What are the first teachings of the
Talmud? The Talmud begins with a question: When do we recite the evening Shema
prayer? It does not answer the question directly by telling us that we recite
the Shema prayer when it becomes night. It answers something else, “When the
Cohanim priests enter to eat their Teruma, a sacred food.” So, we still don’t
know when to say the night Shema.
The second teaching of the Talmud
is that the end time to recite the Shema of night is the first Mishmar or Watch
of the night. Whose Watch? This is not answered. One question brings two
statements that are meaningless.
When we look deeper into the two
answers we detect important teachings about prayer in general and indeed about
relating to G-d. And just as these two answers seem to be confusing but
actually reveal major concepts of the Torah as we will explain, so when
somebody learns any part of the Talmud, he must anticipate deep ideas and find
the hidden jewels.
The first teaching that we begin
the recitation of the night Shema when the Cohanim enter to eat their Teruma is
an interesting law. A Cohan became seriously impure somehow and during the day
purified himself in a mikva. He is not yet completely pure and cannot enter the
Temple until he offers a sacrifice, but he is pure enough to eat Teruma. Thus,
the recitation of the Shema takes place at night but this teaching is taught
indirectly. First we must learn that Cohanim eat Teruma before they are
completely pure. This tells us that reciting the Shema, accepting the Yoke of
heaven, the love of G-d, the great mitsvose of the Torah mentioned specifically
in the Shema, do not require a perfect person. Even one who is trying to escape
a past of mistakes may say the Shema and turn to HaShem. Shema is a very holy
thing and all of us hope to recite it before we die, so our souls enter
Paradise with the Shema. But we don’t have to be completely pure to do that. We
do what we can, even though further work is necessary the next day. And that
qualifies us to say Shema and come to HaShem and declare “And you shall love
the L-d your G-d.” Maybe your love of G-d could be improved. But say Shema as
you are , as you are struggling to find holiness, and that is enough.
The second statement in the Talmud’s
beginning is that the final time for reciting the night Shema is at the end of
the First Watch. But when is that? The gemora says that this opinion, of Rabbi
Eliezar, is talking about the Watch in heaven of the angels. In heaven the angels
sing songs of praise to HaShem in assigned times and places. They have Watches.
The night is divided into three watches and there are angels for each of them.
When the First Watch of night ends, new angels appear, but the time to recite
the night Shema has passed according to Rabbi Eliezar.
The idea here is for us to realize
that human prayers are closely connected to heaven. The angels pray to HaShem
and so do people. This lets us realize how holy prayer is.
Thus, the two lessons in the Talmud
are taught in a way to reveal important ideas about the service of HaShem in
prayer. First, the holiest prayers don’t require perfect people. And secondly,
when we pray, we are praying with the angels, and we are close to the greatest
holiness.
Perhaps the greatest problem in life and especially
in Torah is to be proud of our relationship with G-d and not depressed by our
mistakes. There is so much failure and frustration many people don’t say the
Shema and pray with the proper confidence and joy. Here we are encouraged to
say Shema and pray with the angels before the Presence.
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