Tag: Act Justly Love Mercy Walk Humbly

Podcast Episode: Spirit and Truth: Returning to the Shema Above Human Tradition

Podcast Episode: Spirit and Truth: Returning to the Shema Above Human Tradition

Pip: There is a version of faith where the most important commandment gets replaced by a debate about which angle to hang a small wooden box. cj, writing for The Way of the Rabbi, would like a word.

Mara: This episode follows that thread — what happens when tradition crowds out the instruction underneath it, and what the Shema actually demands when you read it in Hebrew.

Pip: Let's start with the Shema itself, and what gets lost when tradition fills in the gaps.

Spirit and Truth: Returning to the Shema Above Human Tradition

Mara: The tension here is not between tradition and chaos — it is between tradition and the specific instruction that tradition claims to honor. The post asks what we are actually missing when human custom displaces the Word it was built around.

Pip: The Shema is the anchor. Deuteronomy 6:4 through 9, and the post quotes it in full: "Hear, O Israel: Yahweh our Elohim is One. You shall love Yahweh your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might," followed by the passage's own instruction on transmission — teach these words diligently, talk of them when you sit, when you walk, when you lie down, when you rise.

Mara: So the upshot is that the Shema is not just a creed to recite — it is a daily practice with embedded instructions for how to carry it forward. Replacing those verses with a liturgical addition, however reverent, cuts out the operating manual.

Pip: And the Hebrew words do a lot of work that English translations quietly lose. Heart here is levav — not emotion, but intellect, reasoning, and conscious choice. Soul is nefesh — not a disembodied spirit but a breathing, physical creature. Every action the body takes falls under it.

Mara: Then there is me'od, translated as might or strength, which is actually an adverb meaning very or exceedingly. The post explains that ancient interpreters rendered it as material wealth, possessions, and resources — loving Yahweh with your abundance, your assets, everything you own.

Pip: Which is why, when Yahoshua quotes the Shema in Mark and adds the word mind, it reads not as an alteration but as a translation decision — dianoia and ischys together covering what me'od and levav meant to a Hebrew audience that Greek could not capture in a single word.

Mara: The concern the post lands on is practical: when the instruction gets buried under tradition, people end up worn down and idle. The call is to recite the Shema daily — not as a burden but, as the post puts it, as a proclamation. Isaiah 35 is brought in as the horizon: a Way of Holiness where even fools do not go astray, because the path is that clear.

Pip: The mezuzah debate — horizontal, perpendicular, or slanted as a compromise — is offered as the reductio ad absurdum. Centuries of argument about the angle of a box, while the words inside it wait.

Mara: The closing call is Micah 6:8: act justly, love mercy, walk humbly. The Shema lived out is what that looks like in practice.

Pip: Which is exactly the kind of simplicity that tends to survive every tradition built on top of it.

Mara: The thread running through all of this is the gap between honoring a text and actually reading it — and what closes that gap.

Pip: Walk the Way. The words are already there.

Spirit and Truth: Returning to the Shema Above Human Tradition

Spirit and Truth: Returning to the Shema Above Human Tradition

What are we missing when we focus on mans tradition over the Word of God? i attend a Hebrew Roots congregation. i do so because i would rather have some fellowship than none. i agree with most of their teachings but what frustrates me is the same frustrations i had with the “Christian Church”. They focus a lot on mans tradition rather than the spirit of Worship. As Yahoshua declared, “There is coming a time when the true worshippers will worship in Spirit and in Truth.”

That is what i want. i want the spirit and the truth, not mans tradition and hypocrisy. Something that strikes me as odd is the Christian Churches disregard towards the Shema. In fact they are oblivious to it calling it the greatest commandment but not recognizing its instruction. However, the congregation i attend now is as guilty as they take rabbinic tradition in place of the actual Shema. They gut it and in so doing, miss the instruction.

