Who's My Neighbor? A Biblical Call To Love OthersMuestra

Living The Shema

Abba Flores

This passage is important for both Christian and Jewish communities. It is called “The Shema” (pronounced Sh’ma) and it teaches us the greatest commandment: to love God and to love others. From Sh’ma, we can discern that God actively loves Creation. We, in turn, learn how to participate in this same manner by loving others. Sh’ma teaches us that we are to hear God knocking at our door, for that’s what the Hebrew word sh’ma means: “to hear.” We are to hear an invitation to enter into a relationship.

Sh’ma also teaches us that we are to love God with lev (another Hebrew word), that is, with all of our heart, innards, and will. These parts working together is not the only way we are to love God, but each aspect of lev must be loved out to the fullest.

Sh’ma also includes a call for us to teach and impress our children the ways of loving God because Sh’ma is about a generational love and a generational faith that is open and inviting to people of all ages so that they learn how to love God and to love others. The way in which we do this is by reciting Sh’ma all day and every day: literally, with everything that is done in a day, Sh’ma should be thought of. Sh’ma says, “when you’re sitting or when your standing.” In life, you’re either sitting or standing! Therefore, talk about Sh’ma in everything that you do.

Sh’ma should be bound on our hands and on our foreheads. This means that Sh’ma should be as well-known by a person as a someone who knows their own hands. The other place Sh’ma needs to be bound is on our foreheads, and this means to live out Sh’ma in such a way that when people see you, they see Sh’ma. It is a call for us to bind Sh’ma to our relationships.

Much like understanding when we are to recite Sh’ma, it is important to understand that Sh’ma applies in ALL aspects of our lives. Sh’ma says “while at home or away.” You are either at home or away! Therefore, Sh’ma calls for us ALWAYS to apply loving God and loving others to our lives. Our lives are constantly filled with motion and transition, needing to be filled with the Sh’ma, this Love for God and Others.