our Sages tell us figured out what was going on, was ready to sacrifice himself.)

Baruch Hashem, we don’t live in the Middle Ages, when Jews routinely faced the test of kiddush Hashem in the most extreme and lethal form, so to speak. I hope and pray we never have to give up our lives EXCEPT in our inner resolve to do so during the recitation of the Shema. But here’s something to consider. If many of us probably feel that we would give up our lives in that ultimate test if it came to that (as so many of our ancestors did), then why can’t we resolve with all our hearts, souls and might, to try to sanctify G-d’s Name during our lives now, by observing the Torah? Let’s "sacrifice" our souls (more correctly, awaken and nurture our souls) by living for G-d today, in peace and freedom and prosperity!

Does sacrificing ourselves for the whole Torah seem too extreme? Well, then, pick one mitzvah to commit yourself to with the spirit of self-sacrifice of our ancestors…and make it the beginning of a greater commitment to sanctifying G-d’s Name here and now. Maybe reciting the Shema itself every day, morning and evening, is the best and most fitting place to start! Daily Torah study, even for five minutes, is another good idea. (Don’t think that’s a small thing. Five minutes would be a HUGE accomplishment.) Or lighting candles and making Kiddush every Friday night. One step at a time is all G-d expects of us…but He most certainly wants us to get stepping!! "One mitzvah leads to another," our Sages tell us.

May we all work to develop the inner strength and conviction that would allow us to give up our lives for G-d if need be…and then use that strength NOW to make our lives a bit more meaningful (and the world a bit more holy) through observing a bit more of the Torah.

GOOD SHABBOS.

My e-mail address is yosefe@comcast.net

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Rabbi Yosef Edelstein, Savannah Kollel. Phone: 912-351-0469; fax: 354-9923