The Third Paragraph of Shema

This week’s Torah portion contains the third paragraph after the Shema, which we recite every morning. Let’s examine this beautiful passage with the aim to better understand this central prayer and increase our intention.

“God said to Moses, saying: ‘Speak to the Children of Israel and say to them that they shall make themselves tzitzis on the corners of their garments, throughout their generations. And they shall place upon the tzitzit of each corner a thread of turquoise wool. It shall constitute tzitzit for you, that you may see it and remember all the commandments of God and perform them’”

According to the famous Torah commentary Rashbam, the tzitzit are on your garments so that you may see the fringe and thereby remember the commandments. Our sages also comment that the turquoise wool (techeilet) reminds us that God created the world since the blue color is similar to the color of the sea, the sea reflects the color of the sky and the sky reminds us of God. The Tzizit act as reminders.

We are fallible human beings; God understands that we are not robotic, with mitzvot and Torah always on our mind. Even though women are exempt from this mitzvah, God knows that we as humans, can slip up, overlook, and forget and as such, gave us the mitzvah of tzitzit to serve as a reminder – to keep the performance of mitzvot in the forefront of our minds.

We can also set our own reminders for ourselves when we know of a particular weakness we have. If a particular type of music elicits certain feelings or memories that are less than ideal, we can set reminders and boundaries to protect ourselves from going down that route. If there is a particular character trait you are trying to work on (patience, controlling your anger, compassion, etc.) write it on your mirror so you see it when you first wake up in the morning. God understand the human psyche – he created us! Reminders work so take advantage of them!

“and not explore after your heart and after your eyes after which you stray.”

Why does it say first to not explore after your heart and then eyes? We first see something with our eyes to then want it with our hearts. I think one reason could be that if our hearts are full of gratitude, simcha and contentment then even if we see something objectively enticing or attractive, it will not lure us down the road of jealousy. When our hearts are full of gratitude for all our blessings, we can share in someone else’s happiness instead of becoming jealous and resentful. Focus on the blessings in your life, thank God for it, work on feeling happy and grateful. The more you focus on what you have, the happier you will be and the more God wants to give you.

“So that you may remember and perform all My commandments and be holy to your God.”

What is the point of the mitzvot? The mitzvot transform us into holy people. The standard of holiness is from God. Some may ask, does it really matter if someone sees my elbows? Does God really care what I eat? The answer is yes. By observing the Mitzvot, we are transforming ourselves to be holy to God by His standards– not the societal norm, fluctuating trends, or human intellect. Only through Mitzvot we are able to transform ourselves into our best possible selves and fulfill our highest, holiest potentials. Each time we do mitzvot, slowly, drop by drop, we are transforming ourselves to be that much holier to our Creator.

“I am God, your God Who has removed you from the land of Egypt to be a God unto you”

God introduces Himself as our God. God wants a relationship with us! God saved us by taking us out of Egypt – away from all of our problems. How many times have we been in a bind – big or small – and God has come to our rescue time and time again, too many to count and even times we are completely unaware of. What is the point? Why did God take us away from all of our problems? To be a God to us! To be our God and to have a relationship with us. He wants to help us. Let’s put our trust in Him and continue to see miracles.

Exercise: Say this paragraph with more intention, using some of the aforementioned ideas; focus on really connecting with God.