The meaning of the most important and fundamental pasuk in the whole Torah, the most fundamental idea in Yiddishkeit, which is something that we have to discuss anyway. And we all know that the most important verse in the whole Torah is שמע ישראל השם אלקינו השם אחד. Hear O Israel, God our God, God is one. And that is the pasuk that we're going to discuss. In other words, to explain the meaning behind it, and what one is supposed to think about when we say it during daven. We know that there is an obligation to say the Shema twice a day. That's an obligation of the Torah. We find certain mitzvot, certain things that we do, certain obligations are rabbinic, are mid'rabbanan, which we also have to keep because they have the authority to put obligations upon us from the Torah. But nevertheless, it is a rabbinic obligation. And then there are certain things that we do from the Torah. This mitzvah of saying the Shema twice a day is a mitzvah of the Torah. Twice a day, once in the morning, and once in the evening. And that's what we do when we daven Shacharit, when we daven the morning prayers, we say Shema there. When we daven the evening prayers, Maariv, we say Shema again. Then there is idea of קריאת שמע שעל המיטה, saying the Shema before we go to bed, but that is not part of this obligation. The obligation is only to say it twice a day. The truth is the obligation is for men, not for women, but nevertheless, women do keep it. Not all women daven Maariv, but many, many women daven Shacharit, but it's definitely a good idea. But anyway, we have this mitzvah of saying the Shema twice a day. And beside the mitzvah of saying the Shema, we know that this pasuk contains the foundation of Yiddishkeit, the foundation of the whole Jewish religion. The whole Jewish religion is based on אחדות השם, on the unity of Hashem, and this is actually what this pasuk is all about. The pasuk says שמע ישראל השם אלקינו השם אחד, we have to hear and understand that Hashem our God, Hashem is one. And that is the foundation of our religion, that Hashem is one and there is nothing else, and therefore we are obligated to do what He tells us to do. And then the pasuk continues. After we have the פסוק השם אלקינו השם אחד, the pasuk continues, ואהבת את השם אלקיך, you shall love Hashem your God, בכל לבבך, with all your heart, ובכל נפשך, with all your soul, ובכל מאדך, with all your might. This is a result of שמע ישראל השם אלקינו השם אחד, that when we realize that Hashem is one, and one meaning the only one and nothing else, then automatically we have to do everything for Him. And therefore, this will bring us to love Him, and as the pasuk continues, to love Him with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our might. And each one of these three words has a lot of meaning behind it. When we say בכל לבבך, with all your heart, we know what the Gemara says, that when it says בכל לבבך, there is an extra ב' in this word. Because in Hebrew, a heart is a לב. Your heart is לבך. Here it says לבבך with an extra ב'. So the Gemara says this comes to teach us that you have to love Hashem with both hearts. Two בית'ן like two hearts. What do we mean two hearts? We know every person has a yetzer tov and a yetzer hara. He has a good inclination and an evil inclination. And Hashem wants us to love Him not only with the yetzer tov, with the good inclination, but also with the bad inclination. That we have to work so hard that even our yetzer hara should also turn around and love Hashem. So that's the meaning behind the word בכל לבבך. Then בכל נפשך means with all your life, with all your nefesh, with your whole soul. Which, in simple terms, means that a person is supposed to love Hashem so much up to giving up his life for Hashem. With all your life, that you have to give up your life for Hashem. Which basically includes the idea that when it comes to a person's choosing between his life and worshiping another god, you have to give up your life. And then the third word is ובכל מאדך, with all your might. The Gemara says this includes בכל ממונך, with all your money. And the Gemara explains that there are some people that their money is more important to them than their own life. Some people, their life is more important than their money. And therefore the pasuk has to tell us that we have to love Hashem with both. We have to give up all our money for Hashem, and we have to give up our life for Hashem. This is the basis to this famous halacha, the famous din, the famous rule, that even though פיקוח נפש דוחה כל התורה כולה, which means that when it comes to a person's life, that is more important than the whole Torah. A person has to push away keeping the mitzvot in order to save a life. That means if it means being מחלל שבת, God forbid, you have to be מחלל שבת in order to save a Jew's life. You have to מחלל יום כיפור, you eat chametz on Pesach if it means saving someone's life. Nothing stands in the way of saving someone's life, except three aveirot. And the three aveirot are עבודה זרה, גילוי עריות, and שפיכות דמים: idol worship, adultery, and murder. Where do we know this from? So this din that you have to give up your life when it comes to idol worship, we learn out from this pasuk. This is the pasuk that teaches us this din. ואהבת השם אלוקיך בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך, you have to love Hashem with all your nefesh, with your whole life. That means that loving Hashem is more important than your life. That means that if it's a question of choosing between Hashem and another god, between Hashem and converting, God forbid, to another religion, then you have to give up your life. If someone stands with a gun and says, \"Be מחלל שבת or else I'll kill you,\" you have to be מחלל שבת. Not you have to, you're allowed to be מחלל שבת. You're allowed to desecrate the Shabbos even though you're doing a terrible aveirah. But if a person stands with a gun and says, \"Worship an idol or convert to a different religion, otherwise I'll kill you,\" you have to rather die than convert to another religion. And that's all taken from this pasuk. The other two we learn out from different places. How do we know that you have to give up your life for murder? That means if someone says, \"Kill this person or else I'll kill you,\" you have to let yourself get killed rather than killing somebody else. That, the Gemara says, we learn out from a logical understanding. מאי חזית דדמא דידך סומק טפי? How do you know that your blood, expression Gemara is, is more red than the other person's blood? How could you, why would you kill somebody else to save your own life? Maybe his life is more important than yours, and therefore you can't save yourself by killing somebody else. So therefore you have to give up your life if it means if it's in order not to commit murder. And concerning adultery, the Gemara says we learn it out from a pasuk. The pasuk tells us when it speaks about