The Shabbat after Tisha B'Av is called Shabbat Nachamu, the Shabbat of comfort. In most siddurim, the Thirteen Principles of Faith are printed after the morning prayers. The second principle is to believe in the oneness of G'd. The meaning of "Shema" is not just to listen but to accept that G'd is one. When we say the verse "Shema Israel", we accept and acknowledge that G'd is the King of the Universe, Who is in control of any power in the world. The Four letter name of G'd is so holy that we may not pronounce the way it is written. The name "ELOKEINU" refers to G'd as the Almighty Who causes everything to happen, and is in control of any power in the world. Every morning and evening, when we say Shema, we accept G'd as our King and Master. Our sages explain that G'd's different names represent different ways that G'd deals with the world. G'd says, "I am the One Who took you out of Egypt. I am the One Who split the sea. And I am the same One Who is here at Mount Sinai." When we say Shema, we also acknowledge that the strict Judge and merciful Father is One. Even when there appears to be unnecessary suffering, we must constantly remember that the strict Judge is also the very same one as our merciful Father. G'd has kept His promise that even in exile He will not forsake us and will constantly keep a watchful eye over us. The meaning of G'd being Almighty and All-powerful is that no one in the world can do anything to anyone without G'd's permission. The time will yet come when G'd will send His Moshiach and all the nations of the world will all accept upon themselves the Kingdom of G'd. just like all of our difficulties have been foretold in the Torah and by the prophets, the same Torah and the same prophets have promised us, in the name of G'd, that the time will come when all nations will live together in peace and harmony.

Shabbat Nachamu

The Shabbat after Tisha B'Av is called Shabbat Nachamu, the Shabbat of comfort. But where do we find comfort? The inhabitants of Sderot live in constant fear of being attacked and basically the whole world is engaged in a daily battle against the Moslem terrorist organizations that seem to lead nowhere.

Thirteen Principles

In most siddurim, the Thirteen Principles of Faith are printed after the morning prayers. Many people recite them every day after their prayers in an effort to strengthen their belief in G'd and His Torah. They are based on the Rambam's commentary to the Mishnah (Sanhedrin 10:1).

One and only

The second principle is to believe in the oneness of G'd. This "oneness" is different than any other type of oneness. It is not the oneness of "one of a kind." Rather, G'd is unique as there is no one else at all like G'd. He is truly the One and only.

Commandment to accept

In the Book of Mitzvot (commandments), the Rambam goes through each of the 613 mitzvot. In the second mitzvah, the Rambam explains that we are obligated to believe in the oneness of G'd. This means that G'd, Who created everything and is the ultimate cause of whatever happens, is One. This is what it says in this week's Torah portion, "Hear Israel, HASHEM ELOKEINU, HASHEM is one" (Devarim 6:4). The Chinuch (paragraph 417) elaborates on this and explains that the meaning of "Shema" is not just to listen but to accept. This verse is not to be understood as a piece of information that G'd is one. Rather, it is a command to accept that G'd is one.

Accept Heavenly Kingdom

The Rambam further explains that this obligation is also referred to by our sages as accepting the Heavenly Kingdom. When we say the verse "Shema Israel", we accept and acknowledge that G'd is the King of the Universe, Who is in control of any power in the world.

Four letter name

The Four letter name of G'd is used twice in the first verse of Shema. This name we refer to as HASHEM. The Shulchan Aruch (Or Hachaim Chapter 5) explains that in its written form this name of G'd refers to the fact that G'd always existed, He exists now and He will continue to exist forever. This name is so holy that we may not pronounce the way it is written. The way we pronounce it refers to G'd being the Master of Everything.

The Almighty

The other name of G'd that appears in the verse of Shema is "ELOKEINU". This name refers to G'd as the Almighty Who causes everything to happen, and is in control of any power in the world.

Two names

Every morning and evening, when we say Shema, we accept G'd as our King and Master. These are also the words that every Jewish person throughout the generations has uttered before leaving this world. However, it seems strange that we refer to G'd with different names? As we define G'd as being the Ultimate One, would it not be more understandable if G'd had just one name?

Mercy and judgment

Our sages explain that G'd's different names represent different ways that G'd deals with the world. The name HASHEM refers to when G'd deals with creation with mercy. On the other hand, ELOKIM refers to when G'd deals with creation in strict judgment.

