Shema: A 2 For 1 Meditation

Soon after the giving of the Ten Commandments (Deut. 6:4), the ancient Israelites are instructed to affirm their commitment to God twice each day with the recitation of the Shema; once when waking in the morning and once at night before going to sleep. So, it's a 2 for 1...twice daily for one God! But the Shema is more than just a simple prayer. As a prescribed routine, it was meant to be a daily meditative reminder of our oneness with God.

The Shema starts out with the call "Hear, O' Israel" telling us to listen and open our perceptions completely to feel the presence of the Divine. As you'll recall, Israel is the name given to Jacob following his wrestling with the angel of the Lord and means "he who contends with the Divine (Gen. 32:29)." The Shema calls out to the Israel in all of us; that part of us that seeks and struggles with the spiritual.

The next words of the Shema are Adonai Eloheynu meaning "Lord, our God." This is where we are reminded of God's greatness, beyond description. From this awe-inspiring mental state we then call God ours and realize our ability to relate to God even though the Divine is beyond our comprehension and our ability to define. We can open ourselves to an awareness of the Divine Presence which is with us always.

The Shema concludes with the words "Adonai Echad" stating that the Lord is One. But in a spiritual sense, this is more than just a rejection of multiple deities. This is where we remember and understand that God is the source of all being, the core of the universe. Nothing exists outside of God and the divine spirit permeates everything including us. If God is everywhere and everything then he is one with his purpose also. The purpose of creation was to allow for love and goodness. As such, God is goodness and we are good.

Once we remember that we are an aspect of the Divine with our own unique purpose, we realize that we have nothing to fear, as everything is God. However we suffer and whatever plagues us can be seen as an illusion created by our own limited perception and lack of understanding. God is the source of whatever we need and provides it to us out of love. We just have to be trusting and willing to open up and accept it. But truly being open requires a humble heart and the dissolving of our sense of individuality. We are God in the same sense that a note is part of the larger music. Like Rabbi Dov Baer, the Maggid of Mezerich, stated..."Think of your soul as a part of the Divine Presence like the raindrop in the sea."

The late Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan in his book "Jewish Meditation" speaks of another aspect of meditating on the Shema through the letters that make up the word itself- Shin, Mem and Ayin. The Sefer Yetzirah calls these part of the mother letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The sound of Shin is Shhh which is seen to relate to chaos and white noise. It is identified with fire. The sound of Mem is Mmmm and is identified with humming and water. Humming is related to tranquility and oneness in mystical, meditative traditions throughout the world. Here is the particular meditative technique Rabbi Kaplan suggests:

Inhale deeply...then pronounce the Shhh sound of Shin while exhaling for an equal amount of time...inhale...then pronounce the Mmmm sound of Mem while exhaling for an equal amount of time....inhale again and repeat. While performing this meditation, you are mentally transforming the active fires of your chaotic mind to the calming, tranquil waters of the meditative trance. It is said that eventually just the humming sound of Mem alone is enough to induce a meditative state of mind. At this point one is fully open and in harmony with the Divine Spirit and feels a deep connection to God.

The key to using the Shema as a meditative technique is to recite it slowly while focusing on the meaning of each word. Like most everything to do with Judaism, the key is the intent and focus, known to Kabbalists as kavannah.

The Shema is a ritual that really brings to mind for me what is was that separated the ancient Israelites from their neighbors...their spiritual focus and desire to be one with the Divine. God was not an angry deity represented by an idol needing to be appeased, but a lofty spiritual being that man was part of and could commune with.

Until next time....

Shmuel