HEAR, O ISRAEL: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

This week, we discuss the Shema, the affirmation of loyalty to God that represents the greatest commandment of Christianity and Judaism. We explain why “the Lord is one” more accurately means that God is unique in substance. A better sense of the verse is, “The Lord is our God, the Lord alone,” or, “The Lord is our God, the Lord is unique.”

We also discuss the importance of figuratively committing the Word of God to our hearts and minds, a principle reflected in God’s command to Israel to bind them to their hands and foreheads with the tefillin, a practice that will be twisted by the Antichrist someday with the Mark of the Beast.