For those who may not know the Shema is found in Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and it reads: “Hear, O Israel: Yahweh our Elohim is One. You shall love Yahweh your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” The rest of the passage which would have been instinctively remembered reads: “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” (vv6-9)

The Hebrew Roots congregation uses the Rabbinic tradition, the Mishnah and the Talmudic understandings. For instance in the Shema, they render it: “Hear, O Israel: Yahweh our Elohim is One. Blessed be His glorious majesty forever and ever. amen.” This is derived from human tradition, the Mishnah and the Talmud. For clarity the Talmud is like a Study Bible with Commentary only it draws its main text from the Mishnah. The Mishnah is the oral tradition written down and finalized around 100 A.D. The oral tradition is precisely what Yahoshua pointed out to the Pharisees that they were elevating the traditions of men over the Word of Yahweh.

i want the word. i want it over anything and everything else. Now can there be good traditions or understandings that come from the Word that are not necessary prescribed by the Word? Yes, i would agree that there are some. For instance the celebration of Hanukkah. It isn’t directed or instructed as a Feast of Yahweh. However, Yahoshua is recorded as being in Jerusalem during the Feast of Dedication. Which is what we call Hanukkah today. This is in direct relation to the Maccabean revolt which began around 167 B.C.

So my point isn’t that we cannot do or have traditions outside of those prescribed in Scripture. my point is that when we elevate those things above Scripture and so often that we forget what truth is, like the Shema. So relevant this passage from the Torah, Yahoshua declares it as the greatest commandment. In Marks recording of the encounter with the Scribes he quotes Yahoshua as saying: “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: Yahweh our Elohim, Yahweh is One. You shall love Yahweh your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.‘”

In the Torah, Deuteronomy 6:5 says: “Heart, Soul, and Might.” In Hebrew these words have deep meaning and should be explored. So we will. Because i think it’s important to understand the meanings in order to understand the significance of the passage. First and foremost the word Shema means to ‘Listen and Obey’ it is the first word that is poorly translated as ‘Hear’. It is “Shema, Israel . . .” ‘Listen and Obey, Israel . . .” It is powerful and it is meaningful and it should not be glossed over. For more on Shema you can read this post here titled: Shema. Here were are going to brake down these three words, heart, soul and might.

1. Heart: Levav (לֵבָב)

In modern English, the “heart” is the seat of emotions, romance, and feelings (as opposed to the “brain,” which controls logic). In ancient Hebrew thought, this division did not exist.

  • The Biblical Concept: To the ancient Israelites, the heart (levav) was the seat of the intellect, thoughts, choices, and the mind. There was no word for “brain” in biblical Hebrew.
  • The Deeper Meaning: Loving Yahweh with all your levav does not mean having an emotional feeling about Him. It means dedicating your intellect, reasoning skills, and conscious choices entirely to His instructions. It is a command of mental discipline and cognitive focus.

You shall love Yahweh with all your heart – with all your intellect, reasoning skills, and conscious choices, governed by His Instructions, His Commandments, His Torah.

2. Soul: Nefesh (נֶפֶשׁ)

In Western thought, influenced by Greek philosophy, the “soul” is often viewed as an invisible, disembodied spiritual spark that lives inside the physical body and leaves when you die.

  • The Biblical Concept: The literal meaning of nefesh is a “breathing creature,” “throat,” or “physical neck.” It refers to the entire living, breathing, biological entity. You do not have a soul; you are a soul.
  • The Deeper Meaning: Loving YHWH with all your nefesh means loving Him with your entire physical existence, your breath, and your appetite. It means that every physical action your body takes—eating, working, sleeping, and reproducing—is bound to Him. It also carries the ultimate meaning of putting your physical life on the line for Him if necessary.

You shall love Yahweh with all your soul – with every breath, every waking moment, when you lie down and when you rise up. Literally, dying to yourself and living for Elohim.

3. Might: Me’od (מְאֹד)

This is the most unique word in the entire passage. In almost all English Bibles, it is translated as a noun: “might” or “strength.”

