Observant Jews consider the Shema to be the most important part of the prayer service in Judaism, and its twice-daily recitation as a mitzvah (religious commandment).

The literal word meanings are roughly as follows:[citation needed] This first verse of the Shema relates to the kingship of God.

It was originally a liturgical response in use in the Temple when the name of God was pronounced and took the form of Baruch shem k’vod l’olam, "Blessed be his glorious name forever" (Psalm 72:19).

Then verse 7 goes on to remind the community to remember all the commandments and to "teach them diligently to your children and speak of them when you sit down and when you walk, when you lie down and when you rise",[6] to recite the words of God when retiring or rising; to bind those words "on thy arm and thy head" (classically Jewish oral tradition interprets as tefillin), and to "inscribe them on the door-posts of your house and on your gates" (referring to mezuzah).

[8] For the prophets and rabbis, the exodus from Egypt is paradigmatic of Jewish faith that God redeems from all forms of foreign domination.

Thus, in the first portion, there is a command to love God with all one's heart, soul, and might, and to remember and teach these very important words to the children throughout the day.

The second line quoted, "Blessed be the Name of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever", was originally a congregational response to the declaration of the Oneness of God; it is therefore often printed in small font and recited in an undertone, as recognition that it is not, itself, a part of the cited biblical verses.

[9] Conservative Judaism generally regards Jewish women as being obligated to recite the Shema at the same times as men.

According to the Talmud, the reading of the Shema morning and evening fulfills the commandment "You shall meditate therein day and night".

[11] The reciting of the first verse of the Shema is called "the acceptance of the yoke of the kingship of God" (kabalat ol malchut shamayim).

Overall, the three blessings in the morning and four in the evening which accompany the Shema sum to seven, in accordance with the verse in Psalms: "I praise You seven times each day for Your just rules.

[18] It says in the Talmud: "Even though one has recited the Shema prayer in the Synagogue, it is obligatory to recite it on his bed"[19] Additionally it says: "One that goes to sleep on his bed says 'Shema Yisrael' until 'Vehaya Im Shamoa' and then says the blessing of 'Hamapil'[20] In the Babylonian Talmud the custom of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi is brought[21] that he used to add Psalm 91 and Psalm 3 (omitting the first verse) which are help against the demons.

Although close variants are known from the geonic period,[23] a version of the prayer very similar to the one recited today appears in Machzor Vitry,[24] before finding its way into the Zohar[25] and modern prayerbooks.

[26] The exhortation by the Kohen in calling Israel to arms against an enemy (which does not apply when the Temple in Jerusalem is not standing) also includes Shema Yisrael.

[27] According to the Talmud, Rabbi Akiva patiently endured while his flesh was being torn with iron combs, and died reciting the Shema.

In 2006 Roi Klein, a major in the Israel Defense Forces, said the Shema before jumping on a live grenade and dying to save his fellow soldiers.

[34] In later Jewish scripture: In Second Temple literature: In the New Testament: In episode 9 of season 3 of the television series The Man in the High Castle, the character Frank Frink recites the Shema just before he is executed.

In the Northern Exposure episode "Kaddish for Uncle Manny", Joel Fleischman doubts the sincerity of a burly itinerant lumberjack who arrives in response to Maurice Minnifield's offer of free food and lodging to participate in a minyan; he asks the man to recite the Shema, which he does.

In the episode "The Body in Question", Joel Fleischman recites the first verse of the Shema while sick in bed after falling asleep in a freezer, where he had a dream he spoke with the prophet Elijah at his great-grandfather's Passover Seder in Poland.

In episode 4 of season 2 of the television series Shtisel (2015), Rebetzen Erblich asks her friend Bube Malka to recite the Shema with her as she is preparing to die.

In episode 6 of season 1 of the television series The Sandman, Death comes for an old Jewish man, Harry who recites the Shema before dying.

[44] In episode 10 of season 5 of the television series Snowfall, Avi Drexler sings the Shema after he has been shot in the stomach by a KGB officer, likely intended as his last words.

The second section of the Tanya brings the mystical panentheism of the founder of Hasidic Judaism, the Baal Shem Tov, into philosophical explanation.

The emphasis on Divine Omnipresence and immanence lies behind Hasidic joy and devekut, and its stress on transforming the material into spiritual worship.

In this internalisation of Kabbalistic ideas, the Hasidic follower seeks to reveal the Unity and hidden holiness in all activities of life.

Medieval, rationalist Jewish philosophers (exponents of Hakirah–rational "investigation" from first principles in support of Judaism), such as Maimonides, describe Biblical monotheism to mean that there is only one God, and his essence is a unique, simple, infinite Unity.

The new doctrine in Lurianic Kabbalah of God's tzimtzum ("withdrawal") received different interpretations after Isaac Luria, from the literal to the metaphorical.

Theologians Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch noted that "the heart is mentioned first (in Deuteronomy 6:5), as the seat of the emotions generally and of love in particular; then follows the soul (nephesh) as the centre of personality in man, to depict the love as pervading the entire self-consciousness; and to this is added, "with all the strength", i.e. of body and soul.

[50] Since 2012, when the Anglican Use version of the BCP, the Book of Divine Worship, was adapted for use in Canada, it has been recited by Roman Catholics as well.

It has been incorporated into Divine Worship: The Missal, transposed as the "Summary of the Law" in Mt 22:37-40 and is recited either by the Priest or the Deacon.