Learning the Sh'ma #5

-
Today, we're going to finish (sorta kinda) looking at the Sh'ma prayer. I am not an expert on this. you can find an index of all the 31 Days of Encountering Judaism here.

The last part of the Sh'ma prayer as said in the Reformed congregation I work for anyway, is this:

"Thus you shall remember to observe all My commandments and to be holy to your God. I am Adonai, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am Adonai your God."

I've been translating "Adonai" as "the Lord" in previous installments, by the way.

God brought the Israelites out of Egypt to the promised land; out of slavery into freedom. God frees all of us, and all I have to do is remember that the Lord is my God, and remember to love God with all my heart and soul and might, and be holy to my God.

Yeah, I can do that. Well, at least try really hard to remember and to love.

At least, all this is my perspective. I'm sure if I sat down with a rabbi or some learned Jewish friends, I'd get corrected on several points, but you do remember me saying earlier that I wasn't an expert on this, right?

In any case, I've started to learn the Sh'ma, in Hebrew. I'll let you know how I get along.

Ooh, and one quick learning from "The Shadow of the Temple" before I go: Skarsaune wrote of a hypothesis based on Pliny's report on persecuted Christians and knowledge that in the 1st Century C.E. synagogues introduced the Sh'ma into their worship. The hypothesis being that the Christians also adopted this.

If this hypothesis is true (and I need to do more reading) then I am learning a prayer that the early Christians prayed. Which is pretty dang awesome, in my book.

And then I remembered that one time back in Australia where I attended a Rite 1 service at the Cathedral. There were 10 Commandments in that. So I look up the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer and sure enough, in the Holy Eucharist Rite I there is a place to recite the 10 commandments and then repeat the Jesus phrasing of the first part of the Sh'ma ("You shall love God with all your heart...") with the "and love your neighbor as yourself" bit. So, not the whole Sh'ma, but the beginning, kinda.

Somewhere I have a copy of the first version of the Book of Common Prayer from the 1500s (a reprint, obviously), but haven't been able to lay my hands on it.

Comments

Post a Comment

Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment.

Popular posts from this blog

Where Bloggers Create Party!

-
Image
My Desert Cottage Not much has changed in my art room since last year . I had a substantial to-do list this year and I didn't quite get to all of them. Here's what was on my "to-do" that got t'done: 1) I made pretty labels for my binders: 2) I cleaned out my closet. (There is no before picture: just imagine stacks of boxes, giant plastic containers and the like.) The closet now holds some stamp storage (off to the side behind the purple velvet dress that's hanging; a chest of drawers packed with fabric (now consolidated into one space except for another drawer in last year's pink chest of drawers); and a sacred space. The wall has book pages taped onto it. I got the idea and the technique from Aunt Peaches . Eventually, the small stained glass cross will move and be above the ombry that I have on permanent loan (currently holding my prayer books and a bible), which is a bit of a long story, but basically when I no longer have a use f...
Read more

"where there is darkness, light" - Prayer of St. Francis series

-
Image
Today's guest blogger is Joe Pote. As a s tudent of the Bible since early childhood, Joe was literally raised in church, attending multiple church services and Bible studies each week. Having also endured the devastation of a failed marriage, Joe combines a sound understanding of biblical principles with personal experience of the issues and concerns of believers who have experienced divorce.  He would like for you to visit his website .  I sat huddled at my desk, face pressed into palms supported by elbows propped on desktop, staring into the darkness of my own hands…feeling the darkness pressing in from all sides.   The work day was ended.  It was time to go home, a brief ten minute walk from the office.  Yet, I lingered, dreading home…knowing the unfixable problems waiting there…praying that God would show me what to do. My four beautiful children waited at home, bright lights in my life, who I was always pleased to see.  But their mother also ...
Read more

Where Bloggers Create Party II: My Room 2010 (with lots of pictures)

-
Image
I'm excited to be joining the Where Bloggers Create Party for the first time. I discovered it last year, ages after it happened and I literally spent the day looking through them all! I hope you enjoy my space. The sign on my door. I made it as a make-and-take a couple of years ago. Here's an overall view of my room. You can't tell because of the lighting but the walls are not pink. They're pale lavender. The bookcase I bought from Target a year or two ago. It's "Shabby Chic". The bottom drawer holds my German scrap and the "transparent" stuff. The bookcase from Target that used to be under the window is now vertical. The addition to the top of pink chest of drawers is a library card file that was gonna be tossed from church until I rescued it. It holds rolls of seam binding and millinery. I might paint it next year.... Next to it is a tiered holder of mostly lace, but some feathers and flowers. The chest of drawers holds glue, large photos, fa...
Read more