  • The Biblical Concept: In Hebrew, me’od is actually an adverb that means “very” or “exceedingly.”It is used to turn up the volume on a word (e.g., tov me’od means “very good”). Deuteronomy 6:5 takes this adverb and forces it into the sentence as a noun.
  • The Deeper Meaning: Literally, you are commanded to love YHWH with your “muchness” or your “abundance.” Ancient Hebrew scholars (such as those who translated the Aramaic Targums) interpreted your me’od to mean your material wealth, possessions, property, and resources. It means loving YHWH to the absolute extreme, using every asset, dollar, and piece of influence you own to honor Him.

You shall love Yahweh with all your might – with all that you have, in abundance. Material wealth, possessions, property etc. But also with your family, your friends, your neighbors. Which Yahoshua flushes out when He continues His answer. Quoting Leviticus 19:18 “The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’“.

Remember Yahoshua in Marks telling of this encounter changes a couple words. He says, “Heart, Soul, Mind and Strength. Yahoshua, teaching in Aramaic to those adverse to speaking Greek was driving the point home of the original intent. People reading from a “Scripture alone” perspective often notice this and ask: Did Yahoshua alter or add a new word to Moses’s text?

The answer lies in how the ancient Hebrew language was translated into Greek:

  1. Splitting the Hebrew “Me’od” (Muchness): As we explored, the original Hebrew word for might is me’od (abundance/muchness). The Greek language had no single word that could capture the concept of loving God with your “exceeding muchness.” To accurately convey this Hebrew idea to a Greek-speaking world, the translation required two separate Greek concepts: dianoia (mind/intellect) and ischys (physical strength/power).
  2. Unpacking the Hebrew “Levav” (Heart): In ancient Hebrew, the “heart” (levav) already included the mind and thoughts. However, to a person thinking in Greek or modern English, “heart” only means emotion. By explicitly including the word “mind” (dianoia), the text prevents Greek readers from misunderstanding the Shema as a purely emotional sentiment, ensuring they know their logic and intellect must also be devoted to God.
  3. The Influence of the Septuagint: Centuries before Yahoshua was born, Jewish scribes translated the Torah into Greek (the Septuagint). In certain ancient copies of the Septuagint, translators had already begun using “mind” or “strength” interchangeably to try and translate me’od and levav. Yahoshua and the Gospel writers were drawing directly upon these understood linguistic equivalents.

Remember also that the Greek culture was heavily influenced by philosophy. For Yahoshua to draw this distinction highlights its importance. It also should highlight the significance of rendering the Shema intact and not altered in a way that removes the defining factor of Loving Yahweh.

James makes a similar attempt when he says, “Faith without works is dead.” He highlights faith and works for a reason that many in the Church miss today. You can read more on that here: Understanding Faith: Beyond Belief and Action

Here is my ultimate concern, when we begin to take liberty or worse take for granted the instruction of Yahweh, we miss the bigger picture. We end up under burden, worn down by confusion and idleness, we don’t know what to do so we do nothing. We need to say the Shema every single day, not as a burden but as a proclamation. This is what i believe and this is what i want my family, my friends, my neighbors, and even my enemies to believe.

Isaiah records this in the 35 chapter verses 8-10 speaking of the return the second exodus:

“And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the WAY of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it. It shall belong to those who walk on the Way; even if they are fools, they shall not go astray. No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it; they shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there. And the ransomed of Yahweh shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.“

Even if they are fools, they shall not go astray. This Way of Holiness is the Shema lived out. It is Loving Yahweh completely and our neighbor as ourselves by living out the instructions Yahweh laid out for us. Yahoshua demonstrated the richness of walking in obedience and He calls us to the same. And as Yahoshua instructed His disciples to go and make disciples teaching them all that He showed them. It is the Shema!

“And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

Give me the simplicity of the Word over mans tradition. i could go down another trail here and talk about the mezuzah and the tradition of it being slanted. How in the Mishnah and debated in the Talmud whether it was to be horizontal or perpendicular and in order to solve their disagreements they decided to slant it as a compromise. To this day many will debate over this tradition.

i don’t want any part of that. i want Messiah, i want to seek Yahweh with all my heart, soul, and might. i want to live out Micah 6:8 “He has shown you, O mortal man, what is good. And what does Yahweh require of you – To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

i challenge you to walk the Way, to Live the Shema!

You are loved, cj