PRAYER · SHEMA · 2 OF 6
Love with all you have
“With all” appears three times in the call to love Hashem. Follow our sages as they draw our desires, our life, our possessions and our changing circumstances into these few words.
In this lesson
Read love after the declaration
The first paragraph of the Shema, our morning and evening declaration, comes from Deuteronomy 6:4–9. Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Torah, the five books of Moshe, Moses. In the opening verse, Israel is called to hear that Hashem is our God, Hashem is one. Hashem, “the Name,” is our reverent way of referring to God.
Now the declaration leads into a command. The One acknowledged as our God is the One we are called to love. Read this verse slowly enough to notice not only its three nouns but what comes before each one.
ואהבת את יהוה אלהיך
בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך ובכל מאדךYou shall love Hashem your God
with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might.
English rendering by Messianic Yeshiva
Ve'ahavta means “you shall love.” בכל, bekhol, means “with all.” The two later occurrences have a prefixed “and.” Heart, soul and might are not three items from which to select a favorite. The repeated “all” gives the command its wholehearted reach.
1. A reader says, “Some people love with the heart, others with the soul, others with their strength.” What in the verse challenges this division?
The repeated “with all,” joined by “and.” The same person is addressed throughout: love Hashem with all your heart and all your soul and all your might. The verse gathers the whole person into love rather than assigning different people separate options.
Hear the sages interpret the words
The Mishnah is an early organized collection of our sages' teachings. Its tractates, or books, address different areas of Jewish life. Berakhot, Blessings, includes the Shema, prayer and blessings for many occasions. The reference 9:5 means chapter 9, mishnah 5.
In that teaching, our sages read each part of Deuteronomy 6:5 closely. Keep two voices clear as we proceed: the Torah gives the verse; the Mishnah draws out its meaning. The explanations belong to our learning of the Torah, and naming their source helps us follow the reasoning.
All your heart
בכל לבבך, בשני יצריך, ביצר טוב וביצר רע.
“With all your heart”: with both your inclinations, the good inclination and the evil inclination.
English rendering by Messianic Yeshiva
An inclination is a tendency or drive within us. The Hebrew term is yetzer. The Mishnah includes both the good inclination and the evil inclination within the reach of “all your heart.” Our inner life is not always already harmonious. This teaching calls the whole heart into Hashem's service.
That gives us a searching question: how can we bring our competing desires into a life directed toward Hashem? An urge to receive recognition, for example, needs discipline when we learn with others. We can turn our attention toward understanding the teaching and helping a partner understand, rather than toward winning admiration. This is an application for our study, not a case stated in the Mishnah.
2. What changes when we say “the Mishnah interprets the heart through both inclinations” rather than “the Hebrew word for heart means two inclinations”?
We preserve the difference between the verse's word and the sages' interpretation. The Torah says “with all your heart”; the Mishnah explains its reach through both inclinations. That explanation is not a new dictionary definition of the word “heart,” and our study-partner example is a further application of it.
All your soul
ובכל נפשך, אפילו הוא נוטל את נפשך.
“And with all your soul”: even if he takes your life.
English rendering by Messianic Yeshiva
Nefesh, rendered “soul” in our verse, reaches here to life itself. The Mishnah gives the call to love its fullest seriousness: faithfulness is not restricted to circumstances in which we receive what we want. Our living self is involved, not only a passing inward feeling.
Read the two clauses together. The first takes in the competing inclinations of the heart. The second reaches to one's very life. The recurring “all” presses against the impulse to set part of ourselves outside our relationship with Hashem.
3. A summary says, “Soul means the pleasant feeling I get during prayer.” What would you add from the Mishnah?
The Mishnah's explanation reaches to a person's life. A pleasant feeling may accompany devotion, but it cannot carry the full weight of “even if he takes your life.” A stronger summary says that the love commanded by the verse involves our whole living self, not only how prayer feels at a particular moment.
All your might: two readings
ובכל מאודך, בכל ממונך.
“And with all your might”: with all your wealth.
דבר אחר, ובכל מאודך, בכל מידה ומידה שהוא מודד לך, הוי מודה לו בכול מאוד מאוד.
Another reading: “And with all your might”: in every measure that he measures out to you, give him abundant thanks.
English rendering by Messianic Yeshiva
The first explanation brings mamon, wealth or possessions, into our service. What we own and how we use it belong within the call to love Hashem. Love is not sealed off from the resources entrusted to us.
The phrase davar acher, “another reading,” introduces a second explanation. This one turns from possessions to every measure Hashem measures out to us: the varied circumstances we receive. The repeated language of measure helps us hear the breadth of the teaching. Gratitude belongs throughout life, not only in its easy stretches.
