Correction/clarification/comment In the first passage of SH'MA, we are commanded to love G-d with all our heart. The command is in second person singular - B'CHOL L'VA-V'CHA (SH'VA NA under the VET). Still in the first passage, we are told that the words of Torah should be on our hearts. Because the word is at the end of a pasuk, the SH'VA under the VET changes to a SEGOL. AL L'VA-VE-CHA. Beginning of the second passage, we are commanded to love G-d and to serve Him with all our hearts. This time the command is in second person plural - B'CHOL L'VAV-CHEM. The SH'VA under the VET is NACH. The first VET has a PATACH under it, which is a short vowel that "prefers" to share its syllable with the followed letter that has a SH'VA NACH. Here the first syllable is L'VAV. In contrast to the first passage's L'VA, with a KAMATZ (long vowel) under the VET, followed by V'CHA. The word L'VA-V'CHEM is found three more times in the SH'MA, warning against our hearts straying, commanding us to place G-d's words on our hearts (or as we might say in English, "to take to heart"), and in the third passage, commanding us not to follow the negative temptations of our hearts (and eyes). Our commitment to G-d and His Torah is very much a matter of the heart. On another matter... [The Parshat T'ruma Homepage]
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