Shema

שְׁמַע

Visible layers

Wear tefillin and place a mezuzah on your doorposts

Hebrew

וְדִבַּרְתָּ בָּם, בְּשִׁבְתְּךָ בְּבֵיתֶךָ,
וּבְלֶכְתְּךָ בַדֶּרֶךְ, וּבְשָׁכְבְּךָ, וּבְקוּמֶךָ:
וּקְשַׁרְתָּם לְאוֹת עַל יָדֶךָ, וְהָיוּ
לְטֹטָפֹת בֵּין עֵינֶיךָ: וּכְתַבְתָּם עַל
מְזֻזוֹת בֵּיתֶךָ, וּבִשְׁעָרֶיךָ:

Sephardi

Vedibarta bam, beshivtecha beveitecha,
uvelechtecha vaderech, uveshochebecha, uvekumecha:
ukeshartam le'ot al yadecha, vehayu
letotafot bein einecha: uchetavtam al
mezuzot beitecha, uvisha'arecha:

English

if you might lose your money. These words of Torah, which I command you to do today and every day, should always be new and fresh to you, and they should be engraved on your heart; you should always be thinking about them. You should teach Torah to your children and students until they know it well enough to answer any question about it. You should be involved in the words of Torah and speak them whenever you can: when you sit in your house, when you go on the way, when you lie down at night, and when you get up in the morning. These words, the words of the Shema, should be written in tefillin. You should tie the hand-tefillin on your arm as a sign to remember God, and the head-tefillin should be put on your head, above the area between your eyes. You should write these words of the Shema on mezuzot, which you should put up on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Rewards for doing God's commandments

Hebrew

וְהָיָה אִם שָׁמֹעַ תִּשְׁמְעוּ אֶל מִצְוֹתַי
אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוֶּה אֶתְכֶם
הַיּוֹם,1 לְאַהֲבָה אֶת יְיָ אֱלֹהֵיכֶם
וּלְעָבְדוֹ, בְּכָל | לְבַבְכֶם וּבְכָל
נַפְשְׁכֶם:2 וְנָתַתִּי מְטַר אַרְצְכֶם |
בְּעִתּוֹ יוֹרֶה וּמַלְקוֹשׁ, וְאָסַפְתָּ דְגָנֶךָ3
וְתִירֹשְׁךָ וְיִצְהָרֶךָ: וְנָתַתִּי עֵשֶׂב |
בְּשָׂדְךָ לִבְהֶמְתֶּךָ, וְאָכַלְתָּ וְשָׂבָעְתָּ:
הִשָּׁמְרוּ לָכֶם פֶּן יִפְתֶּה לְבַבְכֶם,
וְסַרְתֶּם וַעֲבַדְתֶּם אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים

Sephardi

Vehayah im shamoa tishme'u el mitzvotai
asher anochi metzaveh etchem
hayom,1 le'ahavah et Adonai Eloheichem
ule'ovdo, bechol | levavchem uvechol
nafsh'chem:2 v'natati metar artz'chem |
be'ito yoreh umalkosh, ve'asafta deganecha3
vetiroshcha v'yitzharecha: v'natati esev |
besadcha livhemtecha, v'achalta vesavata:
hishameru lachem pen yifteh levavchem,
vesartem va'avadtem elohim acherim

English

God tells the Jewish Nation in the Torah: It will be that if you listen to Me and keep all of My commandments that I am commanding you today,1 to love the Lord, your God, and to serve Him by praying properly with all of your heart and all of your soul;2 then I will bless you with the following blessings: I will give rain for your land at the right times—when people are not outside, such as on Friday night. I will bring you the early rain, which falls right after the seeds have been planted, and also the late rain, which falls after the plants have sprouted, to help them grow well. You will collect all of your grain,3

Punishments for idolatry

Hebrew

וְהִשְׁתַּחֲוִיתֶם לָהֶם: וְחָרָה |
אַף יְיָ בָּכֶם וְעָצַר אֶת
הַשָּׁמַיִם וְלֹא יִהְיֶה מָטָר
וְהָאֲדָמָה לֹא תִתֵּן אֶת
יְבוּלָהּ, וַאֲבַדְתֶּם | מְהֵרָה
מֵעַל הָאָרֶץ הַטֹּבָה אֲשֶׁר יְיָ
נֹתֵן לָכֶם:

Sephardi

Vehishtachavitem lahem: vecharah |
af Adonai bachem ve-atzar et
hashamayim v'lo yihyeh matar
veha'adamah lo titen et
yevulah, va'avadtem | meherah
mei'al ha'aretz hatovah asher Adonai
noten lachem:

English

wine, and oil, and none will be taken by your enemies. I will put plenty of grass in your fields, so you will not have to move your animals to another place to feed them. Not only will you be blessed with food, but you will eat it and you will be satisfied by it. However, you should be very careful and guard yourselves, in case your hearts become tempted to rebel against God, and you turn away from His ways. If this happens, you will become involved in idolatry and start to serve false gods that are foreign to their makers because they do not help them, and you will foolishly bow down to these false gods. The Lord's anger will then rage against you. God will close up the heavens, and there will be no rain; the ground will not give its produce because nothing will grow. You will quickly be destroyed, and you will be sent out from the good land—the Land of Israel—which the Lord gives to you.

