Sunday, November 27, 2005
Shema, 1400 B.C.
“The Obligation of the Shema”, by Dr. Gary Cohen, appears in Zion’s Fire, Vol. 16, No. 5, the issue I just received. “Shemai Yisrael Adonai Elohenu Adonai Echud.” I wrote for permission to publish the entire article, it’s that good! But to no avail, yet. God, dearest Father, won’t wait! “Shema”, an apostate, has invited us to his place via comments of late. Okay God, I’m writing already! Keep in mind, I had NEVER heard this word before!
Jewish children memorize the above first line, which means, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord”! This brings a favorite memory of mine back…a pinnacle of my music experience. While in college, a local cantor wrote a beautiful (and I mean some of the most gorgeous harmonies I had ever heard) cantata (for lack of a name), which we performed in the Synagogue. It was all in Hebrew, the pronunciation of which the cantor patiently taught us…but the meaning of our words was left to God and some hearers. We were clueless. And you know about youth! The meaning wasn’t only lost in the words. As fresh young things, the depth of the experience was lost on us too. I can only try to recapture the tiny fragment of El-o-he-nu coming from my lips! But would adults even grasp it? Did my mom and grandma catch a glimpse of Christianty’s roots, sitting in the sanctuary that night? Like shards from a stained glass window before they are pieced together, I am so sad for expressions that were yearning to be seen, words wanting to be heard.
No, the grafting never took. Christianity has been trying to grow hydroponically and it can never produce the rich tasting fruit without the tree, Yisrael. We do share our God, Elohenu. He is our Lord, Adonai, One God, Echud. Hear, Shemai.
4) “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord:
5) And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
6) And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
7) And thou shalt teach them diligently to thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
8) And thou shalt bind them upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
9) And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.” ~The Shema, Deuteronomy 6
More to come...
Jewish children memorize the above first line, which means, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord”! This brings a favorite memory of mine back…a pinnacle of my music experience. While in college, a local cantor wrote a beautiful (and I mean some of the most gorgeous harmonies I had ever heard) cantata (for lack of a name), which we performed in the Synagogue. It was all in Hebrew, the pronunciation of which the cantor patiently taught us…but the meaning of our words was left to God and some hearers. We were clueless. And you know about youth! The meaning wasn’t only lost in the words. As fresh young things, the depth of the experience was lost on us too. I can only try to recapture the tiny fragment of El-o-he-nu coming from my lips! But would adults even grasp it? Did my mom and grandma catch a glimpse of Christianty’s roots, sitting in the sanctuary that night? Like shards from a stained glass window before they are pieced together, I am so sad for expressions that were yearning to be seen, words wanting to be heard.
No, the grafting never took. Christianity has been trying to grow hydroponically and it can never produce the rich tasting fruit without the tree, Yisrael. We do share our God, Elohenu. He is our Lord, Adonai, One God, Echud. Hear, Shemai.
4) “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord:
5) And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
6) And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
7) And thou shalt teach them diligently to thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
8) And thou shalt bind them upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
9) And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.” ~The Shema, Deuteronomy 6
More to come...
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Christ Himself said He did not come to destroy the Law"Torah" but to fulfil it.In the past few years as a christian I have come to be fascinated by the Old Testement and the Word of the Lord written there.And most of all I have grown to love the "Shema".And I thank God that Christ has been merciful to graft us into His plan of salvation for His people.The world has been truly blessed through His people.
# posted by 
: 3:35 PM
: 3:35 PM
The Shema is the unitarian creed of Israel and of course of Jesus himself in Mark 12:29. Why then do Christians not recite the creed of Jesus as their basic creed? Simply because the Church has taught them a Trinitarian creed which Jesus would not have reocgnized. Christians would be well advised to return to the creed which Jesus said was the most important command of all. I have written extensively on this issue in my Doctrine of the Trinity: Christianity's Self Inflicted Wound available at 800 347 4261
Anthony Buzzard
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Anthony Buzzard
# posted by : 12:53 PM
: 12:53 PM << Home
