![]() Heaven will be shut to you, Grace will not descend, Earth will not yield her produce. ![]() All of you will eat and be content.ġ1:16 Be careful - watch out! Don't let your cravings delude you Don’t become alienated Don’t let your cravings Become your gods Don’t debase yourself to themġ1:17 Because the God-sense within you Will become distorted. You will reap what you planted For your delight and health.ġ1:15 Also, your animals Will have ample feed. ġ1:14 Your earthly needs will be met At the right time, Appropriate to the season. When you really listen, And hear my directions,Īnd to act godly With feeling and inspiration. Loving God and deepening your love for God is a choice you make every day through your actions.Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (z''l) contemporary translation of the text: Rather, it is a commandment about the attitude you have when you do things that draw you closer to God. The commandment to love God is not just an order to feel a particular emotion. When you perform a mitzvah in this way, it deepens your love for God. The commandment to "love God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might" can be understood as a commandment to do the mitzvot with a feeling of joy and love. It feels good to do things that are good, in part, because it makes you feel closer to God. You may experience this yourself when you do something to help a person in need. Doing mitzvot deepens the love we share with God. When we do what we know God wants from us – the mitzvot – it makes God feel good and it makes us feel good, too. ![]() It is the same in our relationship with God. Doing things like that makes me love my partner even more. That makes me feel happy, too, because I enjoy meeting the needs of the person I love. For example, when I prepare a meal for the person I love, or when I wash the dishes after the meal, I do so, in part, because I know that it will make my partner happy. We recognize that, when people love each other, they do things for each other that deepen the love between them. Here is one way to understand the commandment. How is it possible to order someone to have an emotion? How can love be commanded? It might occur to you that the commandment to love God in this passage is difficult to understand and to fulfill. This reflects the commandment within the passage to recite the words "when you lie down and when you rise up." The passage also includes the commandment to put a mezuzah on the doors of our homes ("…inscribe them on the doorposts of your house…"). Traditionally, the Sh'ma is recited twice each day, in the morning and evening worship services. The third passage (Numbers 15:37-41) begins with the commandment to wear tzitzit, the fringes on the corner of the tallit (not included in our prayerbook) and ends with " L'maan tizk'ru…," the section that states the obligation to remember and do all of God's commandments. The second passage (Deuteronomy 11:13-21) is not included in the prayerbook of the Reform Movement it describes God's reward for obeying the commandments and the punishment for disobeying. The first passage (Deuteronomy 6:4-9) is the first paragraph above it states the obligation to love God and to live with the words of the Sh'ma close to you in everything you do. Traditionally, the Sh'ma consists of three biblical passages from the Torah. The prayer that we call " V'ahavta" is actually the continuation of the Sh'ma.
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