Revealing the Oneness

Parshat Yitro

Briefly, Yitro is Moshe's father in law, Tzipporah's (Moshe's wife) father. He was a Middianite Priest, but when he heard of the wonders that had happened to the Jewish people, he came to join them. Yitro also helped Moshe to organize a judicial system. Also, Yitro is the Parsha in which with receive the torah (10 commandments) at Mt Sinai.


In Parshat Yitro, so much happens! But I want to focus on one lesson that we can learn from this Parsha. I want to look at what we can learn from the parsha about the Shema.

Shema Yisroel, Hashem, Elokeynu, Hashem Echad!

This is the Shema: the first prayer a Jewish child learns to say, and the last thing a Jew says before he dies. But what does it mean?

Hear O Israel, The Lord is our God, the Lord is one?
I mean, I guess. That's what the translation says in my siddur.
But that's not what it really means. That's not the heart and soul of it.

The Shema is very important to us. We say is at least two times a day, although often times more. It is what is written in the mezuzot that we hang on our doorposts, and it is written inside of men's tefillin. I want to explore a little more what the Shema really means. Let's take it word by word.

Also, this torah is my own take on everything I have been learning recently, but especially influenced by Reb. Shlomo Carlebach.

Shema:
Hear. Listen and hear. Hear so well the you see the voices.
What does it mean to really hear someone?
You are talking to you mother, your child, a friend, your spouse... Someone is trying to tell you something that he or she feels is important. You are listening. You hear the words she is saying. But do you really hear her? Do you really hear what she, in the depths of her heart, is trying to relay to you? Even if you are really listening with all your attention, it is almost impossible to really and truly hear what that person wants to say to you. It is even less likely because part of what we mean to say is already lost as soon as we try and put our thoughts and feelings into words. So to really hear something someone else wants to convey from their heart--- that is nearly impossible.

At mount Sinai, we heard so well that we saw the voices. It says, " and all the nation saw the voices."

How is it possible to see voices? When Gd spoke to us at Mt. Sinai, he didn't just speak to us and we heard him as if a big voice came over a loudspeaker. At Mt. Sinai, Gd gave us the torah. What does that mean? What does it mean that he spoke to us and gave us the torah? Gd says to us, "I am the lord your Gd who brought you out of the land of Egypt..." The hebrew word Gd uses for "i" is not the usual word for I, "Ani." Rather, Gd says, "Anochi." We must realize that it is very important to understand not just the english translation of the torah because the hebrew words and letters contain within themselves so much depth and meaning that is lost in translation. What does "Anochi" (I) mean here? One suggestion is the Anochi is actually standing for four aramaic words: Ani (I) Nafshi (my soul) Catavti (I wrote it down) Yehavit (and I hand it over to you). That is what torah is. Torah is the Anochi, the "I", the essence of Hashem. Torah is the soul of Hashem written down. We also learn that Gd spoke the world into being. Therefore, to see the voices was to strip away everything, all the concealment, all the garments, all the obstructions, so that we could literally see the voice of Hashem; Hashem was revealed in such a complete way. In fact, the revelation was so complete that we learn that at Sinai, we stopped having an existence of our own because the revelation was so complete that we saw how everyone was one.... really one, and we were becoming swallowed up in the oneness. Everything is still one now, but at Sinai, it was so clear.
But before moving on, we could also see the voices because everything was so much one that our bodies were also one, and there was no separation between eyes and ears, or between anything for that matter....
Shema! Hear. Hear the oneness.

Shema Yisroel. Hear, Israel! Why Israel? Because it was the Nation of Israel that received the torah, that received this revelation of the oneness of Gd. Mind you, by "oneness of Gd" I don't exactly mean only to say that there is only one Gd. Of course, it is true that there is only one Gd, but that is because there is only Gd because everything in existence is actually apart of the same oneness, which we call Gd, but I will expand more on that shortly. So why Israel? What does it mean for us to have received the torah? What does it mean that Gd calls us his "Special treasure?" What does it mean to be chosen people? Here is what it means: This I learned from Reb Shlomo: We are chosen to tell all of the nations of the world that we are all chosen. That's what it all comes down to. Of course, in the meantime, it is actually much more complicated. We have mitzvot, we have rules and regulations, but the heart and soul of it is that. We are chosen to teach the world that everyone is chosen.

Shema Yisroel, Hear Israel, Hashem:
The word that is spelled Yud and then kay and then vav and then kay. We don't say this word. Instead, we say "hashem," which literally means, "the name." We say "the name" to refer to Gd, because ultimately, how can we know what to call Gd? I personally don't like calling it Gd because I think that word misleads a lot of people. To call it "the name," however, I think is appropriate, because it recognizes that we cannot define Gd, we cannot explain what it is, how is works, how it thinks, or anything. As Elijah says in Petach Eliyahu, "No thought grasps you (Hashem) at all!" So what is the word Yud and kay and vav and kay? It is the name that is the essence of what Gd is, whatever the may be. But also, note that if we did not exist, a name for Gd would not even be necessary, because who needs a name if you are all alone? So the fact that there is a name is already from our perspective and symbolizes some sort of relationship between the infinite and us. And that is what this name of Gd is: it is a connector between the infiniteness of Gd and the finite world. In kabbalistic teachings, (from the little that I know, which is actually a lot less than a little, but it is still fascinating and worth sharing) each letter symbolizes something different.

