Posted on August 30, 2026 in Big Ideas from the Torah
The deepest spiritual crisis of our time is not that we have stopped believing. It is that we have stopped listening. To God, to each other, to ourselves. And what is remarkable is that the Torah saw this coming three thousand years ago, and gave us a single word as the antidote.
SHEMA
The word is shema. We translate it as “hear.” But Rabbi Jonathan Sacks z”l points out that this translation barely scratches the surface. Shema means so many things: to hear, to listen, to pay attention, to understand, to internalise, to respond.
No single English word holds all of that. And that gap matters enormously, because this one word appears ninety-two times in Deuteronomy. Moses, in the last month of his life, is not repeating himself by accident.
Here is what makes the Torah radical. Every ancient legal code in the world was built on the language of command and compliance. Rulers issued decrees. Subjects obeyed. No explanations were offered, no understanding was expected, no questions were entertained. The entire architecture of power in the ancient world rested on obedience as the supreme civic and religious virtue.
LISTENING NOT OBEDIENCE
And then there is the Torah.
Although it contains 613 commands, it does not contain a word that means “to obey.” When such a word was needed in modern Hebrew, the verb le-tzayet was borrowed from Aramaic. Imagine that!
A religion whose entire framework is built on commandments deliberately chose not to use the language of obedience. Instead it chose shema. Listen. Understand. Internalize. Engage. This is not a minor linguistic quirk. It is a breathtaking theological statement about the relationship God wants with us. Not subjects. Not soldiers. Partners who are expected to think, to question, to understand why.
The entire book of Deuteronomy is Moses’ sustained attempt to help a people understand not just what God asks of them, but why. The reasons behind the laws. The values beneath the commandments. This was unprecedented in the ancient world, and it remains countercultural today.
The Torah did not ask us to comply. It asked us to listen. Deeply, actively, courageously. That was radical three thousand years ago. It is just as radical now.
Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Amy
About Rabbi Rader
Rabbi Amy Rader is the Founder and Executive Director of the Neshamah Institute in Boca Raton, a vibrant Jewish community offering meaningful Jewish education for kids, Bar and Bat Mitzvah preparation, High Holiday services, and inspiring Jewish events. Ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary, Rabbi Rader brings over 25 years of experience helping families connect deeply with Judaism in modern, authentic ways.