There’s something very peculiar about the fact that the single most important statement in all of Judaism begins with the words, “Hear, O Israel,” when “hearing,” that is, listening to G-d, is probably our least developed spiritual talent.
Here are the words of my teacher, Dr. Linda Thal:
I’ve often heard the quote, in the name of different teachers, that when I pray I talk to G-d and when I study Torah, G-d speaks to me. I remember being puzzled when I first read Christian literature on discernment, contemplation and listening for G-d. For a long time, I couldn’t find something comparable in Jewish sources. I even had difficulty formulating the question. I asked my professors at the Jewish Theological Seminary. “Rabbi Nachman poured out his heart to G-d; did he ever stop and listen for a response?” They looked at me like they had no idea what I was talking about. “Where did that question come from?” one asked.
So instead of just hearing, pro forma, the words “The Lord is One,” and being satisfied that we have fulfilled a ritual commandment, we are supposed to listen to the proclamation, truly listen to it, and ask ourselves what the implications are.
Among these implications: that the Lord is our G-d; that we belong to a collective, and are not only individuals; that the Lord is one; that G-d is, at one and the same time, our G-d and the one G-d of the universe; that there is nothing but G-d (otherwise known as the mystery of G-d’s Oneness—the world looks like it is made of many things, but in fact all is One).
But perhaps there is no more demanding implication in the Shema than the assertion that we are supposed to shut up and listen.
My friend and teacher Rabbi Dan Alexander once said that attempting to meditate is like being locked in a phone booth with a madman. That’s how hard it is to shut down our internal dialogue. Or as Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel once said, “G-d has never stopped speaking. We have stopped listening.”
So nu, “HEAR, O Israel….”