Sh’ma and Its Blessings

k'ri-at sh'ma uvirchoteha

קריאת שמע וברכותיה

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Israeli: ' marks a reduced vowel that Israeli speech drops (b'rachah); when the vowel is pronounced it is written e (lefanecha). - separates syllables that would otherwise run together.

How to read the transliterations

קריאת שמע וברכותיה

The Sh’ma and Its Benedictions

רְשׁוּת לְבָרְכוּ

A MEDITATION PRECEDING BAR’KHU

Hebrew

מִשְׂגָּב בָּחוּר מִי בִלְתּוֹ וּכְמוֹהוּ?
כִּי הוּא מְקוֹר הַכֹּל, יָצְרוֹ וְעָשָׂהוּ.
כֵּן לוֹ דְּמוּת עַיִן לֹא רָאָתָה, בִּלְתִּי
נֶפֶשׁ בְּלֵב תַּכִּיר אוֹתוֹ וְתִצְפֵהוּ;
עֶצֶם כְּבוֹדוֹ הֵכִיל כֹּל, וְכֵן נִקְרָא:
מָקוֹם לַכֹּל כִּי לֹא מָקוֹם יְכִילֵהוּ;
רֹאָה וְלֹא נִרְאֵית, לְרֹאֶה וְלֹא נִרְאָה
בֹּאִי וְהוֹדִי אֶת־אֲדֹנָי וּבָרְכֵהוּ.

Israeli

misgav bachur mi vilto uchmohu?
ki hu mekor hakol, yatzro ve-asahu.
ken lo d'mut ayin lo ra-atah, bilti
nefesh b'lev takir oto vetitzfehu;
etzem k'vodo hechil kol, vechen nikra:
makom lakol ki lo makom yechilehu;
ro-ah velo nireit, lero-eh velo nirah
bo-i vehodi et-adonai uvarechehu.

English

Almighty none can be like You and no thing exists without You maker and creator the origin of all You bear no image eyes observe but the soul dwelling in the heart recognizes You and beholds Your glory’s breadth encompassing all for all finds its place in You but You occupy no place my soul seeing- but unseen come thank the seeing but unseen and bless

Bar’khu: The Call to Worship as One

Bar’khu, the leader’s invitation to prayer, is said while standing. When uttering the word “bar’khu” (praise) the leader bows and stands straight when reciting the name of God. The congregation likewise bows at the word “barukh” (praise) and straightens to full height at the recitation of God’s name.

Leader:

Hebrew

בָּרְכוּ אֶת־יְהוָה הַמְבֹרָךְ׃

Israeli

barechu et-adonai hamevorach.

English

Praise Adonai, toward whom all praise is directed.

Congregation first, then the leader repeats:

Hebrew

בָּרוּךְ יְהוָה הַמְבֹרָךְ לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד׃

Israeli

baruch Adonai hamevorach le-olam va-ed.

English

Give praise to Adonai, to whom all praise is directed forever and ever.

We take our seats.

Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO THE RECITATION OF THE SH’MA. The call to worship marks the formal beginning of the Shaḥarit (morning) service. Shaḥarit always includes two central moments: the Recitation of the Sh’ma, and the Amidah (the silent prayer). B’rakhot surrounding the Sh’ma serve to interpret the themes of its biblical verses. Preceding the Sh’ma, in which we declare that God is one, are two b’rakhot. The first affirms that God is the creator of all, further remarking on the wonder of creation and the morning light. The first paragraph of the Sh’ma speaks of the love for God, and so the second b’rakhah acknowledges the inverse: God’s love of the people Israel as manifest in the gifts of the teachings of Torah. A single b’rakhah follows the morning recitation of the Sh’ma; it speaks of redemption, reflecting the theme of the exodus from Egypt, which is introduced in the third paragraph of the Sh’ma.

ALMIGHTY מִשְׂגָּב בָּחוּר. A meditation for Bar’khu written by Yehudah Halevi (Spain, d. 1141).

BAR’KHU: THE CALL TO WORSHIP TOGETHER. The leader calls the congregation together as a minyan; the congregation, by responding, acknowledges its being assembled for prayer.

TO WHOM ALL PRAISE IS DIRECTED הַמְבֹרָךְ. The Talmud of the Land of Israel explains the word ha-m’vorakh to mean “whom all of us praise” (Berakhot 7:3).

The Effect of Prayer Prayer is a way of sensitizing ourselves to the wonder of life, of expressing gratitude, and of praising and acknowledging the reality of God. One need not believe that God will interfere with the ongoing process of nature to feel that prayer is worthwhile. We may have different understandings of what God is. No definition we have is sufficient or answers all doubts and questions. To be aware that God exists—that there is more in the universe than physical matter, that a moral order is inherent in creation, that humans are responsible for their conduct and can help to bring about the perfection, or at least the improvement, of the world and of life—that is sufficient reason for prayer. —REUVEN HAMMER …

The Congregation Tabernacle and Temple gave visible assurance of God’s care and accessibility. But once that locus of divine indwelling was destroyed, what could possibly replace it? The destruction of God’s house should have augured the demise of Judaism. The well-known answer, of course, is that the rabbis, who replaced the priests at the helm of the nation, came up with the institution of the synagogue. But what, exactly, constituted a synagogue? How would we have recognized one? The heart of this radically new institution was neither a building nor a book, but a number. Whereas, prior to the Temple’s end, holiness was ascribed to a sacred place that could not be duplicated, after 70 C.E. holiness resided inconspicuously in the quorum of ten without which basic communal rituals could not be enacted. To conduct a worship service, to recite certain prayers, to chant from the Torah or Prophets, to perform a wedding or a funeral, all required a minyan (Mishnah Megillah 4:3). . . . The Talmud echoes the new salience of a minyan. Once, Rabbi Yitzhak asked his friend, Rav Naḥman, why he had failed to come to the synagogue to pray. “I couldn’t,” he responded. “So you should have gathered ten men on your own to pray,” chided Rabbi Yitzhak. “It was too troublesome.” “Well, at least,” needled Rabbi Yitzhak, “you should have had a synagogue official come to inform you when exactly the congregation would be praying [so that you might join them from afar].” At which point, Rav Naḥman protested, “What’s this all about?” “We have a tradition,” asserted Rabbi Yitzhak, “that goes back to Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai that this is the intent of the verse, ‘As for me, may my prayer come to You, O Lord, at a favorable moment’ (Psalm 69:14). And what indeed constitutes that ‘favorable moment’? It is when the congregation is absorbed in prayer” (Babylonian Talmud Berakhot 7b–8a). —ISMAR SCHORSCH …