{"id":46594,"date":"2018-11-13T14:57:59","date_gmt":"2018-11-13T14:57:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/?p=46594"},"modified":"2018-11-13T14:57:59","modified_gmt":"2018-11-13T14:57:59","slug":"rosh-hashanah-and-the-shema","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/rosh-hashanah-and-the-shema\/","title":{"rendered":"Rosh HaShanah and the Shema"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is a dispute between Rashi and the Rambam in how to understand the pasuk<\/em> of Shema Yisrael<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Rashi understands the pasuk<\/em> as a request for the entire world to come to recognize Hashem as The One G-d.\u00a0 Adding some insights of others, what we are saying is:<\/p>\n

Shema Yisrael<\/em>: Hear, understand, and accept \u2013 all of klal Yisrael<\/em> in unity\u2026<\/p>\n

Hashem Elokeinu<\/em>: The Hashem Who today is \u201cour G-d\u201d because primarily only we recognize Him as the One G-d Who oversees and controls every aspect of the world and of my personal life\u2026<\/p>\n

Hashem Echad<\/em>: Here we are requesting of Hashem that He bring about the time when the whole world will recognize that Hashem is One, as we<\/em> do now.<\/p>\n

Rambam understands the pasuk<\/em> to mean that we are affirming to ourselves (and internalizing) that Hashem is One as stated above.\u00a0 Ein od milvado<\/em> \u2013 all that happens in the world and all that happens in our lives, sweet and bitter \u2013 all is from Hashem.<\/p>\n

HaRav Soloveitchik then suggests that for the evening Shema<\/em>, in Maariv<\/em>, we think along the lines of the Rambam, and during the morning Shema<\/em> we think like Rashi.<\/p>\n

We begin our day at night.\u00a0 Before we can request that Hashem enlighten all the nations of the world, we<\/em> need to reaffirm Hashem as King over ourselves.\u00a0 HaRav Yerucham Levovitz points out that it is much more difficult to proclaim Hashem as King over ourselves than to ask Hashem to allow the entire world to recognize Him.\u00a0 When we have to make a decision, do we decide based on what we want to do, or do we ask ourselves (and our rav\/rebbe<\/em>, when needed) what do I think Hashem wants me to do?<\/p>\n

Only after we reaffirm and commit ourselves during the evening Shema<\/em>, do we then make our request in the morning for the entire world, in accordance with Rashi\u2019s understanding.<\/p>\n

HaRav Soloveitchik adds that we see that in the birchos Shema<\/em> at night, in Maariv<\/em>, there are no requests at all.\u00a0 In contrast, in the birchos Shema<\/em> in Shacharis<\/em>, there are many requests.\u00a0 Therefore, it fits beautifully that our request comes only in the morning Shema<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The essence of Rosh HaShanah is, in fact, exactly these two understandings of Shema<\/em>: first, accepting Hashem\u2019s Kingship over myself.\u00a0 We must first thank Hashem for the role we played this past year in His Malchus<\/em>.\u00a0 We must truly appreciate all He has granted to us.\u00a0 Then we should express our yearning to play an even bigger role this year.\u00a0 The degree to which we truly pine to come closer to Hashem, to learn His Torah and do His Will, to emulate His midos<\/em> (not merely performing acts of compassion and chesed<\/em>, but actually becoming people of compassion and chesed<\/em>, etc.), the more Hashem will, in fact, allow us to have an even greater role in the future, b\u2019ezras Hashem<\/em>.\u00a0 Rosh HaShanah is about our desire and about our commitment.<\/p>\n

The next step is yearning for Hashem to bring the time soon in our days when the entire world will recognize Hashem as we do.<\/p>\n

May we all be blessed with a k\u2019sivah v\u2019chasimah tovah<\/em> and all we need spiritually, emotionally, and physically to take on an even greater role in Hashem\u2019s Malchus<\/em>.<\/p>\n

