The following is a real excerpt from an Old Hungarian newspaper called the ‘Pesti Hirlap’ which had printed a letter that a non-Jewish Hungarian soldier had written from the trenches to his wife on 20th July 1916 during the middle of World War One:
“If you would be so kind to find our Jewish neighbour, so that he can unravel the mystery of the words ‘Shema Yisroel’. For during the time that the bombs are falling and destroying everything around us here in the trench, while men are falling like the wheat being harvested, the Jewish soldiers cry ‘Shema Yisroel’ and they are miraculously saved from sure death, while their non Jewish companions are killed. As soon as you have resolved the mystery of these words from our Jewish neighbour please let me know, so that when death looms over my head I can save my skin”
These amazing words can be sourced to something in this week’s Parashah. In the pre-war speech that the Priest makes to the Jewish soldiers we read, “And he shall say to them, ‘Shema Yisroel – Hear, O Israel, today you are coming near to the battle against your enemies; let your heart not be faint; do not be afraid…. For Hashem, your G-d, is the One Who goes with you, to fight for you with your enemies, to save you.”
The Talmud explains that the redundant phrase “Shema Yisroel” is written as an allusion to the Shema, which begins with these very words, “to teach us that even if there is no merit in you but the recitation of Shema alone, you are worthy that He should save you”.
The Talmud continues to tell us that before the epic battle between King David and Goliath, Goliath would approach the camp of the Jewish people every morning and evening (See Samuel 1 17:17). He taunted the Jewish people at these times because this was when the Jewish people recite the Shema. The Shema protects us from our enemies and he wanted to deny us this merit.
R’ Shlomo Carlebach [1925-1994] tells over the following chilling story. During the Yom Kippur War he gave a concert to lift the spirits of the Israeli soldiers. After the concert finishes and the soldiers dissipate, some officers remain behind. One officer says that he wants to share his story:
“I was brought up on an extremely non religious kibbutz. It wasn’t that we didn’t believe in G-d, G-d just didn’t exist. We were taught that religious people are living a lie and Israel wasn’t any more holy than Tokyo or Moscow. When the war started I ended up fighting next to a religious soldier. Before every encounter with the enemy; before everything he did he cried, “Shema Yisroel”. This absolutely grated on my nerves, why did I need to be subjected to hearing his religious beliefs? I told him how I felt about it to which he simply replied “You fight your way, I fight my way”.
[The officer begins to tremble and cry as he continued]. Thursday morning the shelling started and suddenly I realise that my comrade hadn’t screamed his usual cry of “Shema Yisroel”. I looked around and I saw him severely injured, on the brink of death. I bent down to him and asked him if there was anything I could do for him. With his last words he says “Please, say “Shema Yisroel” in place of me”.
At that moment it suddenly dawned on me not just that I had to believe in G-d, but that I had seen the hand of G-d”
The statement of Shema Yisroel could quite possibly be termed the mission statement of the Jewish People. It’s one of the first sentences Jewish children learn and many Jews have died with Shema on their lips. There are many deep ideas that revolve around this mission statement. But a more basic approach to this special statement beautifully explains how just the merit of the Shema saves Jewish soldiers.
The most basic premise of the Shema is that through it we accept upon ourselves the yoke of heaven – i.e. Hashem is the boss. This most basic thought, that there is a Creator is what lies at the heart of every Jew.
“Shema Yisroel” therefore represents the first building block in being Jewish; from here we began the building that is Judaism. Once we recognize a G-d we are on the path. When we fail religiously, we always have this first building block to restart from. .
As we approach the High Holidays this is a tremendous comfort for us, we need to remind ourselves that no matter how many times we try to restart our spiritual engines, no matter how many times we have kick started our year with new resolutions, the message that a Jew carries with the cry of Shema Yisroel is that strength of always having that first building block with which to start again from.
This is why just the merit of the Shema Yisroel can save the Jewish soldiers. The cry of Shema is one that reaffirms his basic knowledge that there is a Master of the world. The reaffirmation of this seminal building block is such a tremendous merit for a person. As long as the Jew can say Shema Yisroel there is hope for renewal.
Good Shabbos, Yaakov