a man chasing a lady, a married lady, to commit a sin, so the pasuk says you're allowed to save her even if it means the only way to save her by killing the pursuer, you're allowed to do it. And the pasuk says like this: כי כאשר יקום איש על רעהו ורצחו נפש כן הדבר הזה, that this is similar to somebody trying to murder somebody else. The din is that if you see somebody trying to kill somebody, you're allowed to save or you should save the person in any way possible. And if there is no other way but by killing the one that's trying to murder, you are allowed to do, you should do it, you should kill him. So the pasuk says the same thing here. When somebody is running after somebody to commit adultery, it has the same it goes in the same category as committing murder. So from that the Gemara learns out that the same is here. Just like when it comes to committing murder, it makes sense that you're not allowed to commit murder even if it means to save your life, so too, you're not allowed to commit adultery even if it means to save your life. But where do we know that you're not allowed to worship an idol or and have convert to another religion even if it means giving up your life? That we learn out from this pasuk: ואהבת השם אלוקיך, you have to love השם, בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך, with your whole nefesh, meaning with your whole life, with your whole soul. The truth is this is not only when it comes to a מסירות נפש בפועל, when it comes to actually doing it, but this also includes מסירות נפש בכח. מסירות נפש בפועל means an actual giving up your life. מסירות נפש בכח means a potential giving up one's life. That means that a person is supposed to feel that he is ready, in case, God forbid, something like this would come up, he is ready to give up his life. That's a feeling that a person is supposed to have. That means not only when there's actually somebody standing with a gun and saying, \"Worship an idol or else I'll kill you,\" that you have to give up your life, but a person has to in his mind think that let's say, God forbid, this would happen to me, do I have that feeling now that I would be ready to say shoot rather than to need to bow down to an idol? So a person is supposed to have a מסירת נפש בכח, and that's actually what a person is supposed to keep in mind when you say Shema. When we say Shema twice a day and we close our eyes, we put our hands over our eyes, and we close our eyes and we say it with great concentration, what do we think about? So different things that we're supposed to have in mind, but one of the things is that we're supposed to have in mind מסירת נפש בכח, that we have potentially the feeling of giving up our lives, that you're supposed to really think in my mind, I'm supposed to think that if now somebody would come over to me with a gun to my head saying that, \"Bow down to an idol, else I shoot you,\" yes, I am now ready to say, \"Go ahead and shoot, I wouldn't bow down to the idol.\" And that's not so easy. It's easy to think these words, but it's not easy to feel it. To feel it is very hard, to really mean it. No one knows whether we mean it or not, but we're not trying to put a show for anybody, it's for ourselves. Hashem knows. So we're supposed to have the feeling when we say Shema that we are now ready to give up our lives. We love Hashem so much, ואהבת את השם אלקיך, I'm ready to give up everything for Hashem, my life, my money, my whole heart, everything for the love of Hashem. That's what we're supposed to feel.

The only question that comes up is how can there be a commandment for feeling? How could there be such a thing to command somebody, \"You have to feel a certain way\"? Even in the simple meaning of the word ואהבת, you have to love Hashem, how could there be a commandment for one to love? You can't force somebody to love. A commandment means you must do it, whether I like it or not, I must do it. So that's possible when it comes to action, to even speech, and even to thought, but not to feeling. One could be forced to do something, whether forced by somebody else, or you can force yourself. I don't want to do it, but since I know it's the right thing to do, I'll do it. I'll force myself. I could force myself to say something, even though I don't know why I'm saying, I don't know why I don't want to say it, but if I know it's right, I'll do it, or someone could force me to say it. I can even force myself to think, even if I don't hold by it, I don't feel it, but I could force myself. Someone else could force me also. The only thing is no one knows what's in my mind, so it's hard for someone else to force me. But the concept of being forced to think is possible. I could force myself to think that one and one equals three. I know it's not true, but I could think, I could close my eyes and think one and one equals three. I could force myself. But one cannot force himself to feel. You can't force yourself to love somebody. Or you love, or you don't. You could force yourself to say, \"I love,\" you could force yourself to behave in a way as if you love, you could even force yourself to think the words, \"I love you,\" but you can't force yourself to feel. If you don't feel it, you don't feel it. So what is the peshat? How is it possible to have a mitzvah, ואהבת, you must love Hashem, and you must feel, as we said before, that you are ready to give up your life for Hashem? You can't force somebody to feel. You could tell somebody, \"You have to give up your life,\" that's possible. A person, even though he doesn't feel it, but if he knows it's the right thing to do, he could give up his life. But to feel it, something you can't force yourself. So here the Maggid of Mezeritch explained it. He said that the mitzvah of ואהבת את השם אלקיך, of loving Hashem, is not to love. Like we said, you can't give a mitzvah, you can't give a commandment to love. The mitzvah is to do everything in one's power that will make him love. Because there are things that bring a person to love. You can't force yourself to love, but you could do things that will arouse in yourself the feeling of love. And what is that a person could do? So the Rambam explains. The Rambam asks this question: כיצד היא הדרך לאהבתו ויראתו, what is the way that will bring a person to love Hashem? So the Rambam says בשעה שיתבונן, when you think about it. The more you meditate, the more you contemplate on something, and you realize how good it is, and the more you understand it, that will awaken within the person the feeling of love. Because we know the order of the person's nefesh is that mochin, the intellect, has an influence on the middot, on the emotions. If a person really understands that something is good, this will trigger off his emotions that he will start loving. If a person will understand 100% that something is bad, this will will automatically trigger off that he will start hating it, or he'll be afraid of it. And it's a two-way street. If you have the proper understanding in the intellect, it must bring a person to feeling. And on the other hand, it's impossible to have a feeling to something if you don't really have the proper understanding. If you don't understand it, then you'll never have the proper feeling. Mochin and middot, the intellect and the emotions work together. Certain things have to have an effect. So, if you understand, you must have an effect. I always repeat this word that the Rabbi Maharash said that there are three things that have to affect a person. He said, \"If a person drinks liquor, drinks mashke, he must get drunk. If a person has a lot of money, he must go crazy. And if a person thinks about the greatness of Hashem, he must start loving Hashem.