Parshas Vayechi

Bereshis, the first of the five books of the Torah, closes with the turning of the last pages in the life of Yaakov, the last of our righteous forefathers. Yaakov Avinu gathers his 12 sons for a final meeting before he fully puts the future of the Jewish nation in their hands. He attempts to begin this meeting with prophetic descriptions of the times before the coming of Moshiach and the “end of days” but is horrified to learn that Hashem prevents him from remembering these prophecies. Yaakov questions his sons, wondering if it was a lack of righteousness somewhere among them that caused this forgetting. The Medrash Rabbah elaborates on the words of the texts and says the brothers responded with the Jewish calling card of the Shema: “Shema Yisrael, Ad-nai Elo-einu, Ad-nai Echad” (Hear, Israel, Hashem is our G-d. Hashem is One.), our nation’s calling.

The Shema, like every word in the Torah, demands deeper examination. Why this particular declaration? The “Hashem is our G-d” part makes sense as a sign of allegiance. But why emphasize “oneness”? What made this the perfect answer to Yaakov’s fears?

The answer starts by noting a fundamental idea: when we use terms to describe Hashem we are not trying to define an indescribable Divine being. Rather we are given words by Hashem to highlight a ‘way Hashem interacts with the world’ for us to learn from. Here, that mode is in the words themselves. Two Divine names appear in the Shema: Ad-nai (referring to the attribute of mercy) and Elokim (in the form Elo-einu, “our G-d,” referring to the attribute of strict justice). When we reread the Shema, an answer becomes clear: Hear, Israel, the G-d who runs the world with the attribute of mercy and the G-d who runs the world with the attribute of strict justice are really the same G-d of mercy.

And this remains our calling card. Even in the darkest of times, when we are brought “like sheep to the slaughter” (Psalm 44:22) and we cannot reconcile the terrible sights before us with the Hashem of mercy, we must proclaim that we have faith that they are but One Hashem of mercy.

May we merit the day when the redemption will dissipate our questions and show the whole world this Divine Unity, and “On that day the Hashem (Ad-nai) shall be One and His name One” (Zechariah 14:9).