Early Rabbinic Blessings Surrounding the Shema‘

The twice-daily recitation of the Shema‘—the three biblical paragraphs Deuteronomy 6:4–9, 11:13–21, and Numbers 15:37–41—is one of the oldest rabbinic rituals. (A daily recitation of at least the first paragraph may predate the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE.) The practice is based on a literal reading of the passages, which enjoin daily meditation on “these words” morning and evening. The rabbis characteristically enclosed the recitation of the three passages in blessings that drew out the themes and the significance of their recitation. The legal texts here elaborate on this and lay out the structure and some of the content of the blessings. Geniza manuscripts supply early textual versions of these blessings as they were recited in the land of Israel.