Tefillin

Learn and teach Torah

Mezuzah

Hebrew

וְשַׂמְתֶּם | אֶת דְּבָרַי אֵלֶּה
עַל | לְבַבְכֶם וְעַל נַפְשְׁכֶם,
וּקְשַׁרְתֶּם | אֹתָם לְאוֹת עַל
יֶדְכֶם וְהָיוּ לְטוֹטָפֹת בֵּין
עֵינֵיכֶם: וְלִמַּדְתֶּם | אֹתָם |
אֶת בְּנֵיכֶם לְדַבֵּר בָּם,
בְּשִׁבְתְּךָ בְּבֵיתֶךָ וּבְלֶכְתְּךָ
בַדֶּרֶךְ וּבְשָׁכְבְּךָ וּבְקוּמֶךָ:
וּכְתַבְתָּם עַל מְזוּזוֹת בֵּיתֶךָ
וּבִשְׁעָרֶיךָ: לְמַעַן יִרְבּוּ
יְמֵיכֶם וִימֵי בְנֵיכֶם עַל
הָאֲדָמָה אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּע יְיָ
לַאֲבֹתֵיכֶם לָתֵת לָהֶם, כִּימֵי
הַשָּׁמַיִם עַל הָאָרֶץ:

Sephardi

Vesamtem | et devarai eleh
al | levavchem ve'al nafsh'chem,
ukeshartem | otam le'ot al
yedchem vehayu letotafot bein
eineichem: velimadtem | otam |
et beneichem ledaber bam,
beshivtecha beveitecha uvelechtecha
vaderech uveshochebecha uvekumecha:
uchetavtam al mezuzot beitecha
uvisha'arecha: lema'an yirbu
yemeichem vimei veneichem al
ha'adamah asher nishba Adonai
la'avoteichem latet lahem, kimei
hashamayim al ha'aretz:

English

Even when you are in exile, you should put these words of Mine, written in the Torah, in your hearts and souls; pay attention to them. You should do this by putting on tefillin, which contain the words of the Shema. You should tie the hand-tefillin on your arm as a sign to remember God, and the head-tefillin should be put on your head, above the area between your eyes. You should teach the words of Torah to your children, so that they speak about them and continually discuss them: when you sit in your house, when you go on the way, when you lie down at night, and when you get up in the morning. You should write these words of the Shema on mezuzot, which you should put up on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. You should keep all of these commandments in order to increase the number of days that you and your children will live on the land—the Land of Israel—which the Lord promised to give to your fathers for as long as the days that the heavens are above the earth, which is forever.

Say the ז of the words וּזְכַרְתֶּם and תִּזְכְּרוּ clearly, so it should not sound like a ס.

Tzitzit

Hebrew

וַיֹּאמֶר יְיָ אֶל מֹשֶׁה לֵּאמֹר:
דַּבֵּר אֶל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל
וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם וְעָשׂוּ לָהֶם

Sephardi

Vayomer Adonai el Moshe leimor:
Daber el b'nei Yisrael
v'amarta aleihem v'asu lahem

English

The Lord spoke to Moses and gave him instructions to tell the Jewish Nation. God said: Speak to the Children of Israel and tell them that they should make tzitzit for themselves, which they

Commentary

1 The word "today" refers to this world (as opposed to "tomorrow," the World to Come). God tells us that if we follow His commandments in this world, we will make it a dwelling place for Him and we will be able to connect to Him (the Hebrew word for "command" can also mean "connect.") …

2 We are not commanded to serve God for His benefit, because He does not need our service—He lacks nothing and needs nothing. Rather, the purpose of our service is to improve ourselves—particularly the way we perceive the world. Instead of seeing a place that is spiritually dark and seemingly empty of Godliness, we must transform the world into a place where we can recognize Godliness.

3 Grain is a basic food, corresponding to the basic, revealed aspects of the Torah. Wine has the ability to reveal one's secrets, corresponding to the inner, secret dimension of the Torah. Oil floats on top of wine, corresponding to the innermost "secrets of the secrets" of the Torah. This verse is teaching us that must "gather" all parts of the Torah together—we must study them as one.