#shema

[koenji]

Iraqi Jewish heart-shaped Amulet bearing the star of David, flower and star ornaments, inscribed with Sh-ddai שַׁדַּי, one of the names of G-d in Judaism and on the backside the Shema or Shema Yisrael (שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל "Hear, O Israel"), one of the most central and foundational prayers of Judaism dating to the first millennium B.C.E.. Used to ward off evil spirits (שדים shedim), negative energies, or the "evil eye" (עין הרע ʿayin haraʿ) while honoring the belief that true protection comes from G-d. Iraq, 1910. (png)

[magnetothemagnificent]

So when I first watched that scene in season 1 of The Pitt, that scene where Dr. Rabinovich has a panic attack and says the Shema, I thought it was nice in terms of representation, but it didn't really resonate as much with me because I grew up Orthodox, and for us, we would say Chapter 20, or even a different chapter, of Tehillim in that kind of situation. Shema would be recited by someone who is about to die or is afraid that they will. So it wasn't as relatable as it might have been.

But then I got my mom to watch The Pitt the other week. And she got to that scene. And she told me that at first she felt the same way, that Shema wouldn't be the "right" thing to recite. But then she remembered that when she heard that I had been in a really bad car accident, and was running down the road to where the ambulance was, all her brain could do was recite the Shema. Even if it's not technically the "right" thing for the situation. And idk I think that says a lot about the Shema and how embedded it is in the Jewish psyche.

[my-jewish-life]

"Judaism is not a religion of blind obedience

[thejewitches]

Jewish tradition teaches of numerous prayers recited before we sleep, for sleep is 1/60th of death. This guided booklet contains the traditional prayers often said at bedtime in English, Hebrew, and transliterated English for guided pronunciation.

Jewitches Guide to Bedtime Prayers | Digital Booklet

Jewish tradition teaches of numerous prayers recited before we sleep, for sleep is 1/60th of death. This guided booklet contains the traditi

[djkerr]

Noah Wyle on Connecting with His Own Roots and Bringing Dr. Robby to Life on ‘The Pitt’ | Interview with @AwardsBuzz on Youtube

Here's a clip where Noah Wyle shares the origin of Dr. Robby's name, incorporating the Shema into an episode, what's to come for season 2, and what is Noah watching these days.

[full interview]

[girlactionfigure]

Why do Jews wrap black leather straps around their arms and heads every morning?

It’s not just ritual—it’s spiritual alignment.

Tefillin is one of the most powerful and ancient mitzvot in Judaism. It binds heart, mind, and action to something greater—every single day.

Inside those small black boxes? Torah verses about unity, love, and redemption.

On the outside? A symbol of resilience, memory, and faith that has survived generations.

This isn’t just leather and parchment. It’s legacy.

It’s presence.

It’s a daily reminder: you are part of something eternal.

[tekhelet]

“The History of the Bene-Israel of India,” depicting a group of shipwrecked Jews (the progenitors of the Bene Israel) reciting the Shema. 1897. (Published in 1937 in Tel Aviv).

[dragoneyes613]

The Sh'ma contains the one verse of Scripture that probably every Jew in the world knows by heart, or has at least heard often, Deuteronomy 6:4:

Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.

The observant Jew says it in the morning and at nightfall every day of his life, with three related passages from the Torah. It is the first Hebrew sentence a child learns, and it is the utterance with which every Jew is supposed to breathe his last. On this point I will obtrude a short personal anecdote. I used to wonder whether, in the last extremity, a man could really call to mind and recite the Creed. Then once during a typhoon in the Pacific I was almost blown off the deck of a ship, and I remember quite clearly thinking, as I went sliding toward my fate, "Well, if I drown, let me say the Sh'ma as I go." Luckily for me the lifeline I grabbed happened to hold; and so I postponed the utterance, and the world has a few plays and novels it could well have wagged along without, and the patient reader is enduring the present harangue. I believe there are one or two literary critics who may wish I had gotten to say that watery Sh'ma, but I cannot help that, a man hangs on if he can.

- This Is My God, Herman Wouk, pages 99-100