Deuteronomy 6:4

Adonai our God, Adonai is one. He is our God (Eloheinu) now, and not the God of other nations, and in the future He will be one God (Adonai echad), as it is written, “For then will I turn to the peoples A pure language, That they may all call upon the name of the LORD,” (Zeph. 3:9) and it is said, “In that day shall the LORD be One, and His name one.” (Zech. 14:9)

It was, when the time came that our father Jakob should be gathered out of the world, he was anxious lest there might be an idolater among his sons. He called them, and questioned them, Is there such perversity in your hearts? They answered, all of them together, and said to him: HEAR, ISRAEL OUR FATHER: THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD! Jakob made response, and said, Blessed be His Glorious Name for ever and ever.

Everything that our ancestors, of blessed memory, have transmitted concerning the reading of the Shma‘ is true and needs no justification. Know that the glorious Name is God’s proper name [comment on Exodus 3: 15]. If so, why is it immediately followed by another name of God? The answer is that the Name can serve both as a proper name, and elsewhere as a descriptive, but not a proper name (just as “man” [Hebrew: adam] is both a proper name [Genesis 3: 17], and a descriptive name derived from “Earth” [Hebrew: adama]). The evidence for this is that there are places where the Name appears in the construct case (as in “the Lord of Hosts” [I Samuel 1: 11]) and other places where it stands alone. The Name is then further repeated, to say: God, who is our Lord, is one God — in other words, He is absolutely unique. An uncountable number of things demonstrate God ’s uniqueness.

HEAR, O ISRAEL: THE ETERNAL OUR G-D, THE ETERNAL IS ONE. This too is a commandment that offers explanation. For, already contained in the commandment I am the Eternal thy G-d, is [the principle of] the Unity of G-d. As the Rabbis have said: 5. “Rabbi Nathan says: From here there is a refutation to those heretics who say there are two powers governing the universe. For, when the Holy One, blessed be He, stood on Mount Sinai and proclaimed I am the Eternal thy G-d, who protested against Him?” But here he [Moses] came to explain this commandment [I am the Eternal …] and mentioned it after the Ten Commandments because it is the root of faith, and whoever does not acknowledge it denies the essential principle [of the religion] as if he worships idols. “The Eternal our G-d, the Eternal is One. This means: the Eternal, Who is [now, only] our G-d and not the G-d of the [other] nations, will eventually be acknowledged as the One [and only] Eternal, as it is said, In that day shall the Eternal be One, and His Name One.” This is Rashi’s language. Now you must contemplate [the fact] that Scripture changed [the normal usage] here by saying the Eternal ‘our’ G-d and did not state “thy” G-d as it says everywhere else: Hear, O Israel: thou art to pass over the Jordan this day etc. Know therefore this day, that the Eternal ‘thy’ G-d etc.; Hear, O Israel, ye draw nigh this day unto battle etc. for the Eternal ‘your’ G-d is He that goeth with you., 20:3-4. And so also in all sections where [Moses] spoke to Israel he mentioned “the Eternal your G-d” or “the Eternal thy G-d,” and even here [in this very section] he said, And thou shalt love the Eternal ‘thy’ G-d. However, in this declaration of the Unity [of G-d] Moses said, the Eternal ‘our’ G-d because He had done great and awesome things with Moses to make Himself a glorious Name [therefore Moses said “our G-d,” for had he said “your G-d,” he might have appeared to exclude himself from this declaration of Unity]. Now the letter daleth in the word echad (one) is written [in the Torah] large in order to allude to that which is written, He divided the water before them, to make Himself an everlasting Name. And therefore the Rabbis instituted in the reading of the Sh’ma is used as the title for the group of three portions from Scripture (Deuteronomy 6:4-9; 11:13-21; Numbers 15:37-41) which we must recite twice daily, in the morning and in the evening. See “The Commandments,” Vol. I, pp. 15-16. “Blessed be His Name Whose Glorious Kingdom is for ever and ever” and they further said [there]: “This may be compared to a lord’s daughter who smelled the [sweet] odor of some pudding etc.,”, but should be done quietly (Pesachim 56 a). for Moses stated it in the Torah by an allusion. [of the word echad — “one”] which is written large (Bachya). And then he reverted [to the general usage] and stated, And ‘thou’ shalt love the Eternal ‘thy’ G-d like the expression found in [the other] sections of Deuteronomy.