\" But then he asked a question, \"How come we see sometimes a person drinks and doesn't get drunk?\" So, he said, \"The answer is he didn't have enough. He'll have more, he'll start he'll get drunk. You see a person that has a lot of money, he's still not meshuga. He doesn't have enough. He needs more in order to go crazy. You see some people that understand, learn and think about Hashem, and still don't have love because they didn't think enough. They didn't understand it really.\" But if a person really understands it, it's impossible not to have the feeling. And that's what the pasuk says, there is a mitzvah of ואהבת, there's a mitzvah to love Hashem and to have the feeling to Hashem. But the mitzvah is not the actual love, that cannot be a mitzvah. The mitzvah is שמע ישראל, hear. And the word שמע has another meaning, and this is the real meaning. Not only hear, שמע means to understand. In leshon kodesh, in Hebrew, the word שמע also means to understand. There are different places in Chumash where we find the word שמע, and it clearly does not mean hear. It means understand. Just the the best example is it says that when Yosef was in Mitzrayim, Yosef was the king, and his brothers came, so it says that they spoke between themselves about Yosef, not caring it was his in his presence. Why? Because they didn't realize כי שומע יוסף. They didn't realize that Yosef hears. What did he they thought he was deaf? They knew he heard. They didn't realize that he understands the language. The truth is he did, they didn't know who it was, but they he did. So, the pasuk uses the term they didn't know כי שומע, that he hears, it doesn't mean he hears. It means he does they didn't know he understands. The same thing here when it says שמע ישראל, it doesn't mean hear, I mean the literal translation is, \"Hear, O Israel,\" as we always translated, but the real meaning is understand, Israel, ישראל, השם אלוקינו השם אחד, understand that Hashem our God, Hashem is one. And then automatically you will come to ואהבת את השם אלוקיך, you will come to love השם בכל לבבך, with all your heart, ובכל נפשך, with all your soul, ובכל מאדך, with all your might or with all your money, or all the other things that are included in this pasuk. Now, what is it a person should think about? We say if you think about the truth of Hashem, the greatness of Hashem, it'll bring you automatically to ואהבת, to love. So, the pasuk tells us what we have to think about. So, let's look through the pasuk. שמע ישראל, understand, Yidden, what should we understand? And the pasuk continues, השם אלוקינו השם אחד. Two things the pasuk tells us. השם אלוקינו, השם is our God, השם אחד, השם is one. And let's go step by step in this pasuk, what the pasuk tells us, and what food for thought the pasuk gives us, and then we'll know what we have to think about that will bring us to ואהבת את השם אלוקיך.

First part of the pasuk is השם אלוקינו. What does השם אלוקינו mean? So, we know that here the pasuk uses two names of Hashem. Hashem, the first one, which is י-ה-ו-ה, the real name of Hashem. We don't pronounce it. Not only now when we're not saying it, we can't pronounce it, even when we do daven and we do say the pasuk, we don't really pronounce the name of Hashem the way it's written. It's written י-ה-ו-ה, and we're not allowed to pronounce it. We always pronounce it as if it was written with an א-ד-נ-י, א-ד-נ-י, or the right word word. But the real word is not that. The real word is י-ה-ו-ה, which is which we always refer to as שם הויה. So, we have two names here, שם הויה, הויה, and then we say אלוקינו. אלוקינו is from the name of Hashem which is Elokim. So, the pasuk is telling us that we should realize, שמע ישראל, we have to think and understand that הויה is אלוקינו, that הויה is really our Elokim. What does that mean? So, we all know that the two names of הויה the two names of Hashem, I mean הויה and Elokim, represent two different ways Hashem expresses Himself, so to speak. We know that הוי׳, but let's start with the other one, Elokim we know is בגימטריא הטבע. Elokim, the numerical value of the name Elokim is the same as הטבע, which is the nature. Therefore, it says that Elokim represents Hashem the way He is in the nature, because we know that the nature is only from Hashem. Doesn't happen by itself, even though people think it's just Mother Nature, as if things happen by itself. It doesn't, it's Hashem, but Hashem is hidden. We don't see that Hashem runs the world, it's covered up by nature. And the word Elokim actually means the ruler. He rules the world, but it's the way He is in the world. הוי׳, we know that הוי׳ represents Hashem the way He is beyond nature. The word הוי׳, יו״ד ק״י וא״ו ק״י, we all know is made up of three words: היה, הוה, ויהיה, which means past, present, and future, and they're all in one word, which means they're all together. Now nature is made up of time and space. Time is past, present, and future, but not together. Past was before, present is now, future is in the future. So if you have a word which contains past, present, and future together, obviously this represents beyond time. If it's beyond time, it means it's beyond the nature, it's beyond the world. So הוי׳, the name of Hashem, when we use the name הוי׳, that represents Hashem the way He is beyond nature. Now some people think that nature and beyond nature are two separate things, two separate categories. And they make a division between the two, which manifests itself in the person's behavior of thinking that the body and the neshamah are two separate entities. Nature, that's the body, that's the physical part, like the nature is physical. The neshamah, that's something that's higher than nature. So some people think that we can make a division between the two. There is הוי׳ and there is Elokim, and they're two separate things, they don't mix. And the same thing is with the guf and the nefesh. You have the body and you have the soul, and each one is separate. And since each one is separate, to which one are we closer? Well, obviously, we are closer in our feeling to the body. And therefore, even a person who