EVENING SH’MA BENEDICTIONS

EVENING SH’MA BENEDICTIONS
Ahavat Olam and Emet Ve’emunah: “Eternal Love” and “True and Trustworthy”
Rabbi Richard Sarason

The two benedictions that directly frame the Sh’ma recitation are thematically and functionally the same in the evening and in the morning. The two versions differ only in their length and in their actual wording: since the evening versions are briefer than the morning ones, the evening wordings are more compact and pithy than their morning equivalents.
The benediction that precedes the Sh’ma (the second benediction in the series; the first is Ma’ariv aravim, discussed over the past three weeks) acclaims God who, out of an everlasting love for the people Israel, has given us the Torah with which we are to occupy ourselves during every waking moment and excerpts from which—the Sh’ma paragraphs—we are about to proclaim aloud. The Babylonian Talmud (B’rachot 12a) is familiar with two ways to begin this benediction: either with the phrase Ahavah rabbah (“Abundant love”) or with Ahavat olam (“Eternal/everlasting love”). While there is no substantive difference between these wordings, the Talmud prefers the latter because it derives from a biblical verse: “With an everlasting love have I loved you (v’ahavat olam ahavticha—Jeremiah 31:3; as far as the Rabbis are concerned, when it comes to prayer-language, biblical is better). In the wake of this talmudic dispute, the Ashkenazic rite splits the difference, assigning the former language to the morning version of this benediction, and the latter language to the evening version. (The Sefardic and Italian rites, on the other hand, opt with the talmudic decision to use the latter language both morning and evening, although the wording of the rest of the morning benediction in those rites corresponds roughly to that in the Ashkenazic rite.) Most Reform prayer books (likeMishkan T’filah) have retained the full traditional wording of the evening version, since it is relatively brief, while abbreviating somewhat the longer morning version.
The benediction that immediately follows the Sh’ma recitation (=the third in the series) affirms God’s trustworthiness, the truth of the words of Torah just recited, and the reliability of the divine promise of redemption alluded to in the final words of the Sh’ma (“I am Adonai your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God”). Early rabbinic tradition (Tosefta B’rachot 2:1) prescribes that this blessing include mention of the exodus from Egypt (picking up on the theme of this last Sh’ma-verse), God’s Sovereignty, the destruction of the Egyptian firstborn, and the splitting of the sea---and indeed all of these “bullet points” appear in the traditional versions, although the specific wordings are different in the morning and the evening. The morning version in the Ashkenazic rite also includes an explicit petition that God speedily redeem Israel again, just as happened when Israel went forth from Egypt (“O Rock of Israel, arise to the aid of Israel!” [Tsur Yisra’el: kumah b’ezrat Yisra’el. . .]. The morning version of this blessing has been considerably shortened in most Reform prayer books, on account of its repetitive style, while both morning and evening versions have been pruned of language that might appear to gloat over the death of the Egyptians and the destruction of Israel’s enemies generally. Mishkan T’filah also makes these trims, for the same reasons; its evening text follows that of Gates of Prayer and the Union Prayer Book.