ה' אלוקימו, Hashem alone is elokeynu, there is no other kind of divinity which is a partner to Him. We find a similar formulation in Chronicles II 3,10 ואנחנו ה' אלוקינו ולא עזבנוהו, meaning: “although you have golden calves, as far as we are concerned we believe only in Hashem who is our only G’d, and we have not abandoned Him as did Jerobam.”

ה' אחד. He alone, and Him we will serve without resorting to any man-made intermediary such as charms, etc.” (see our commentary on 5,6)

שמע ישראל, listen Israel with your mind open;

'ה, He is the One Who is responsible for the existence of a physical universe and our globe, the only part of it on which physical life exists.

אלוקינו, He is the choicest of all the abstract forces assigned to supervise the conduct of human beings, and even inert creatures. From Him we yearn for assistance in helping us to achieve our purpose on earth. We do not turn to any intermediary. He alone is fit to have prayers addressed to.

ה' אחד; seeing that He created all phenomena in this universe, celestial or terrestrial out of a total void, it is logically impossible for there to be another phenomenon representing an existence independent of Him. It also makes him basically different, unique, for all things created by Him are by definition potentially terminal, transient existences. He is absolutely unique in the world based on four basic raw materials, water, fire, earth, air. This idea appears to be hinted at in the letter ד=4 in the word אחד which is written larger than usual and the letter ע in the word שמע which is also written in larger than normal script, suggesting that we should use our eyes to take note of these concepts, the “testimony, עד” that this is so. This is why our sages said that we must draw out the word אחד when reciting it so as to give us time to reflect on the full meaning of the verse.

שמע ישראל ה' אלוקינו ה' אחד, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our G–d, the Lord alone.” This verse would not be complete unless G–d’s name had appeared in it three times. If the Torah had only written: שמע ישראל ה' אחד, “Hear Israel, the Lord is one,” every other nation in the world would have claimed that their national deity was also unique for them. By adding the word: אלוקינו, “our G–d,” every reader would know that the subject is the G–d of Israel. If we would only say: “the Lord our G–d is one,” the impression would be left that He is one of a number of deities. The correct translation of the way Moses described G–d in our verse is: “the Lord Who is our Master is unique as a Master, and there is none beside Him.” When reciting this line in our prayers it is necessary to introduce this prayer with the words: א-ל מלך נאמן, “G–d who is a true king.” The reason that the authors of the prayer book have seen fit to add these three words is that by adding them the three paragraphs of this prayer including the line ברוך שם כבוד מלכותו, “blessed be the glory of His Kingdom,” total 248 words, a number which equals the 248 limbs in our bodies. This is hinted at by Solomon in Proverbs 4,4: שמר מצותי וחיה “Keep My commandments and you will live.” G–d is portrayed as saying that if you (Israel) keep My commandments, I will keep you alive.” Rabbi Shimon ben Chalafta explained this concept by means of a parable: a king possessed a vineyard in the central part of the land of Israel, whereas his residence was in the northern part of the country. Another king possessed a vineyard in the northern part of Israel, whereas his residence was in the central part of the country. Each king had to travel at least once a year from his residence to his vineyard to make sure the vineyard was being tended properly. Eventually, these two kings met one another and each complained to the other about the inconvenience of having to visit his vineyard every year. They made an agreement that each king would take care of the other’s vineyard, an arrangement that saved each of them a lot of time and inconvenience.