would fulfill the mitzvot, keep the mitzvot and learn Torah, but still that is a separate entity, separate than the nature of himself, his own nature. And therefore, if it ever comes to a conflict, usually there is no conflict. You could do your your natural needs, you could eat, you could sleep, and then when the time comes when you need to daven, you daven, when you need to learn, you learn, you do a mitzvah, you do a mitzvah. So you have the guf and you have the nefesh. You do things that are important for the body, you do things that are important for the neshamah, fine. But what happens if there's a conflict? And if we look at them as two separate entities, and automatically which one is the more important one to a person is the nature, therefore that's the one that's going to be the victorious, that's the one that's going to win. So if you'll have a conflict that at this point I have to, or I'm hungry, and my body wants I should eat, but there is a din that I can't eat now for whatever reason, it's a fast day, whatever it is, if they're two separate entities and this one is more important, then I'm going to eat. What we have to realize is that the two go together. We have to realize that Havayah and Elokim are really one. The Zohar uses the term הוי׳ ואלוקים כולא חד, הוי׳ and Elokim are one. And this is a very important fundamental philosophy in Yiddishkeit, that Havayah is Elokim. We should not think Elokim is nature and nature and its own needs is different than Havayah. We have to know הוי׳ הוא אלוקים. We know that the story in Tanach with Eliyahu Hanavi, when he wanted to prove to the Yidden that Hashem is the true God, and not the idol that they worshipped at that time, the Baal, so he had this this contest with the נביאי הבעל, with the prophets of the Baal. They made an altar and they put up a korban, a sacrifice, and they said whoever was going to bring down a fire from heaven, that's going to be the one that's right. And they tried, the נביאי הבעל tried and tried, and they couldn't do anything. And Eliyahu Hanavi asked Hashem, \"Please, just to show the Jews the truth, please bring down a fire,\" and a fire came down from heaven. And the Jews realized that Hashem is the true God. So what did they say? So the pasuk says they fell on their faces and they said, \"הוי׳ הוא האלוקים!\" Havayah is Elokim. Now the simple translation is Hashem, Havayah is our is the God. Like so on Yom Kippur, the end of Yom Kippur, when we finish daven נעילה, when we come to the climax of Yom Kippur. Now Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the year, and as the day progresses, it gets holier and holier, until finally we come to Neilah, the holiest prayer of the year. The end of Neilah, that's the holiest time. What do we say? Remember from Yom Kippur, what do we say? We say שמע ישראל השם אלקינו השם אחד once, then we say ברוך שם three times, and then we scream seven times, השם הוא האלקים, השם הוא האלקים, which is Havayah is Elokim. That's the end, that's the climax, because that's the tachlit where a person should reach, to realize that Havayah and Elokim are one. Meaning that Elokim, which is nature, Hashem the way he is in nature, really is Havayah. And therefore there is no importance for nature in itself. The whole idea of nature is that it is really Havayah, which is beyond nature. And therefore if there is ever a conflict between nature and beyond nature, obviously the beyond nature is the one that you have to follow. And therefore a person would not care about his bodily needs over the neshamah needs, over the Godly needs. And this is what the pasuk says: שמע ישראל, a Yid has to understand, and that will bring him to ואהבת, he has to understand that השם אלקינו, השם is our Elokim. Not Elokim is separate and Havayah is separate, הויה אלקינו, that Havayah is our Elokim. And if a person realizes that, then automatically there is nothing that stands in the way of doing what Hashem wants, because that is our nature, that is what is Elokeinu. The word Elokim has another meaning also. Elokim means, in Hebrew, means strength. הויה אלקינו, that our strength, the strength of our physical being is really Havayah. And what's the result? If you understand that, the result is ואהבת את השם אלקיך בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך. You will love Hashem with all your heart, you will love Hashem with all your soul, you will give up your life for Hashem. Because if there's a question of my physical life versus doing the will of Hashem, which is higher than nature, obviously that comes first. And in truth, if we would just base it on this pasuk, you know what would come out? That not only for these three aveirot we have to give up our life, for any aveirah. In truth if a person realizes this, that what's his physical life worth compared to keeping Shabbos? And therefore a person should come to a conclusion that you have to give up your life for every mitzvah, because הויה אלקינו. The reason we don't have to is because there is another pasuk in Chumash that tells us that you don't. The pasuk says concerning the mitzvot, it says וחי בהם, you should live with them. So the Gemara says the pasuk teaches us you shall live with the מצות, ולא שימות בהם, but not die for the mitzvot. So the Torah gives us a special indication, a special halachah, that a person should not give up his life or doesn't have to give up his life for a mitzvah, for any mitzvah. But otherwise, if we'd look at it just logically from understanding the truth, you should give up your life for every mitzvah. So if it would be a question of giving up your life for Shabbos, you have to give up your life for Shabbos. If a person doesn't have food but non-kosher food, otherwise he'll die, let him die. Hashem says no, so we listen to Hashem. But otherwise from this pasuk itself, ואהבת את השם אלקיך בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך, you have to love Hashem with all your nefesh, whichever mitzvah it is. And that's all because we realize שמע ישראל הויה אלקינו, that Havayah is our Elokim. But then why, one might come and think in that case that Havayah Elokeinu and the teva, the nature is not really important because it's all, the truth is, the real truth is beyond nature, then why is it so important to actually for a person to be part of this world and be alive in this world? Wouldn't it be better if a person would not have a physical body? So if there is a chance or a person feels that he's able to let his neshamah go back to Hashem, why shouldn't he do it? Why should the law be that we have to preserve life and try to, do everything for a person to continue living? Why is that so important? We're talking about continuing living is a physical life. We're just saying Havayah Elokeinu that the ikar, the main important part is the Havayah, so then the nature and the, the body, which is part of the physical nature, that's not important.

