Shema: Spirituality & Law in Judaism

The Shema has been a central prayer in Jewish ritual and the foci of Jewish faith. For centuries, Jews have uttered these sentences that affirmed the Israelite God's unity as their final words before death, always beginning and ending each day with this prayer.

Using the Shema as his focus, Norman Lamm, a revered Orthodox scholar and long-time president of Yeshiva University, explores the relationship between spirituality and law in Judaism. Lamm goes line by line through the Shema, pointing out how various commentators and Jewish philosophy have addressed each line over the centuries.