The Apex of the Yud is significant of the will, when creation was but a desire. It corresponds to the highest level of the soul, the Yechida, which is already swimming with the oneness of hashem that is concealed to us.
The Yud is the mind. It is a small dot-like letter and represents the speck that was the beginning of the begining. Now creation has moved into the 'mind' of Gd. (Please understand that all words used to describe Gd or anything transcendent can only really work as metaphors, so please understand them as such). The Yud also corresponds to the Chaya level of the soul.
The hay is when creation is now an active thought within the mind. The hay is the neshama level of the soul.
The vav is a physically long letter and it represents drawing down these higher levels into the lower worlds. The vav is the ruach level of the soul. It corresponds to speech, as Gd "Spoke" (or rather, speaks) the world(s) into being.
And finally the last hay is the action, the actual creation, the world of action in which we live, and the nefesh. The nefesh is the part of the soul that is actually flowing through our blood. It is the most accessible part of our soul, but it is also easiest for this part of our soul to get confused and to fall in love with our bodies and the physical world. I really wish I could explain this better, but I really can't so I am sorry. I only wanted to show very briefly that there is significance to each letter of hashem's name in how it draws the very high spiritual energy or creative force into our realm of existence.

Here is a chart of some thins that correspond to the letters, but I will not elaborate of them here.
Tetragrammaton World Soul Level Human Manifestation Element
apex of yud Adam Cadamon Yechida Will
Yud Atzilut Chaya Mind Fire
Hay Beriyah Neshama Thought Air
Vav Yetzirah Ruach Speech water
Hay Asiyah Nefesh Action Earth

Shema Yisroel, Hashem... Elokaynu
There is more to "Elokaynu" than I will do it justice, but this word is translated as "our Gd." It is also "judge," but what I especially notice about this word is the "our" part. The "nu." It isn't just "Gd," but rather "Our Gd." This word acknowledges a personal relationship between "Gd", the creator, the infinite, the everything, and us. This word is the romance. It is the love part of the love story.

Shema Yisroel Hashem Elokeynu,...... Hashem Echad!
First hashem is ours, and now hashem is echad, one.
What does it mean that Hashem is one? It means there is only one Gd? Well, I guess so, but that's not really what is means. It means that Hashem is one and that therefore everything is one, because everything is a part of Gd. "Hashem", the yud and kay and vav and kay, the drawing of the infinite to the finite, is all one, every step of the way. If everything is one, than "Gd" is literally everywhere and in everything. If we were able to really see for just an instance, we wouldn't see each others' faces and colors and features and haircuts, and fashion, etc. We would see pure light, pure Gdly light. When Moshe came down from the mountain, his face shone pure light.

So what happened at Sinai? How is it that we could see the voices? Hear with our eyes? Because at Sinai, we received the torah, Gd wrote down his soul and gave it over to us. At Sinai, the oneness of Gd was revealed. Our egos gave away and we knew that we were all connected, we were all created by the same force, and we were all one. Our eyes and our ears knew it, too. Our ears gave up their ego, too. They said, "we are one with the rest of our body, we are one with all of creation, and we don't have to be so selfish so we are the only ones who can hear." So the eyes could hear, too. But it wasn't hearing the way we think of hearing. It was literally a revelation of the fact that everything in this world is really one. It is really just hashem. But in life, Hashem conceals himself from us. At Sinai, however, we knew. It is hard for me to explain because I don't really understand. How can I really understand what it means for everything to really be one, to hear with my eyes? I might think I understand, but I can't hear like that.

So what happened? If we saw it then, we saw the oneness of everything then, then what's the big deal? Why isn't it obvious to us now? Because it was too intense. When Gd spoke to us, when he revealed his oneness, we could not longer have our own existence because it was so apparent that everything was actually Gd and he was actually everywhere, so there was no space for us. We were getting swept away in the oneness, so we said for Gd to be quiet and speak only to Moshe. "They said to Moses, "you speak to us, and we will hear, but let Gd not speak to us lest we die." It was too intense.

But now, now it is our job to notice the holiness everywhere, the Gdliness everywhere, in everything in this world. It is our job to see the Gdliness even where it is not obviously revealed to us. We are working, working, working to arrive at a time when it will be like the receiving of the torah again, except for the whole world, with everyone seeing that it really all is oneness. Then there will be no reason to harm your neighbor, or the animals, or the earth, or yourself, because if you harm one thing, it will be so apparent that it is all one big connected system, and harming one thing harms everything else. Then, we will have peace on earth. This is why Parshat yitro is so important, and why the Shema is, too.

Shema yisroel Hashem Elokaynu, hashem echad.

Hear, Israel! Hear it loud and clear! Hear it so fully that you don't just hear it, but you know it with your entire being! That the source of creation, the infinite creative energy that flows through our world and all the worlds that we cannot see, it is drawing down from the high heights into our realm and sustaining us. It has a name because it made us exist and have a relationship with it. And hear this so well that you know it with your entire being and your entire life and everywhere you look, that "hashem" is one, it's all one, it's all one, it's all one. This is so important to know.