So the pasuk continues. After it says Havayah Elokeinu, the next part is Havayah' אחד, Hashem אחד, and there again the pasuk uses the name Havayah', it says Havayah' אחד, Hashem is one. And this comes to teach us how important it is to be part of this world. I'll explain how it's included in how it contained in the two words Havayah' אחד. We all know the famous question that is asked in many sefarim and Chassidus talks about, that if we're trying to describe the unity of Hashem, the best word would be not Hashem אחד, but Hashem יחיד. Hashem אחד means Hashem is one. Hashem יחיד means Hashem is single. What they're trying to say is that He is single. Single means that there is nothing else. One, when you say something is one, it doesn't mean that there is nothing else. You could have one, you could have something else to be number two. And that is the reason why in certain places when it talks about Hashem and it uses the term Hashem אחד, they add, in the פיוט יגדל, we don't say it, but some people say it, it says, הוא אחד ואין שני, He is one and there is no second. Why do we have to add the words that there is no second? Because by saying He is one, it doesn't show that there is no second. You could have one, you could have a second. Yachid, single, shows that there is nothing else. Like when a person has one child, a single child, in Hebrew the word is he has a ben yachid, a single child. You don't say a בן אחד, one son. A person has ten children, you say, \"Well, this is one, this is another, this is another.\" Even there He is one. The word one leaves place for a second. That means we're talking about a level where there is a possibility of one thinking that there is something else other than Him, and in there He is one. If it would say yachid, you know what it would mean? Yachid would mean single, that there is nothing else but Him. As if saying, if there would be a world, then He wouldn't be single, He wouldn't be the only one. What you're trying to say is even in the level that it seems that there is a world as we see it, and there is nature, in the nature, while there is nature, the whole nature is from Him. He is one. In In simpler words, I remember once the Rebbe expressed himself this way: that when you sit in shul and you say שמע, you close your eyes, it's very easy to say Hashem is one, there is nothing else. You're closing your eyes, there's nothing around, and so there is nothing else. Then what happens? You open your eyes, you finish davenen, you go outside, and you think to yourself, \"What did I say? I said there is only Hashem, there's nothing else? What do you mean there's nothing else? Look, I see there is a whole world out there. How can you say there's nothing but Hashem?\" And then that contradicts what one thought when he said Shema, and then he will show to himself, say to himself, \"Well, it's probably not true what I said before.\" But if we say That would be only if we'd say השם יחיד. But when we say השם אחד, it means Hashem is one, meaning there is a place for a second. That means I know that there is a world out there. I know there is something else. And nevertheless, I am saying השם אחד. That while there is a world, that whole world that's there is really nothing but an expression of Hashem, is really nullified to Hashem. But I know that this world is there, so we're talking about a level of nature. And while we have nature, it's nullified to Hashem. That's why it says in Shulchan Aruch that when we say השם אחד, the actual kavana, what intentions must must one have? So it says this is what he should think in his mind: that the word אחד, which means one, is made up of three letters, aleph, chet, and dalet. The dalet let's start with the chet. The chet is eight. Chet, number chet, is eight. That represents the seven heavens, it says, and the earth. The dalet is four, the four corners or the four sides, the four dimensions of the world. The aleph is one. What we have to think is that the chet and the dalet, that means the seven heavens and the earth, which includes the whole solar system and everything in it, and the four corners means everything of the earth, is all batel, nullified to the aleph, to Hashem who is the one. In other words, we realize that there is a world and a lot of things in the world, and nevertheless, we know השם אחד. And that's why we say אחד, not יחיד. If we'd say יחיד, that would be saying there is no world. But that's not what we want to say. We want to say, look, there is a world, but that world is nothing but Hashem, because Hashem is the one that gives it this existence, Hashem is the one that made it, and all of this is an expression of the will of Hashem. And Hashem wanted it to be that way because the purpose of His creating the world and the purpose of His giving us mitzvot is to penetrate the world. Hashem doesn't want us to stay away from the world and reach a level of יחיד, which means that there is nothing but Hashem, For that, Hashem did not have to create a world. For that, He has plenty angels who realize that there is nothing but Hashem. Hashem wanted there should be a world, and a world that seems to be, seems to be an entity for itself, and in this world, He wants us to be to to recognize the truth of Hashem. And that's a much higher level. It's a much higher level than יחיד. יחיד means that there is no world, so as in Yiddish you would say, a groyse kunst, a big thing to no world, there's no world. But to in the world to realize there is Hashem, that's what Hashem wants. And that is basically the idea of דירה בתחתונים. Hashem wanted a dwelling place in this low world. He wanted there should be a world and a world as low as it is, meaning a world that really, really conceals the truth of Hashem, covers up the truth of Hashem, and in this world, we should bring Him in and recognize His truth by doing His mitzvot etc., etc. And this is what the words השם אחד mean. So now let's go through the פסוק again. שמע