The Shema
The First Passage of the Shema Deuteronomy 6:4-9:
In the recitation of Deuteronomy 6:4, special emphasis is given to the first line of the Shema , ""Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One" (Shema Yisrael, Adonai eloheinu, Adonai echad). Many Jews of today pause after these words and insert this line into the Shema before continuing: "Blessed be the Name of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever."
After the pause, the remainder of Deuteronomy 6:4-9 is then recited.
The Full Shema is as follows:
4 ""Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One" (Shema Yisrael, Adonai eloheinu, Adonai echad).
"Blessed be the Name of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever." (Inserted)
5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
9 And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.
The Second part of the Shema comes from Deuteronomy 11:13-21
13 And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,
14 That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.
15 And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full.
16 Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;
17 And then the LORD'S wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD giveth you.
18 Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.
19 And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
20 And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates:
21 That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.
The Third Passage of the Shema called comes from Numbers 15:37- 41
37 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
38 Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue:
39 And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring:
40 That ye may remember, and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God.
41 I am the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the LORD your God.

See the Transliterations in Hebrew



Transliterations may be found at Hebrew for Christians
Copyright © John J. Parsons All rights reserved.
http://www.hebrew4christians.com

Background image from Wikipedia: Torah
The Redeemer: Andrea Sarto: edited by jessika




*"The Babylonian captivity
, or Babylonian exile, is the name typically given to the deportation and exile of the Jews of the ancient Kingdom of Judah to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar during the 6th Century BCE....
The Kingdom of Judah (c.930 BC–586 BC), often known as the "Southern Kingdom," was one of the successor states to the "United Monarchy" [of King David]. The tribe of Judah elevated King David to rule over them, and the Davidic line survived for almost 350 years, until the Kingdom fell in 586 BCE to the Babylonian Empire under Nebuzar-adan, captain of Nebuchadnezzar's body-guard. This event coincided with the destruction of the First Temple of Jerusalem.... several deportations of Judaean nobility and leading citizens occurred.
After the overthrow of Babylonia by the Persian Empire, in 537 BCE the Persian ruler Cyrus the Great gave the Jews permission to return to their native land, and more than 40,000 returned...
The Babylonian Captivity had a number of serious effects on Judaism and the Jewish culture, including changes to the Hebrew alphabet and changes in the fundamental practices and customs of the Jewish religion.
This period saw the last high-point of Biblical prophecy in the person of Ezekiel, followed by the emergence of the central role of the Torah in Jewish life. This process coincided with the emergence of scribes and sages as Jewish leaders (see Ezra and the Pharisees).
Prior to exile, the people of Israel had been organized according to tribe; afterwards, they were organized by clans, with only the tribe of Levi continuing in its special role. After the Babylonian captivity, there were always sizable numbers of Jews living outside Eretz Israel, thus marking one starting point of the 'Jewish diaspora.'..."
From Wikipedia, February 19,2008
The Babylonian Captivity


"Originally, Jewish scholarship was oral. Rabbis expounded and debated the law (that is, the Hebrew Bible) and discussed the Tanakh without the benefit of written works (other than the Biblical books themselves), though some may have made private notes (megillot setarim), for example of court decisions. This situation changed drastically, however, mainly as the result of the destruction of the Jewish commonwealth in the year 70 C.E. and the consequent upheaval of Jewish social and legal norms. [note: after the death of Jesus...]
As the Rabbis were required to face a new reality — mainly Judaism without a Temple (to serve as the center of teaching and study) and Judea without autonomy — there was a flurry of legal discourse and the old system of oral scholarship could not be maintained.
It is during this period that Rabbinic discourse began to be recorded in writing.... The earliest recorded Oral Law may have been of the midrashic form, in which halakhic discussion is structured as exegetical commentary on the Pentateuch. But an alternative form, organized by subject matter instead of by biblical verse, became dominant about the year 200 C.E., when Rabbi Judah HaNasi redacted the Mishnah.
The Oral Law was far from monolithic, but varied among various schools. The most famous two were the School of Shammai and the School of Hillel. In general, all opinions, even the non-normative ones, were recorded in the Talmud."
From Wikipedia, February 19,2008
Talmud


There are two Tulmuds.
"The Jerusalem Talmud originated in Tiberias in the School of Johanan ben Nappaha. It is a compilation of teachings of the schools of Tiberias, Sepphoris and Caesarea. It is written largely in a western Aramaic dialect that differs from its Babylonian counterpart.
Since the Exile to Babylonia in 586 BCE, there had been Jewish communities living in Babylonia as well as in Judea, as many of the captives never returned home. From then till the Talmudic period the Babylonian Jewish population increased through natural growth as well as migration. The most important of the Jewish centers were Nehardea, Nisibis, Mahoza, Pumbeditha and Sura. It was no longer necessary for scholars to travel regularly to Israel to gather authentic traditions.
Talmud Bavli (the "Babylonian Talmud") comprises the Mishnah and the Babylonian Gemara, the latter representing the culmination of more than 300 years of analysis of the Mishnah in the Babylonian Academies."
From Wikipedia, February 19,2008
Talmud


*The Talmud has two components: the Mishnah (c. 200 CE), the first written compendium of Judaism's Oral Law; and the Gemara (c. 500 CE), a discussion of the Mishnah and related Tannaitic writings that often ventures onto other subjects and expounds broadly on the Tanakh.
For more info about the Talmud go to:

The Talmud and its Shape

Read it at:
Sacred Texts.com