Greater Than Learning Torah
Parashat Va’etchanan contains many of the foundations of Torah among them the so-called Ten Commandments and the Shema, our quintessential statement of faith in God’s oneness and uniqueness. The Shema that we recite every day (at least twice) is composed of three paragraphs, the first of which is taken from our parashah, “Hear O’ Israel, Havayah is our God, Havayah is one.”
In the Talmud, we find the following statement: “Rabbi Mani said: Greater is one who recites Shema at its appropriate time than one who engages in Torah study.” This saying has several deep Chasidic commentaries, but we shall begin by focusing on its plain meaning. What exactly is it that sets the Shema apart from the rest of the Torah?
Rabbi Mani’s statement was said with regard to the Mishnah dealing with the time for reciting the Shema in the morning. The mishnah ends with the words, “one who recites it from that time onward loses nothing, but he is considered to have read the Torah,” since the words of the Shema are verses in the Torah (as noted, the entire first paragraph appears in our parashah). Still, from this mishnah we learn that it is better to recite the verses of the Shema at their appointed time, because then one both performs the mitzvah to recite the Shema at its appointed time and merits the mitzvah of learning Torah.
The commentaries note that the mishnah is comparing one who recites the Shema after its appointed time to someone who is learning Torah at a time that is not pre-appointed for the Shema, because if it is the time for the Shema (and even for prayer), one would be obligated to stop learning in order to perform these mitzvot. In addition, they note that the point being made by the mishnah is not that reciting the Shema at its pre-appointed time is greater than simply reading Torah verses, for there is no novelty in that. Rather, reciting the Shema at its appointed time is greater than even learning Torah—with understanding and comprehension—like learning Mishnah. Pnei Yehoshua adds that when learning Torah, when engaging with Torah, one is required to deepen one’s understanding to the point that one will remember what one has learnt. He argues that reciting Shema in its time is greater because even when it the pre-appointed time has passed, reading the verses of the Shema is not merely that alone. There is something additional in the recital of the Shema—in the verses themselves—and therefore when it is recited at its appointed time, it is considered greater than learning Torah with all its possible depth and comprehension. What we want to see is what exactly is special about these verses.
To present this as a question: How can it be that reciting the Shema at its appointed time can be greater than the Torah learning of even the greatest scholar who is engaged and immersed fully in the Torah?
The Superiority of the Shema
The Pnei Yehoshua and other answer this question by citing that “Accepting the sovereignty of Heaven is most important” (יפא טיבש ם חי מת שכו לת מק), even when it is not the Shema’s appointed time. It follows therefore that reciting the Shema at its appointed time is even greater.
Accepting the sovereignty of Heaven is a prerequisite to all mitzvot. The sages state this in the following way, “Why does the ‘Shema’ [i.e., its first paragraph] precede the ‘Vehayah im shamo’a’ [the second paragraph]? So that one first accept the sovereignty of Heaven.” The same idea is expressed regarding the first two “commandments” of the Decalogue—first “I am Havayah,” then “you shall have no other gods”—the necessary order is “accept My sovereignty, then accept my commandments.”
Thus, there are those who argue that the superiority of the Shema is that it states the essence of our faith and faith precedes even Torah study, for one must believe in the Giver of the Torah to learn properly. Even though the Rambam learns the mitzvah of having faith in God from the first commandment of the Decalogue and not from the Shema, the words of the Jerusalem Talmud that by reciting the Shema, we are taking upon ourselves the entire Decalogue, with the words, “Havayah is our God,” corresponding in particular to the first commandment of the Decalogue, “I am Havayah your God.”
There is another opinion that what sets the Shema apart is that it declares God’s oneness, known as the mitzvah of God’s singularity (ד ה'ּ חו י). The Alter Rebbe says that this is the special mitzvah that was given to the generation that entered the Land of Israel. The Tzemach Tzedek, the third Lubavitcher Rebbe, states that the Ba’al Shem Tov’s great novelty focuses on his understanding of the mitzvah of God’s singularity. Thus, Chasidut, the Torah of the Ba’al Shem Tov is essentially the Torah of the Land of Israel, since its focus is on the mitzvah that was given to those who entered the Land of Israel.