ישראל, now we understand the whole פסוק. שמע ישראל. Shema means listen, Yidden. More than listen, understand, Yidden, think about it. What should we think about? Number one, הוי׳ אלקינו, that Hashem and Elokim are one and the teva really is nothing but Hashem, the Elokim is nothing but Hashem. But you have to remember that הוי׳ אחד, that Hashem is one in a form that in the world, you have to realize that this is Hashem, so you have to be in the world. So a person could not think to himself, so, like we said before, if הוי׳ אלקינו, the most important part is the ruchniyut, the spirituality, the neshamah, so then we should stay away from the world. Why do we need to do everything that our bodies should exist in this physical world? The answer is because הוי׳ אלקינו wants הוי׳ אחד, that there should be Hashem in the אחד, in a place He should be one in a place where there is a seemingly possibility of more than one, which is a world, and that's where He wants to be. And therefore, the only way we could fulfill that is by being in this world and doing what He wants. So if a person understands that, has the שמע ישראל, er farshteyt, Shema means to hear, to understand, but in Yiddish there's an expression, there is sometimes something vos m'hert, and sometimes m'derhert. I don't even know if there's an English expression for it. Hern means to listen, to hear. Derhern means, sometimes it just you can't you can't translate, just snap with the fingers, just derhern. It means that you penetrate deep into the person's mind, that's called derhern. That's Shema. It should penetrate into the person's mind that הוי׳ אלקינו, the way I explained before, and הוי׳ אחד. And if you have that Shema, if we understand that, automatically it will lead us to the next פסוק, ואהבת את השם אלקיך, that you will love השם בכל לבבך with all your heart, בכל נפשך with all your soul, with all your life, ובכל מאדך with everything that we have, with all our money, with everything we will love Hashem. Why? Because we realize both both parts of it, that הוי׳ אלקינו, and therefore there's nothing but הוי׳, but nevertheless He wants us to be in this world, but He is the one that's most important part. And therefore, other mitzvot we will do, and if it comes to, God forbid, to avodah zarah, to giving up the belief in God, then we will give up our lives, because after all, הוי׳ אלקינו. This is a result of שמע ישראל. Even though this seems to be something that's very hard to achieve, in truth is, it's not so hard. Why is it not so hard? Not because it's an easy level, it's a low level that we could reach. It's because every Jew has within him the potential of reaching that level. Sometimes there are things that a person has to reach, he has to create it. It's not there. That's very hard. To create something, to make something that's not there is very hard. But when you have the potential, and you have it within you, you just have to reveal it. That's the truth. Every person because every Yid, because he's a Yid, who has a neshamah, the neshamah has that feeling of recognizing that there is nothing but Hashem, השם אלקינו and השם אחד, and therefore is ready to give up everything for Hashem, but sometimes it's covered up. All we have to do is reveal it. We don't have to make up a new feeling in ourselves that we don't actually have. That's hard. You could do it anyway, if you think a lot, like I said before, if you really understand something intellectually, it'll automatically awaken your emotions. But in this case, it's even more than that. It's something that we have. All we have to do is uncover the covering, and automatically it will come out. And that's why throughout history we saw that there were millions, thousands, hundreds of maybe even millions of Jews that were not that great, not such great tzadikim to reach high levels. Some of them were not even so religious. But when it came to give up their lives Instead of worshiping idols, they were ready to give up their lives, and they were they they gave up their lives in order not to have to bow down to an idol, not to convert to a different religion. Now where did they get it from? It's because it's within them. But normally, in the normal circumstances, in many cases, it's hidden. But when something very drastic happens, so even by those people it's brought out. There were many people that went to their deaths with the words שמע ישראל on their lips, cuz this is what they have within them. To the gas chambers, they went singing אני מאמין and saying שמע ישראל, because that's what gave them their their their encouragement, their closeness to Hashem. The Frierdiker Rebbe tells in one of the Frierdiker Rebbe tells in one of the sichot that he was once, there was when they were running away from the Nazis, when the Nazis bombed Warsaw, and the Rebbe was there, and they were running from building to building, so he said they ran into one lobby of one building. And there were all kinds of Jews there: chasidim, and mitnagdim, religious, and non-religious, Zionists, and maskilim, and Reform, a whole a big crowd. And a bomb fell right next to the building, and it sounded as if this building is going to explode. So everyone expected the worst. So the Frierdiker Rebbe describes that within a second, all the Jews screamed out together: שמע ישראל ה' אלקינו ה' אחד. And he says it it it penetrated into his mind so much, to see that in that, everyone was equal, and when they were ready to die with שמע ישראל. But when they said שמע ישראל, the bomb didn't explode, and they all survived. But he describes how the שמע ישראל is part of the neshamah, and even these people who were not frum, not frum at all, they probably ate on Yom Kippur, but when it came to שמע ישראל, this was something that's in them, in their mind. And in the Gemara, different stories of tzadikim, Rabbi Akiva and all that that died with שמע ישראל. But big tzadikim is not such a big chidush, not something special, cuz we