Hearing hearts 

Rabbi Daniel Siegel

Prior to affixing the mezuzah to our new Innovation Centre, in last week’s dedication ceremony, our students, in unison, sang שמע ישראל/Shema Yisra’el. Coincidentally, this first paragraph of the Shema prayer appeared in last week’s Torah reading. This week’s parashah, includes the second paragraph of the Shema, והיה עם שמוע/VeHayah im Shamo’a, also contained in the mezuzah.

The Shema prayer is said up to four times a day and is traditionally the first prayer parents teach their children and the last a Jew is to say before his final breath.

Shema means to “hear” as in Shema Yisra’el -“Hear O Israel”, but it also means to heed as in VeHayah im Shamo’a – “And, if you heed”.

In Judaism, true heeding can only be born of hearing. Hearing, in turn, is only possible through the heart. This week’s parashah is replete with the words שמע/shema-hear and לב/Lev-heart. The coupling of these words reflect their interdependence and the more profound meaning of shema-understanding.

To truly hear, and thus fully heed, requires understanding and, therefore, the wisest of individuals, King Solomon, when given the opportunity to make one wish, and have it granted, asks for a לב שומע/An understanding heart.

Heeding the voice of another, human or divine, requires a hearing heart that goes beyond blind obedience or capitulation. Hearing requires personal and meaningful engagement calling for what our parashah, and prophetic tradition, calls a circumsised heart
ומלתם את ערלת לבבכם

The callousness of heart closes us off to understanding the needs of others and realising the possibilities of self.

The day following the dedication of our new building, our new High School madrichim took part in a full day program of preparing themselves to become dedicated student leaders. In discussing how they might engage their peers in meaningful tefillah experiences, one student frankly asked: “If it’s not meaningful to me, how can I make it meaningful to others?”.

It is not by accident that our Jewish tradition calls tefillah/prayer /עבודה שבלב Avodah SheBaLev-Service of the Heart. If we are to open our hearts to the needs of others we must discern and meet our own needs, as well. This, Shema tells us, is the essence of authentic prayer and Jewish living.