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Why Recite Shema at the Reunion? - ויגש

Thursday, 2 January, 2025 - 11:03 pm

Why Recite Shema at the Reunion?

Finally, after twenty-two years of separation and mourning, Jacob was reunited with his beloved son Joseph. For twenty-two years, Jacob believed that his son Joseph had been devoured; and now, he was about to meet Joseph, who had risen to the position of viceroy of Egypt. The Torah describes Joseph's emotional reaction to the reunion:

And Joseph harnessed his chariot, and he went up to meet Israel his father, to Goshen, and he appeared to him, and he fell on his neck, and he wept on his neck for a long time. (Genesis 46:29)

But wait, what about Jacob? The verse does not inform us about Jacob; what was Jacob doing? The Midrash, quoted by Rashi explains that Jacob did not react emotionally at all, for Jacob was preoccupied with reciting the Shema: 

Jacob, however, neither fell on Joseph's neck nor kissed him. Our Sages said that he was reciting the Shema. 

Why was Jacob reading the Shema at that very moment? What message was he conveying to himself and us by declaring the oneness of G-d in the Shema? 

The Talmud analyzes a verse from the prophecy of Zechariah, which states that in the Messianic era, "The Lord will be one and His name one". The Talmud asks, how can we say that only in the Messianic era the Lord will be one, "Is that to say that now He is not one?" The Talmud explains that now there are two names of G-d, there are two distinct blessings, one for good news and one for bad news. In the Messianic era, however, this will not be the case, "His name will be one", there will only be one blessing, the blessing for good tidings: 

Rabbi Aḥa bar Ḥanina said: The World-to-Come is not like this world. In this world, upon good tidings one recites: Blessed…Who is good and does good, and over bad tidings one recites: Blessed…the true Judge. In the World-to-Come one will always recite: Blessed…Who is good and does good. There will be only one mode of blessing God for tidings. (Talmud, Pesachim 50a)

The Shema, the declaration of the oneness of Hashem, reminds us that not only is there only one G-d, but additionally  there is nothing outside of His oneness; there is no creation or experience outside the oneness of G-d. This is a declaration of faith and belief, yet we don't always experience this truth. In this world, we experience the dichotomy of "good tidings", times when we see and feel the presence of G-d, and "bad tidings", times when we feel abandoned and disconnected from G-d. Yet, in the Messianic era, we will experience the deeper truth, we will recognize that indeed G-d was with us even when we did not feel His presence. 

When Jacob reunited with Joseph, he experienced the perspective of the Messianic era. Jacob sensed that, in retrospect, G-d was indeed with him all along, that the apparent calamity of Joseph's disappearance was, in fact, positive and good, for it led to Joseph's ascension  to power and the salvation of his family and the entire region. Jacob recited the Shema in recognition that, indeed, Hashem is one, He is with us in every experience and in every moment. 

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