imagine, we could expect that these tzadikim reach high levels. But even simple Jews who don't reach, that didn't reach that level, but it's in the neshamah. So when certain things like that happen, then it brings it out. What we have to do is that even when things don't happen, thank God, we also have to work on bringing it out that we should get that feeling, and that it should bring us to having the feeling of mesirut nefesh, of being ready to give up our lives for Hashem. And you know I'll conclude with one point: when we talk about mesirut nefesh, there's another level of mesirut nefesh. Mesirut nefesh means giving up life. The word nefesh means also will. In Hebrew, the word nefesh is used sometimes in Chumash for will. There's the idea of giving up one's will, that's also mesirut nefesh. If there's something that I want to do, and I know it's wrong, and I give up my will, that's a form of mesirut nefesh. And sometimes, a mesirut nefesh that is connected to riches is harder than a mesirut nefesh that's connected to poverty. People who don't have things and are poor, and have to withstand tests in hardships, sometimes it's easier than people who have everything, and they have, we call it a nisayon of ashirut, the test to withstand in test of riches rather than in poverty, it's also mesirut nefesh. And it says in sefarim that a nisayon of ashirut is harder, nisayon of aniyut. Like to use the example, the Jews, okay now Russia is different, but when till 10 to 15 years ago, they had mesirut nefesh in Russia. The mesirut nefesh that we have to have here in America sometimes is even harder. There they had to fight with poverty, with hardships, and here we have to fight also to keep our Yiddishkeit, because we have everything, and we don't even realize how this is fighting us, or fighting our yid- our Yiddishkeit. And we have to have mesirut nefesh for that too. It says when Mashiach will come, it says he will bring back all the people, it says talk about שופר גדול, there will be a big shofar blowing, and all the people who are pushed away to Mitzrayim, to Egypt, and all the people who are pushed away to Ashur, which is another country, they will all come back. And Chassidut explains that these are not just two names of countries, but this describes two types of Jews: Mitzrayim is a place where the people had hardships; Ashur was a place where the people lived very good, and the word Ashur actually in Hebrew comes from the word אושר. אושר means luck. Mitzrayim comes from the word מצר which means narrow. So this describes, Mitzrayim describes people who live in hardships, like the Jews of Russia or the Jews in the Arab countries, and Ashur describes the Jews in America, places like that. And Mashiach will come, he will have to bring us all back, because a lot of, both of them have to have mesirut nefesh, and Hashem will bring us back. But that's also another form of mesirut nefesh. And where do we get the power to have that mesirut nefesh here, when we have to give up our will rather than give up our lives? It's also from the שמע ישראל. When we realize שמע ישראל, we understand in our mind that השם אלקינו, הויה אלקינו הויה אחד, it will bring us to ואהבת את השם אלקיך, we will love Hashem with our whole heart, with our whole might, with our whole nefesh, which means with our whole will, that everything that Hashem wants we will do, like it says in Pirkei Avot we should give up our will for His will, בכל מאדך with our money. And if we do that, Hashem promises as He says that by us giving up our will for His will, He promises us that He will give up His will for our will. In other words, that even if He had in mind, so to speak, not to give us what we need, or to have, God forbid, a not such good decree for us, He will change His mind, because we give up our will for Him, He will give up His will for us. And the one thing we ask of Him, He should do it already soon and give up His will of keeping us in galut and bring Mashiach very, very soon. Amen.

I did not mention it. The origin of the Shema is in Chumash. Right. We know Shema has three chapters to, three portions to it: Shema and ואהבת, then והיה אם שמוע, and then ויאמר השם which is the parsha of tzitzit. The parsha of Shema, the first one, is in Parashat Vaetchanan, Devarim. The second one, והיה אם שמוע, is in Ekev. And the parsha of tzitzit is in Parashat Shelach. Now there's one interesting thing when we talk about the origin of Shema. As you noticed, I was talking the whole time about שמע ישראל השם אלקינו השם אחד, and then going to ואהבת. But when we daven, there's something in between. After we say the pasuk of Shema, we say ברוך שם כבוד מלכותו לעולם ועד, and then we say ואהבת. But I didn't speak about it, because in Chumash that pasuk is not mentioned. There is no ברוך שם. Where is the origin of ברוך שם? So the Gemara says that the first ones who said שמע ישראל were the children of Yaakov Avinu. And this is what happened: Yaakov Avinu, before he passed away, he was going to reveal to his children when Mashiach will come. Then he saw Hashem took away the Shechinah, so he saw Hashem doesn't want him to tell them. So he wondered why. So he thought maybe not all of them are really the way they look to be. Maybe they're not so great. So he turned around to them and said, \"My children, maybe there is a pasul, maybe there is a blemish amongst you?\" So they said to him, \"שמע ישראל, listen, ישראל.\" Yaakov's name was also ישראל. They were talking to him. \"שמע ישראל, listen Yisrael. השם אלקינו השם אחד. Hashem our God, Hashem is one. In other words, we are one.\" And the Gemara says they used the term כשם שאין בלבך אלא אחד, just like in your heart is only one, השם, כך בלבנו, so is in our heart. So when Yaakov heard that, ah, he was so happy. He said, \"Ah! ברוך שם כבוד מלכותו לעולם ועד!\" Like we would answer on some good news, we'd say, \"Ah, Baruch Hashem! Thank God!\" So he answered the same thing, \"ברוך שם כבוד מלכותו לעולם ועד!