The Shema

Ahavat Olam and Ahavah Rabbah: How God Shows Us Love

God does not show us love through indulgence or simple tenets of faith, but by illuminating the way to a holy life.

The two blessings recited prior to the Shema illustrate a fundamental duality in how Jewish spirituality relates to God.

This prayer is the quintessential Jewish declaration of faith.

This blessing, recited prior to the Shema, asserts that God's love for us is expressed by the commandments.

Judaism's central prayer calls on us to listen, but what if you can't hear?

The prayer's three paragraphs seem unrelated, but they lead us on the steps of a spiritual journey.

The first paragraph of the Shema offers three models for loving God.

The concluding words of the Shema prayer call us together as a people and as humanity

Judaism's foundational prayer calls on us not merely to listen, but to remember that there is one force of connection uniting us all.

While the Shema has been seen as a declaration of absolute monotheism, it has other meanings in its biblical and liturgical contexts.