Mighty warrior and old sage

In this week's portion, we also read the Ten Commandments. G'd, so to say, introduces Himself in the first commandment and says "I am HASHEM your G'd who has taken you out of the land of Egypt" (Devarim 5:6; Shemos 20:2). Rashi quotes from our sages that at the splitting of the sea, when G'd concluded taking the Jewish people out of Egypt, He appeared as a mighty warrior, dispensing justice. However, at the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, He appeared as an old sage, full of mercy like a father. That could, G'd forbid, lead one to think that there is more than one power: (1) the punishing power of the warrior and (2) the merciful power of the father. Therefore, G'd says, "I am the One Who took you out of Egypt. I am the One Who split the sea. And I am the same One Who is here at Mount Sinai."

Deeper understanding

We now have a deeper understanding of what we accept upon ourselves when we say the Shema. First of all, we accept that G'd always existed and will continue to exist forever. We further accept that G'd is the Almighty Who controls everything in the world and that nothing can happen unless G'd causes it. Sometimes, G'd conducts Himself with the strictness as a mighty warrior; and sometimes with mercy as an elderly father. When we say Shema, we also acknowledge that the strict Judge and merciful Father is One. We cannot understand G'd's ways, especially when he conducts himself as a strict judge. Only with a strong belief that this is from the very same merciful Father who constantly watches over us and protects us, from the hideous plans of our enemies, are we able to accept that G'd's total master plan is just and merciful at the same time.

Six constant mitzvot

In his introduction, the Chinuch explains that there are six commandments that we are obligated to fulfill constantly. One of them is to believe in the oneness of G'd. We may understand this to mean that whatever happens, even when there appears to be unnecessary suffering, we must constantly remember that the strict Judge is also the very same one as our merciful Father.

Watchful eye

We just concluded the period of the three weeks of mourning of the destruction of the Temple and all the calamities that have befallen the Jewish nation throughout our long and bitter exile. However, as we mentioned last week, at the same time we can only marvel at the fact that the Jewish people continue to survive despite our enemies' constant efforts to wipe us out. G'd has kept His promise that even in exile He will not forsake us, and will constantly keep a watchful eye over us. As it says in this week's portion, (Devarim 4:31) "For HASHEM ELOKECHA is a merciful G'd. He will not abandon you nor destroy you. And He will not forget the covenant of your forefathers that He swore to them." Here again, we see the combination of HASHEM referring to G'd's conduct of mercy and ELOKECHA referring to G'd's strict judgment.

Everything requires G'd's permission

The Chovas Halevovos, (Duties of the Heart, Gate of Trust, chapter3) explains the meaning of G'd being Almighty and All-powerful. This means that no one in the world can do anything to anyone without G'd's permission. In general, a person cannot help or damage himself or another unless G'd allows this to happen. If a person could do something on his own, this would mean that the person had some power to act without G'd's permission. On the other hand, G'd has established the world in a way that gives a person free choice to choose the path on which he wishes to go. The Talmud (Makkos 10b) mentions the classic example of Bilaam who wanted to go and curse the Jews. He wanted to go so G'd let him go, but there we see the limitations as well. When it came to the actual curse, G'd did not allow Bilaam's free choice to do harm to the Jewish people. However, only G'd Himself knows when and why He allows one person to hurt himself and others. This is basically beyond our comprehension.

The Moshiach

At the end of the Yom Kippur Neilah prayer we pronounce "HASHEM is the ELOKIM" seven times. Again, both names are used as an expression of the oneness of the merciful Father and the strict Judge. But in the Shema we say "HASHEM is our G'd". Rashi (Devarim 6:4) explains that in this verse we are expressing an added dimension. HASHEM is our G'd. Only the Jewish nation accepts G'd and His commandments that were given to us at Mount Sinai. The other nations of the world have not accepted to live by the seven Noachide commandments and are thus lacking in their acceptance of G'd. But one day HASHEM will be One for everyone. As the prophet Zechariah (14:9) says, there will come a day when HASHEM will turn around the nations and in a clear voice they will all call out in the name of G'd. As we quote at the end of every prayer service, "on that day, HASHEM will be one and His name will be one." This is also proof of what we express when we say Shema. The time will yet come when G'd will send His Moshiach and all the nations of the world will all accept upon themselves the Kingdom of G'd.

Comfort

This is our comfort. It is true that we live in a dangerous time, and that our enemies will take any opportunity to attack us wherever they can. But on the other hand, we must remember to appreciate the fact that we still exist as a nation. In addition to this we must keep in mind that just like all of our difficulties have been foretold in the Torah and by the prophets, the same Torah and the same prophets have promised us, in the name of G'd, that the time will come when all nations will live together in peace and harmony. And on that day they will all accept upon themselves that the one and only true power in the world is the G'd of the Jewish people.