(based on reshumos shiurim<\/em> on Maseches B\u2019rachos<\/em> from HaRav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik zt\u201dl<\/em>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is a dispute between Rashi and the Rambam in how to understand the pasuk of Shema Yisrael. Rashi understands the pasuk as a request for the entire world to come to recognize Hashem as The One G-d.\u00a0 Adding some insights of others, what we are saying is: Shema Yisrael: Hear, understand, and accept \u2013 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133662,"featured_media":41529,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[337],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rosh-hashanah"],"yoast_head":"\nRosh HaShanah and the Shema - Jewish Holidays<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/rosh-hashanah-and-the-shema\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rosh HaShanah and the Shema - Jewish Holidays\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There is a dispute between Rashi and the Rambam in how to understand the pasuk of Shema Yisrael. Rashi understands the pasuk as a request for the entire world to come to recognize Hashem as The One G-d.\u00a0 Adding some insights of others, what we are saying is: Shema Yisrael: Hear, understand, and accept \u2013 […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/rosh-hashanah-and-the-shema\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jewish Holidays\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OrthodoxUnion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-11-13T14:57:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/files\/Children-e1473861034773.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"534\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Weekly Tefilah Focus\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Weekly Tefilah Focus\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/rosh-hashanah-and-the-shema\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/rosh-hashanah-and-the-shema\/\",\"name\":\"Rosh HaShanah and the Shema - Jewish Holidays\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/rosh-hashanah-and-the-shema\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/rosh-hashanah-and-the-shema\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/files\/Children-e1473861034773.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-11-13T14:57:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#\/schema\/person\/61c5b19240706f66e4ad4c02c3bac692\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/rosh-hashanah-and-the-shema\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/rosh-hashanah-and-the-shema\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/rosh-hashanah-and-the-shema\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/files\/Children-e1473861034773.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/files\/Children-e1473861034773.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":534,\"caption\":\"Children\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/rosh-hashanah-and-the-shema\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Rosh HaShanah and the Shema\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/\",\"name\":\"Jewish Holidays\",\"description\":\"Learn about Jewish holidays\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#\/schema\/person\/61c5b19240706f66e4ad4c02c3bac692\",\"name\":\"Weekly Tefilah Focus\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Weekly Tefilah Focus\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/author\/weekly-tefilah-focus-2\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Rosh HaShanah and the Shema - Jewish Holidays","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/rosh-hashanah-and-the-shema\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Rosh HaShanah and the Shema - Jewish Holidays","og_description":"There is a dispute between Rashi and the Rambam in how to understand the pasuk of Shema Yisrael. Rashi understands the pasuk as a request for the entire world to come to recognize Hashem as The One G-d.\u00a0 Adding some insights of others, what we are saying is: Shema Yisrael: Hear, understand, and accept \u2013 […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/rosh-hashanah-and-the-shema\/","og_site_name":"Jewish Holidays","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OrthodoxUnion","article_published_time":"2018-11-13T14:57:59+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":534,"url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/files\/Children-e1473861034773.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Weekly Tefilah Focus","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Weekly Tefilah Focus","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/rosh-hashanah-and-the-shema\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/rosh-hashanah-and-the-shema\/","name":"Rosh HaShanah and the Shema - Jewish Holidays","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/rosh-hashanah-and-the-shema\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/rosh-hashanah-and-the-shema\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/files\/Children-e1473861034773.jpg","datePublished":"2018-11-13T14:57:59+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#\/schema\/person\/61c5b19240706f66e4ad4c02c3bac692"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/rosh-hashanah-and-the-shema\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/rosh-hashanah-and-the-shema\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/rosh-hashanah-and-the-shema\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/files\/Children-e1473861034773.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/files\/Children-e1473861034773.jpg","width":800,"height":534,"caption":"Children"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/rosh-hashanah-and-the-shema\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Rosh HaShanah and the Shema"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/","name":"Jewish Holidays","description":"Learn about Jewish holidays","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#\/schema\/person\/61c5b19240706f66e4ad4c02c3bac692","name":"Weekly Tefilah Focus","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Weekly Tefilah Focus"},"url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/author\/weekly-tefilah-focus-2\/"}]}},"acf":[],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/133662"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46594"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46595,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46594\/revisions\/46595"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}