At this point in my thinking, I was finally beginning to grasp certain concepts I have seen in Chassidic writings, but could not until now wrap my head around.
Halacha (Jewish Ritual Law) teaches that although one can fulfill his technical requirement to pray by reciting the prayers in the absence of really paying attention to what he is saying, there are exceptions to this rule. One of those is the first verse of Shema which, if someone recites it while he is daydreaming about something else, he has not fulfilled his requirement, and must repeat the Shema.
Rabbi Isaac of Komarna, one of the most intensely Kabbalistic of all the Chassidic writers, says that rather than repeating the Shema one should accustom himself to remembering that God is in everything, even in his stray thoughts. One who truly understands this will realize that his day dream during Shema was not a violation of the will of God thereby invalidating his recital of Shema, but was indeed God's will. As such, he should not repeat it.
I would add that as the idea of Shema is the declaration of God's permeation of all of existence, filling one's mind with this consciousness and thereby not repeating the Shema, is in and of itself, the very same declaration.
To be continued
I think the idea is in part that, by daydreaming, we lose the benifit. It is by the concerted effort and concentration that we begin to see/know/be enveloped by what we are saying... and without this, it is empty! In another part, it is true that even wandering thoughts are divine dreams, and so there is no repeating needed. And there a third truth, that all is parts, and no one part holds all truth.
ReplyDelete