Adapted from: The Power of Shema by Rabbi Meyer Yedid

One of the definitions of the word shema is “to gather.” How does that fit into Shema Yisrael? What kavanah am I supposed to have when I say Shema Yisrael with regards to gathering? What exactly am I gathering?

Before we answer that, let’s consider another question, an oddity that many of us may have never noticed, even though it pops up in pesukim throughout the Torah. Let’s take, for example, a pasuk from Parashat Kedoshim (Vayikra 19:9): וּבְקֻצְרְכֶם אֶת קְצִיר אַרְצְכֶם לֹא תְכַלֶּה פְּאַת שָׂדְךָ לִקְצֹר.

This pasuk is talking about the mitzvah of pe’ah, the obligation to leave an end of the field unharvested for the poor to eat. The first words, וּבְקֻצְרְכֶם אֶת קְצִיר אַרְצְכֶם, When you reap the harvest of your land, are in the plural. The כֶם of קֻצְרְכֶם and the כֶם of אַרְצְכֶם both signify the plural form. But, surprisingly, the next words — in the very same pasuk — are in the singular: לֹא תְכַלֶּה פְּאַת שָׂדְךָ לִקְצֹר, You shall not complete your reaping to the end of your field. Here, both the word תְכַלֶּה and the word שָׂדְךָ indicate the singular.

What’s going on here? And there are many other examples of the Torah switching back and forth between singular and plural when addressing the Jewish people. Which way should it be? 

The Tzeror HaMor (Vayikra 19:19) from R’ Avraham Saba offers a beautiful explanation. He says that even when there are millions of Jews, they are considered one person, one neshamah. There is a neshamah called Am Yisrael, and every single Jew is a part of that one big neshamah.

The Gemara (Shevuot 39a) teaches: Kol Yisrael Areivim Zeh Bazeh. Simply, that means that all Jews are responsible for one another, but the word Areivim is related to the root Areiv, to mix. Accordingly, the Tomer Devorah teaches that Kol Yisrael Areivim Zeh Bazeh means that all Jews are intermingled. Inside of every Jew is a sliver of every other Jew. We are all areivim, responsible for one another, because we are all me’uravim, mixed together. We are one! “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Vayikra 19:18), because he is literally a part of yourself.

We are all fully invested in the success of every Jew, similar to the partners of a corporation. If one salesperson closes a huge deal, then not only does he make money, but every partner makes money. If he causes a loss, then not only does he lose money, but all the partners lose money. So, Am Yisrael is like one company; when someone does something great and lifts up his neshamah, then all of us benefit spiritually from that. And if, Heaven forbid, it’s the other way around, all of us go down because of that.

And that’s why, the Tzeror HaMor says, the Torah always talks to us in two ways: It talks to us as individuals, because we have to be responsible for ourselves. But it also talks to us as one entity, because we have to know that we are not only responsible for ourselves, but we are also responsible for every other person in our nation, represented by every other part of our neshamah.

What does Shema have to do with gathering? What is the kavanah we are supposed to have? The answer is, when someone says Shema Yisrael, he turns to the rest of the Jewish nation and says, Let’s do this together. Let’s commit together. A piece of every one of you is in me and a piece of me is in every one of you. I feel for you as I feel for myself and I am responsible for you as I am responsible for myself.

You cannot turn to Hashem as a lone individual and expect to be successful. When a Jew says the Shema, it’s not enough that he is thinking about himself. You can’t just say, Shema, Hashem, me and You. You have to think about the rest of the Jewish nation, and you have to feel a togetherness with them, and you have to feel responsible for all of them. Shema Yisrael means “Together, Yisrael!” We, the Bnei Yisrael, declare together and commit together that we serve the One and Only G-d.