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After growing up in a home of atheists and agnostics, it took decades of spiritual searching for me to discover that there are deep teachings in Judaism, the faith of my people, that can both ground and inspire me.
Judaism is deeply rooted in the idea that everything on this Earth is connected. This gives me great comfort and perspective during tumultuous and cataclysmic times.
Reciting the Shema has brought me closer to my faith, and taught me how to act with love and imagine a better world.
What is the Shema and how can we learn from it?
The Shema is the basis for a Jewish declaration of faith. It gets into the essence of what Jews actually sense about God.
The English word Lord is a poor translation of the actual word for God, which in Hebrew is spelled with four letters (known as the tetragrammaton in the religious community) – YHVH. This means all that was, all that is and all that will be. The Shema declares that that is what is God – infinite, eternal presence, something beyond all time and space, and that it is one.
The Shema’s verses ask us to take a leap of faith – to act with all our heart (in our emotional realm), with all our soul (in our mindful realm) and all our might (in our doing realm of words and deeds). Since our faith teaches us that God is all and God is one, we are called to live as if this is so. This means to practise love toward all our fellow humans, as well all other sentient creatures and this delicate Earth that nurtures us.
A reflection on love and unity
The Shema acknowledges that this is an impossible task to do 24/7, and challenges us to turn its concepts into practice. We can do this by reciting the Shema when we go to sleep and upon awakening – before we go to sleep to activate our subconscious toward unity and an open heart; upon awakening to orient our conscious actions throughout the day toward the same. It challenges us to speak about these concepts whether we are at home with family or out and about with friends and others.
We teach the Shema to our children from the time they are born; we are called to recite it until the moment we pass from this life (and if unable to do so at that time, then a loved one recites it on our behalf). By reflecting consistently on the unity of all that is and the corresponding practice of love – not just as an emotion but as a duty of care toward others – we help strengthen our relationships and build community.
An invitation to imagine a better world
There are many divisive and hateful voices that can unhinge us and destabilise our inner being. Yet we all have the power of imagination, the invitation to live as if we, and the world, can be better.
That is what the Shema reinforces to me: that my faith is an invitation, a choice and, ultimately, a practice. It reminds me that life is one and that love is the essence of that oneness. The Shema guides me to reflect on that and act on it every day.
While this practice may not instantly transform human nature or humanity, it can certainly transform the way we think about nature, humanity and our interactions with our fellow humans, enabling our personal realm to be more grounded and guided by morality.
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Jeffrey Kamins is the senior rabbi at Sydney’s Emanuel Synagogue
