Law as Story and Prayer in Leviticus Rabbah

Leviticus Rabbah 27:6

5th–7th Century

R. Isaac said: This is analogous to a king who sent a royal edict to a province. What did the residents of the province do? They stood on their feet, bared their heads, and read it with reverence, awe, quaking, and trembling. So, the Holy One said to Israel: Regarding this royal edict of Mine, I did not impose upon you and I did not say to you that you should recite Shema‘ while standing on your feet or baring your heads, but rather: While you are sitting in your house, and while you are walking on the way, and while you are lying down, and while you are rising (Deuteronomy 6:7).

Translated by Joshua Schreier.

Credits

Leviticus Rabbah 27:6, from The Sefaria Midrash Rabbah, 2022, trans. Joshua Schreier, ed. Michael Siev and Yaacov Francus, https://www.sefaria.org. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) License.

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About Law as Story and Prayer in Leviticus Rabbah

Midrashic texts such as this one offer a narrative perspective on a legal question. While other rabbinic texts enumerate various legal requirements for the performance of the commandment to recite the Shema‘, Leviticus Rabbah 27:6 analogizes the recitation of the Shema‘ to a king’s edict to stress that God does not require the rigid, formal postures of an earthly king. The Shema‘ can be said sitting, walking, lying down, or rising up. In this midrashic text, a legal question is dramatized and answered, and prayer is embedded in daily life. This midrash is one example of how the ancient rabbis explored legal questions in narrative, employing non-legal rhetoric to address practical questions of all kinds.

Discussion Questions

What do we learn from the rabbis’ use of a parable of a king to teach about the Shema‘?
What is interesting about the tone of this midrash with respect to its ultimately being a kind of legal (halakhic) statement?
What rhetorical purpose is served by the comparison between God and an earthly king?

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Law as Story and Prayer in Leviticus Rabbah

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