I am back after almost three weeks in England and Ireland, visiting friends and family (our friend Diana in Surry and Donna’s cousins in Ireland) and have a quickie post for today.
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The Shema is one of the most important prayers of the Jewish faith because it identifies us as a monotheistic religion.
The Shema goes like this:
“Hear, Oh Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one”
(Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Echad)
In most synagogues I have been in over many years, the word, “echad” is almost always defined as “one”.
But the Hebrew word “Echad” has a secondary usage, with is “alone”.
Did you know that?
Now, I believe that using the definition of echad as “alone” in the Shema instead of “one” better identifies us as monotheistic, so my preferred way of saying the Shema (which I have heard in some synagogues) is:
Hear, Oh Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord, alone”
To me, to say the Lord is our God, the Lord is one is somewhat ambiguous, as far as being monotheistic, because there are many polytheistic religions where each god is, of course, a single god.
But, if we say the Lord is our God, the Lord, alone then we are specifying that the Lord is our only God.
In a world where there are many gods (even in the Bible they mention there are many gods), to state unequivocably that the Lord alone is our God is to define us as a monotheistic religion recognizing only the one, true God, who is Adonai.
I know this isn’t a life-changing revelation, or even close to being a salvation issue, but to me… I like “alone” better than “one”.
What do you think?
Thank you for being here and please comment and share these messages with everyone you know, even non-believers. Hey, after all, you never know how fertile the soil is until you plant a seed in it.
That’s it for my first day back after three weeks, so l’hitraot and (an early) Shabbat Shalom!