{"id":5112,"date":"2014-08-09T07:53:01","date_gmt":"2014-08-09T14:53:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/?p=5112"},"modified":"2014-08-23T15:00:02","modified_gmt":"2014-08-23T22:00:02","slug":"the-importance-of-the-shema","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/2014\/08\/09\/the-importance-of-the-shema\/","title":{"rendered":"The Importance of the Shema"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Deuteronomy 6:4, <i>Hear [shema] O Israel. <\/i><\/strong>This statement (verses 4\u20139 coupled with Lev 19:18) is known as the <i>\u201cShema\u201d<\/i> and is a statement of faith in the Jewish religion. In Mark 12:29<i>\u2013<\/i>31, Yeshua also cites the <i>Shema<\/i> as the summation of all that Torah commands humans in order to have a proper relationship with YHVH and their fellow man. The word <i>shema<\/i> (GNA\/<i>shin-mem-ayin<\/i>)<i> <\/i>means \u201cto hear, listen, obey.\u201d How often, when it comes to obeying YHVH do we draw near or honor him with our lips, but our hearts are far from him? (See Mark 7:6; Isa 29:13; Matt 15:8.) Though similar in spelling, the words <i>shema <\/i>and <i>shamar <\/i>have different etymologies, yet we still juxtapose them conceptually. The Hebrew word <i>shamar<\/i> is often translated into English as <i>guard, beware<\/i> or <i>keep <\/i>(see verse 12), while <i>shema <\/i>means \u201cto hear and do.\u201d When we guard or keep YHVH\u2019s commandments, we will hear and do them and vice versa. The two concepts of guarding\/keeping and hearing\/doing go hand-in-hand and when spiritually active in our lives, they prevent us from falling into idolatry, which YHVH warns us against in verses 10 to 16.<\/p>\n<p><strong><i>Another god.<\/i><\/strong> (also Exod 3:14), The phrase <i>another God<\/i>, <i>resh<\/i> R in <i>echar <\/i>RJT (another) is enlarged so as not to confuse with <i>dalet <\/i>s so that word would read <i>echad <\/i>sJT (one) in Deut 6:4 (<i>The ArtScroll Tikkun<\/i>, p. 207).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Deuteronomy 6:10\u201316, <\/strong>YHVH is constantly warning his people against idolatry; idolatry is anything that gets in the way of our relationship with him. What is of higher priority in your life than serving YHVH? What in your life takes more of your time, energy and money than serving YHVH? What draws your heart away from the study of his written Word, from prayer and fellowship? What or who hinders you from moving forward in your spiritual walk? What in your life keeps YHVH from getting out of a spiritual box in your life? This is idolatry!<\/p>\n<p>Several times YHVH instructs the<span style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"> children of I<\/span>srael to be certain to instruct their children in <!--more-->the ways of Torah-righteousness. In the <i>Shema<\/i>, YHVH commands, \u201cAnd you shall teach them [i.e., his Word] diligently to your children, and talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up\u201d (6:7). Then in verses 20\u201325 of the same chapter we read,<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen your son asks you in time to come, saying, `What is the meaning of the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which YHVH our Elohim has commanded you?\u2019 Then you shall say to your son: `We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and YHVH brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand; and YHVH showed signs and wonders before our eyes, great and severe, against Egypt, Pharaoh, and all his household. Then He brought us out from there, that He might bring us in, to give us the land of which He swore to our fathers. And YHVH commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear YHVH our Elohim, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is this day. Then it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to observe all these commandments before YHVH our Elohim, as He has commanded us.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Too often in the church-system the children have had to take the backseat when it comes to discipleship and ministry. They get a few table scraps thrown at them called \u201cVacation Bible School\u201d (once a year) and a little \u201cJonah and the Whale\u201d type teaching on Sunday morning accompanied by some, often inane, craft project. Seldom does the head pastor of the church bother with the children\u2019s ministry. Usually, this function is relegated to the younger associate pastor. Typically, the position of \u201cYouth Pastor\u201d is viewed as nothing more than a stepping stone to the \u201ctop dog\u201d position of \u201cHead Pastor.\u201d Furthermore, seldom do parents spend any meaningful time during the week instructing their children in the ways of YHVH. As redeemed Israelites, it is our opportunity to follow the Torah and to place the highest ministry priority on instructing our children in the truths of the written Torah, in the truth of Yeshua the Living Torah, and in the fundamentals of who they are as members of the commonwealth of Israel (Eph 2:12) and in preparing them for the kingdom of Elohim. If we don\u2019t, who will? As parents, what are you doing on a regular basis to diligently instruct your children all day, every day? As grandparents, aunts and uncles and members of gospel-orientated Torah community, what are you doing to help in teaching the children? What was the attitude of the disciples when they attempted to shoo the children away from Yeshua. What was Yeshua\u2019s response? Read and compare Matthew 19:13\u201315 with 18:1\u20135 and go and do likewise, for they are our future and our legacy!<\/p>\n<div class=\"evernoteSiteMemory\"><a href=\"javascript:\" onclick=\"Evernote.doClip({title: 'The Importance of the Shema',url: 'https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/2014\/08\/09\/the-importance-of-the-shema\/',contentID: 'post-5112',suggestTags: 'Deuteronomy,Shema',providerName: 'Hoshana Rabbah Blog',styling: 'text' });return false\" class=\"evernoteSiteMemoryLink\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.evernote.com\/article-clipper.png\" \nclass=\"evernoteSiteMemoryButton\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t\t\t<div class=\"evernoteSiteMemoryClear\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Deuteronomy 6:4, Hear [shema] O Israel. This statement (verses 4\u20139 coupled with Lev 19:18) is known as the \u201cShema\u201d and is a statement of faith in the Jewish religion. In Mark 12:29\u201331, Yeshua also cites the Shema as the summation &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/2014\/08\/09\/the-importance-of-the-shema\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[64],"tags":[165,560],"class_list":["post-5112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weekly-readings","tag-deuteronomy","tag-shema"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Importance of the Shema | Hoshana Rabbah Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/2014\/08\/09\/the-importance-of-the-shema\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Importance of the Shema | Hoshana Rabbah Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Deuteronomy 6:4, Hear [shema] O Israel. This statement (verses 4\u20139 coupled with Lev 19:18) is known as the \u201cShema\u201d and is a statement of faith in the Jewish religion. 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