These are two interpretations of the same Torah phrase. We can learn from both while keeping their different emphases clear: how we use what we have, and how we respond to what comes to us.
4. Someone remembers only “might means money.” Restore the Mishnah's two-part explanation and identify the words that mark the second part.
One reading explains “all your might” as “all your wealth.” Davar acher, “another reading,” then introduces giving thanks through every measure Hashem measures out. The first concerns possessions; the second concerns receiving life's circumstances with gratitude. “Might means money” loses both the attribution to the Mishnah and its second interpretation.
Read gratitude in the Mishnah's setting
The interpretations we have read follow this opening statement:
חייב לברך על הרעה כשם שהוא מברך על הטובה
One must bless for the bad just as one blesses for the good.
English rendering by Messianic Yeshiva
The Mishnah then cites “You shall love” and develops the readings above. The command to love supports remaining turned toward Hashem through both good and adversity. “Every measure” belongs within that setting.
Earlier in Berakhot 9:2, the Mishnah gives different blessings for good news and bad news. It does not erase the difference between the two experiences. Faithful blessing can acknowledge hardship truthfully. This is teaching for our own relationship with Hashem, to receive with humility rather than use to judge another person's grief.
5. Does “just as one blesses for the good” establish that good and bad news use exactly the same blessing? What nearby evidence helps?
No. Berakhot 9:2 explicitly distinguishes the blessings for good and bad news. The shared commitment to bless in 9:5 does not make their words or circumstances identical. Reading the chapter together lets us hold both teachings: we remain turned toward Hashem, and we name different experiences honestly.
Apply a reading without enlarging the claim
Rivkah owns a book that would help a beginner in her study group. She can lend it for a week without disrupting her own learning. How might the source shape her decision?
- Name the Torah's words. Deuteronomy 6:5 commands love with all our might.
- Name the interpretation. Mishnah Berakhot 9:5 brings wealth and possessions within that call.
- Make a proportionate application. Lending the book is one way to put a resource in the service of Torah learning.
That reasoning gives the act a purpose. It does not turn this particular loan into the only faithful choice, or produce a rule that every possession must be given away. The Mishnah interprets a verse; Rivkah then considers how to use a resource wisely in her actual circumstances.
Bring a new source into the conversation
Berakhot 9:4 discusses prayers when entering and leaving a city. The first teaching gives two prayers; Ben Azzai gives four, two on entering and two on leaving. The mishnah concludes:
ונותן הודיה לשעבר וזועק לעתיד לבוא.
He gives thanks for what has passed and cries out concerning what lies ahead.
English rendering by Messianic Yeshiva
Before opening the answer, test this claim: “If we give thanks through every circumstance, we should never ask Hashem for help.” Identify the two actions in the new source. Then explain how this source can be read alongside the teaching on gratitude in 9:5.
6. Compare your answer from the new source
The two actions are giving thanks for what has passed and crying out concerning what lies ahead. The Mishnah holds them together. Its teaching on gratitude does not make requests for help unfaithful.
Chapter 9:5 teaches blessing through good and adversity; 9:4 places thanksgiving and petition within prayer as a person enters and leaves a city. We can therefore give thanks and still bring our need before Hashem. This comparison concerns their relationship, not a decision about the number of prayers in a modern travel situation.
Keep three kinds of statement clear
Classify each sentence before opening the answer: Torah wording, rabbinic interpretation, or an application made in this lesson.
- “With all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might.”
- “With all your wealth.”
- “Lending a useful study book can put a possession in the service of learning.”
7. Check your attributions and explain why they matter
The first is wording from the Torah verse, given here in English. The second is the Mishnah's interpretation of “with all your might.” The third is our application to Rivkah's example.
Keeping them distinct strengthens the connection: we can explain where the application comes from and how far its evidence goes. We do not need to pretend the Torah mentions a book loan or the Mishnah supplies Rivkah's exact circumstances.
Return without the source cards
Later, name the three parts of the Torah's command. Match each with the Mishnah's reading, giving both readings of the last phrase. Then explain why gratitude and a request for help can belong together.
9. Check your recall
Heart: both inclinations. Soul: even one's life. Might: wealth; another reading, abundant thanks through every measure Hashem gives. The repeated “all” gathers these into wholehearted love.
Berakhot 9:4 puts thanksgiving for the past together with crying out concerning the future. Chapter 9:5's call to gratitude therefore need not be turned into silence about our needs. The Torah phrase, the Mishnah's explanations and our own applications each remain identifiable.
Return to the sources
- Deuteronomy 6:4–6: the declaration, love with heart/soul/might, and words upon the heart.
- Mishnah Berakhot, chapter 9: different blessings in 9:2; thanksgiving and petition in 9:4; wholehearted love in 9:5.