I remember learning the power of the Shema (שְׁמַע) as a little kid. It felt like I was in the world of Harry Potter and someone had clued me into the Patronus charm, so if I put myself into a deep enough spiritual space, I would be able to conjure up protective power. The Shema was a way to channel Hashem’s oneness into this world; I could say it and manifest magic in my own life. It was a pathway from the natural world I was in as a kid to the supernatural world that my kid mind dreamt up.
Growing up as a Yemenite Jew, I learned to form my hand into a shin (שְׁ), the first letter of the Shema, by placing my thumb and pinky together, leaving my index, middle and ring fingers upright. Once I had this formation, I would close my eyes and place my pinky on my left eye and my thumb on my right. As I got to the last word of the Shema, ‘echad’ (אֶחָֽד/’one’), I would bring all the fingers together, forming one unit and a sort of daled (ד), the last letter of ‘echad’. Then I would kiss my fingers and raise them to the heavens. It was a powerful ritual, one of connection and transcendence.
The Shema (שְׁמַע) is the climactic praise, prayer, and mantra that centers us in the morning and evening prayer. It’s been at the center of Judaism and the lives of Jews since Moshe said the words to the Children of Israel in the desert thousands of years ago. It took on new levels of meaning when formal tefillah replaced the sacrifices, after the second Beit HaMikdash (Holy Temple) was destroyed by the Romans in 70 C.E. It is the climax of the final Neilah prayer on Yom Kippur, and oftentimes it’s a person’s last words on earth.
.
.
I do a deep dive into this concept in “The Secret To Oneness (and the Shema)” chapter where I explore mindfulness, transcendence, and connecting to the Light of the Infinite! Check it out in my latest ‘Light of the Infinite’ book, ‘Emanations of Illumination,’ available on @Amazon.
———————-
Thanks for listening/reading.
Much love, Erez // @ErezSafar
** Follow on Facebook: www.facebook.com/lightofinfinite
*** Follow on instagram: @lightofinfinite