613 Mitzvot

Veshinantam levaneycha vedibarta bam beshivtecha beveytecha uvelechtecha vaderech uveshochbecha uvekumecha.
and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.

4. Shema Yisra'el YHVH Eloheynu Adonay Echad.
Hear, Yisra'el: YHVH is our Elohey; YHVH is one:
5. Ve'ahavta et-YHVH Eloheycha bechol-levavcha uvechol-nafshecha uvechol-me'odecha.
and you shall love YHVH your Elohey with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your resources.
6. Vehayu hadevarim ha'eleh asher anochi metsavecha hayom al-levavecha.
These words, which I command you this day, shall be on your heart;
7. Veshinantam levaneycha vedibarta bam beshivtecha beveytecha uvelechtecha vaderech uveshochbecha uvekumecha.
and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.

What is the phrase "These words" refer to? In the context, it could refer to the previous verses, which are the Shema. D'varim 6.7 says that we are to teach them when we lie down (evening) and when we rise (morning).

But does this mean that we only recite the words of the Shema? It means so much more. For the Torah says that these words shall be upon your heart. Not just on our lips, but in our hearts. They are meant to be lived! For it is written, "Let the word of Messiah dwell in you richly." (Kolosi/Colossians 3:16). They will impact your coming and going.

Shema means to hear... but it is more than listening. It also means to pay attention to, to yield to, and to obey. Hearing is doing, for it is said, "But he who looks into the perfect Torah of freedom, and continues, not being a hearer who forgets, but a doer of the work, this man will be blessed in what he does." (Ya'akov/James 1:25).

These words tell us to love YHVH. It tells us to love YHVH with all our heart. And how do we love YHVH? By obeying His commands.

1 Yochanan (John) 5:2-5 Here is how we know that we love Elohim's children: when we love Elohim, we also do what he commands. For loving Elohim means obeying his mitzvot (commandments). Moreover, his mitzvot are not burdensome, because everything which has Elohim as its Father overcomes Olam Hazeh (this world). And this is what victoriously overcomes Olam Hazeh (this world): our trust. Who does overcome the world if not the person who believes that Yeshua is the Son of Elohim?

First, we see that Yochanan says that loving Elohim means to obey His commands (mitzvot). Notice he says that His mitzvot (commandments) are burdensome. Why are they not burdensome? "For whatever is born of God overcomes the world." (1 Yochanan/John 5.4). It is the Olam Hazeh (This World) that holds us back from obeying His mitzvot. But we have overcome the Olam Hazeh. How is that we have overcome? By our trust! Our obedience comes from our trust in YHVH and His Messiah Yeshua.

There is a strong connection between: LOVE (ahavah) - FAITH (emunah) - HEARING AND DOING (Shema). We love those we trust, and we trust those whom we love. We listen to those whom we trust, and we listen to those whom we love. It is when we live by the world (sinful wordly standards) that makes obedience difficult. But our trust in Yeshua overcomes this. We trust Yeshua and we love Him and listen to Him.

John 14:21
Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me, and the one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.

John 15:10
If you keep my commands, you will stay in my love-just as I have kept my Father's commands and stay in his love.

Yeshua told us to keep His commands (mitzvot). We also see here that Yeshua kept the mitzvot of the Father... So to obey Yeshua is to obey the Father's mitzvot.

Therefore, the Shema is much more than a prayer... It is a lifestyle! So why do we recite the Shema. Why do we do it? To remind us that He is One... and He is The One... that He is our life and to follow Him.

Now concerning the times of prayer, the Tosefta says: 'Just as the Torah has ordained an appointed time for the reading of the Shema', even so have the Sages appointed a time for Prayer'; that is to say, the times of Prayer are not ordained by the Torah, but the duty of Prayer itself is imposed by the Torah, as we have explained and the Sages [only] appointed the times of Prayer (Berachot., Tosefta, 3:1). "'[They] appointed Prayers to correspond with the daily Burnt-offerings'; that is to say, they fixed the times of Prayer to correspond with the times at which [the daily Burnt-offerings] were brought." (Berachot 26b).

The traditions also say that even the letters of SHEMA hints toward this... The First letter SHIN is said to stand for Shacharit - the morning prayers. The second letter MEM is said to stand for Minchah - the afternoon prayers. The third letter AYIN (ayin) could stand for Arvit (Ma'ariv) - the evening. However, Maimonides wrote that “there is no number of prayers from the law, and there is no repetition of this or that prayer from the law, and there is no "fixed time" for prayer from the law.” (Hilch. Tefillah, c. 1. sect. 1. Ib. c. 3. sect. 1, 2, 4). So it is tradition that says we pray certain prayers three times a day.

We see that by Daniel's time, there were three prayer services, for it is written, "and he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his Elohim (G-d), as he did aforetime." (Daniyel 6:11/10). But it is possible that these time were also around the time of King David as well, for it is written, "Evening, morning, and at noon, I will cry out in distress. He will hear my voice." (Tehillim/Psalms 55:17)

There was certain times of prayer in the times of the first apostles, and that the disciples observed this, for it is written, "Kefa and Yochanan were going up into the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour." (Acts 3.1) This would have been at 3:00 pm, the time for the ma'ariv (evening) sacrifice and prayer. And, "around the sixth hour (noon), Kefa went up on to the roof to pray." (Acts 10:9).

But we do not need to limit ourselves to 3 times a day, for it is written, "Pray without ceasing." (1 Thessalonians 5:17)