What kind of prayer is the Sh’ma? Normally, when we think of prayers, they’re something we say to G-d. But the Sh’ma, at least in its original context in Deuteronomy, is something that Moses says to the people of Israel about G-d. So that’s pretty weird. Weirder still is the fact that prayers are usually something we say, or at least something we think to ourselves. But here, the Sh’ma is not asking us to say anything, or even to think anything.
It’s asking us to listen. “Hear, o Israel.”
So perhaps the weirdest thing of all is that this passage, which is so unlike normal prayer in so many ways, is considered to be one of our most important prayers (right along with the Amidah and the Kaddish), recited, as we all know, “when we rise up, and when we lie down.” It’s the last thing we say at night, and indeed, the last thing we say when our life comes to an end.
I think that one way to explain this is that the Sh’ma underscores for us the process by which prayer becomes possible. We cannot speak without first taking in a breath. Inhalation must come first before exhalation. But another name for inhalation is inspiration, a word with a tantalizing double meaning. On the one hand, literally, “breathing in”. On the other, its original meaning: being filled with spirit. The same double entendre can be found on the very first page of the Bible, where “ruach elokim”= “a divine wind”= “the spirit of G-d” “ruffled the primordial waters.”
Put another way, the Sh’ma occupies such an exalted space because it reminds us that prayer is not merely the recitation of words. It is our response to the presence of G-d—the “breathtaking” presence of G-d.
Or, deeper still, when we “hear” that G-d is one, we are led to contemplate the truth that in essence there is nothing but G-d; there is nothing, including us, that is not in some way a manifestation of G-d. So when we are praying, it is G-d speaking through us, the aligning of our consciousness with the divine consciousness. It is this profound truth that we are commanded to contemplate day and night, at home and away. It is this profound truth that is so difficult to grasp that we cover our eyes in complete concentration as we listen, take the breath we need—as we are inspired, literally and figuratively—and declare the oneness of G-d.