\" So when they said שמע ישראל, he answered that. So the Gemara says so it comes out like this: Since Yaakov did say ברוך שם, Moshe Rabbeinu in Chumash did not say it, so what do we do? Do we say it, do we not say it? So we have a compromise: we say it quietly. We say it quietly. So we say it, but since it's quietly, we don't say it. The only time we say it loud is Yom Kippur, but otherwise we say it quietly. So שמע ישראל's origin is from Chumash, but really it goes back to the time of Yaakov Avinu. Huh? Why do they say it loud on Yom Kippur? Okay, because there's another reason why we say it quietly: because of the malachim. We don't want the malachim to hear it. And on Yom Kippur that we are like malachim, it doesn't matter. And then there's a whole explanation why we don't want the malachim to hear it, and and that's why Yom Kippur we we say it loud. Yes. Yes. Only three mitzvot, I don't want to go through the all the halachot, but in halacha is like this: only when it comes to these three mitzvot, aveirot, which is עבודה זרה, idol worship, גילוי עריות, adultery, שפיכות דמים, murder, those are the only three things, I mentioned it before, that you're supposed to give up your life for. Everything else, there's an argument amongst the rabbis, amongst the chachamim. The Rambam holds that you are not allowed to give up your life for anything else. The Rambam says if anybody gives up his life for any other aveirah, he's committing suicide. עבודה... idol worship, adultery, and murder. But everything else, the Rambam says you're not allowed. Others hold that by the other three, you don't have to give up your life, but if you do, there's nothing wrong with it. And there were people throughout history that gave up their lives for other things, too. There were people who gave up their lives for kashrut. They didn't have any food, only non-kosher food, and they wouldn't eat it even though they knew it meant giving up, meant dying, because they're allowed to do it according to the other poskim. But according to the Rambam, you're not allowed. The Rambam does say that if it's a time that the goyim want you to transgress an aveirah specifically because they want you to go against the Torah, then you have to give up your life for everything else, too. For instance, if a goy comes and says to a Jew on Shabbos, \"I want you to cook for me. If not, I'll kill you.\" Depends why he wants. If he wants him to cook for him because he's hungry and he wants the food, then you you're allowed to do it, or according to the Rambam, you have to do it. But what happens if he tells him specifically he doesn't need the food, \"I want you to cook because I know you're not allowed to do it, and I want you to go against your religion.\" Then you have to give up your life. Even if it's something even smaller than Shabbos. Even if it's ערקתא דמסאנא. ערקתא דמסאנא means Even a single aveirah. Even if it's not even an aveirah. If the custom was, the Gemara says, that the Jews wore a certain color shoestring and the non-Jews wore a different color, and this was specifically for Jews, for the Jewish religion, and if the goy says, \"I want you to change the color of your shoestring, but only for that reason because I want you to go against your religion,\" then you have to give up your life for it. But in most instances, it wasn't that way, but if it was, then you have to give up your life, even according to the Rambam. Yes. If they do teshuvah? The Rambam says an interesting din, that if a person does not give up his life for avodah zarah, he is not punished by the Beis Din. If a person worships idols, then he's punished by the בית... Okay, we don't have a court now, but in the time of the Beis Hamikdash, when we had courts, it was punishable by death, worshiping idols. So, if a person worshipped an idol because he was forced to it, even though he was supposed to give up his life, but if he didn't, Beis Din will not punish him. Because, after all, he didn't do it willingly, cuz he was forced to it. He did something wrong anyway, but you can't punish him for avodah zarah. But Hashem will punish him, but if he does teshuvah, then he will be forgiven. They're wrong. They did teshuvah. Yes. Yeah? Because here we have to concentrate. When we say Shema, we have to concentrate on everything that we're saying, and if we don't concentrate, according to halachah, you have to say it over. Every other part of davenen, if you didn't think of what you said, you don't have to say it over, but Shema, you do. So, to make sure that we concentrate, we close our eyes and we cover it to make sure we concentrate. That's the the real reason for doing that. I mean, it's it's hard to say that they were wrong. That situation is slightly not It's not so simple. Yes. You're not allowed to bow down. But you have to give up your life. Famous story with Channah and the seven sons, that they forced each one to worship an idol, they wouldn't do it, they killed them till they came to the last one, the smallest one, the youngest. And the king saw that he won't win, so he said to him, \"You know what? I'm going to throw down my ring on the floor in front of the idol, and you just bow down to pick it up. That's all, just pick it up. People from far will think you bowed down to the idol.\" And he gave up his life for it, and he wouldn't do it. That was the seventh son, and his mother First, his mother said, \"You know what? Let me talk to him.\" So the king thought that she's going to try to convince him to do it. So when she talked to him privately, she told him, \"Remember, don't give in. Your six brothers went on mesirat nefesh, you have to go also.\" And he did. And after that, she fell off the roof and died too, but she told her sons the last one, \"Go tell Avraham Avinu: You sacrificed one son for Hashem,\" and he didn't even do it, he was ready to do it, \"I sacrificed seven sons.\" Rabbi Zander, Rabbi Zander, I think it's time we cut this short.