One God — the Shema · The essentials of Judaism

In a minute

The first and greatest belief of Judaism is that God is One. Jews believe that God alone created the universe, sustains it every moment, cares for every creature, and is to be worshipped. God has no body, no image, no rival and no partner. God is beyond anything we can picture, and yet near to everyone who calls. Jews declare this every morning and evening in the Shema: "Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one."

What it is and how it's lived

The Shema, morning and night

The Shema is not a prayer to God so much as a declaration about God, addressed to the people: listen. It is said in the morning and evening services (Mishnah, Berakhot 1:1–2), at bedtime, and, by long tradition, as a Jew's last words. Many people cover their eyes with their right hand while saying the first line, to shut out every distraction. A child's first prayer is often the Shema.

The Name that is not spoken

The Hebrew Bible calls God by many names: Elohim (God), El Shaddai (God Almighty), and above all a four-letter name, Y-H-W-H, sometimes called the Tetragrammaton. Out of reverence, Jews do not pronounce this Name. In prayer and reading it is said as Adonai ("my Lord"); in conversation many say HaShem ("the Name"). That is why English Bibles print it as "the LORD" in capitals, and why many Jews write "G-d" in English, so that a written name of God is never erased or thrown away.

When Moses asked God's name at the burning bush, the answer was mysterious:

"And God said unto Moses: ‘I AM THAT I AM’" (Exodus 3:14, JPS 1917)

No images

The Ten Commandments begin:

"I am the LORD thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me." (Exodus 20:2–3, JPS 1917)

and go on to forbid making any image to worship. So synagogues contain no statues or pictures of God, and Judaism teaches that God is not a body at all. Where the Bible speaks of God's "hand" or "face", the rabbis taught that the Torah speaks in human language, so that people can understand. (Paraphrased; Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 31b; developed by Maimonides, Guide for the Perplexed, Book 1.)

God who is near

The one God is not distant. Jews speak to God as Avinu Malkenu, "our Father, our King", and as Ribbono shel Olam, "Master of the world". The God of the philosophers is also the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who hears a person's prayer.

"The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon Him, To all that call upon Him in truth." (Psalm 145:18, JPS 1917)

Its inner meaning

To say "God is one" is more than counting. Jewish teachers draw out three things:

One and only. There is no other power alongside God: no god of good against a god of evil, no fate stronger than God. "I am the LORD, and there is none else" (Isaiah 45:18).
One and unique. God is unlike anything else (Maimonides' second principle: God's oneness is unlike any other oneness).
One and uniting. If one God made everything, the world is one, and every human being is made "in the image of God" (Genesis 1:27). The Mishnah says that God made the first human as a single person so that no one could say "my ancestor was greater than yours". (Paraphrased; Mishnah, Sanhedrin 4:5.)

The second word Jews emphasise is the first: Shema, "hear". Faith in Judaism begins with listening.

Key texts

"Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one." (Deuteronomy 6:4, JPS 1917)

Hebrew:

שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָד

In a Torah scroll, the last letter of the first word (ayin) and the last letter of the last word (dalet) are written large. Together they spell ed, "witness": the one who says the Shema bears witness. (A traditional explanation found in medieval commentaries.)

"I am the LORD, and there is none else, beside Me there is no God" (Isaiah 45:5, JPS 1917)

"Ye are My witnesses, saith the LORD, and My servant whom I have chosen; that ye may know and believe Me, and understand That I am He; before Me there was no God formed, neither shall any be after Me." (Isaiah 43:10, JPS 1917)

"And the LORD shall be King over all the earth; In that day shall the LORD be One, and His name one." (Zechariah 14:9, JPS 1917)

The last verse closes the Aleinu prayer that ends every service: a hope that one day all humanity will know the one God.

From the rabbis

Saying the Shema is accepting the yoke of the kingdom of heaven: choosing, each day, to live under God's rule. (Paraphrased; Mishnah, Berakhot 2:2.)
Maimonides opens his great law code by calling the knowledge that there is a First Being, who brought all things into existence, the foundation of foundations and the pillar of all wisdom. (Paraphrased; Mishneh Torah, Laws of the Foundations of the Torah 1:1.)
When Rabbi Akiva was put to death by the Romans (2nd century CE), the Talmud says he died saying the Shema, lingering on the word echad, "one". (Paraphrased; Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 61b.)

Common misunderstandings, answered gently

"The God of the Hebrew Bible is a God of anger, unlike the God of love." Jews read the same Scriptures and meet a God whose first description of Himself to Moses is "merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth" (Exodus 34:6). Jews pray these "Thirteen Attributes of Mercy" on fast days and festivals.
"Jehovah is God's name in Judaism." "Jehovah" is a medieval Christian reading that mixed the letters of the Name with the vowels of Adonai. Jews do not use it.
"Writing G-d is superstition." It is reverence: a written name of God should not be erased or thrown away. Many Jews write "God" in full on screens or paper that will be discarded with care; practice varies.

Across the movements

All Jewish movements affirm one God. Orthodox Judaism holds closely to Maimonides' principles. Masorti and Progressive Jews share the Shema and the prayers, while giving more room to personal and philosophical ways of understanding God. Many Progressive prayer books also use gender-inclusive language for God.

Reflection

The Shema begins "Hear". What would change if you spent one day listening before you spoke?

In the other traditions

Christianity: Jesus quoted the Shema as the first of all commandments (Mark 12:29). Christians believe in one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit; Jews, like Muslims, understand God's oneness without a Trinity.
Islam: Muslims declare la ilaha illa'llah, "there is no god but God", and recite Surah al-Ikhlas: "Say: He is Allah, the One!" (Qur'an 112:1, Pickthall).

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