The Shema as we have seen contains the very foundations of Torah: Accepting the sovereignty of Heaven, faith in God, and God’s singularity.
What we have seen so far can be the basis of a meditation on the Shema, which we recite twice daily, particularly on its first verse, “Hear O’ Israel, Havayah is our God, Havayah is one.” This verse is made of three parts: “Hear O’ Israel,” “Havayah is our God,” and “Havayah is one.” Some challenge the wording by noting that it could have just said, “Havayah our God is one,” why the repetition of the God’s essential Name, Havayah, before the “one?” When we divide the verse into three parts, this becomes clear. There are three independent statements. They correspond to accepting the sovereignty of Heaven, faith in God, and God’s singularity.
One of the most well-known linguistic allusions discussed regarding the first word, Shema (עמש), is that it is an acronym for “the yoke of the sovereignty of Heaven” (םימת שכו למל ע). Chasidic sources interpret the first two words, “Hear O’ Israel,” as a gathering of the people, just as the word is used in the verse, “Saul gathered the people” (םעת הל אוא ע שימיו). Gathering the people happens around a king, around a sovereign. Likewise, the first statement of the Shema calls upon us to collect ourselves, collect our soul’s faculties and concentrate on God’s sovereignty, taking upon ourselves the yoke of the Heavenly commandments.
The second statement, “Havayah is our God,” is as noted earlier, represents the commandment to belief in God and parallels the first commandment of the Decalogue, “I am Havayah your God.” The third statement, “Havayah is one,” is clearly the commandment to believe in God’s singularity.
Self-Sacrifice
Another most important explanation of Rabbi Mani’s statement that we began with is that the Shema is greater than Torah study because when reciting the Shema, one has the intent of sacrificing oneself. This is the willingness to fulfill the Torah’s commandment that God be sanctified.
Chasidut explains that in the reciting of the Shema, the intent to sacrifice oneself is in potential, while that potential is activated during Nefilat Apayim (Falling on the Face), which is why we fall on our face, as if we have fallen dead. Still, it is the potential that awakens in the soul the practical activation of our willingness to sacrifice ourselves.
In the Tanya, the Alter Rebbe writes that we recite the Shema twice daily to remember our power of self-sacrifice which is what drives us to keep the commandments and to stand against all tests (particularly in the Land of Israel, as noted earlier). This intent that sets the Shema apart from the rest of the Torah occurs in the “seal,” or signature of the Shema, i.e., in the word “one” (דחא), which we are required to sustain. The Arizal writes that when sustaining the word “one,” we should have in mind that we are willing to endure the four forms of capital punishment, where 4 is the value of the (enlarged) dalet, the last letter of “one” (דחא).
This last contemplation of the self-sacrifice awakened by the Shema is the Kabbalistic reason that the recital of the Shema is unique among the Torah’s commandments, setting it above even Torah learning. The latter is able to awaken feminine waters (יןבקין נוים) and elevate them only to the level of Ze’er Anpin and Nukva, as hinted to by the words, “... and the revealed, for us and our children forever, to perform all the words of this Torah.” Only the recital of Shema is able to raise this spiritual awakening in us to the level of the supernal Father and Mother, the so-called concealed worlds, hinted to by the words, “The concealed is for Havayah our God.” When an individual is willing to sacrifice themselves, he or she can reach the concealed realm and can then draw down the root of the supernal unification between the Father and Mother partzufim, which itself originates in the infinite revelation of God Himself, drawn down through the partzufim of the crown.
All of this is captured in the well-known gematria, דחא י-הוה אנוה-ל אל י-הוה ארש עמש equals יןפנ אייךרין אמיק יותע, the names of the two partzufim of the crown.
The partzuf of what sets the Shema apart is thus:
