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What does the Shema mean?

 Submitted: 1/3/2008
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Question: Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God is one LORD.' This verse of Scripture has become the most distinctive and important statement of faith for the Jews. They call it the Shema, after the first word of the phrase in Hebrew. What does it mean? Could you please expound it to me? And also the terms tiffilin and mezuzzah.
Answer: The verse you have quoted (Deuteronomy 6:4) means exactly what it says: God is one. He is not two, three, or any other number. He is one! As one Jewish Rabbi said: 'These words enshrine Judaism's greatest contribution to the religious thought of mankind. They constitute the primal confession of Faith...declaring that the Holy God worshipped and proclaimed by Israel is One; and that He alone is God, Who was, is, and ever will be. That opening sentence of the Shema rightly occupies the central place in Jewish religious thought; for every other Jewish belief turns upon it: all goes back to it; all flows from it.'

Jesus quoted the Shema in Mark 12:29 and called it the first of all the commandments. This means that it is not only the most distinctive and important statement of faith for Jews, but also for Christians. It is the foundation for understanding the God of the Bible who was manifested in the flesh.

The word 'shema' means to hear, to listen, or to pay attention. A tiffilin is a small leather box containing various verses of Scripture that some Jews strap to their forehead as they pray. This practice comes from a literal interpretation of the command to bind God's Word to your forehead. A mezuzzah is a small metal or wooden box containing verses of Scripture which Jews attach to a doorpost of their house. This practice comes from a literal interpretation of the command to write God's Word on your doorposts. See Deuteronomy 6:4-9.





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