JEWISH MOMENTS IN THE LAND OF ISRAEL

629. Reciting the Shema in the Kedusha of the Repetition of the Amidah

As Byzantine rule returned to the Land of Israel after a brief Persian occupation, Jewish worship was forced into the shadows. Imperial authorities imposed harsh sanctions on Jewish life, including a ban on public recitation of key biblical texts such as the Shema. Yet Jews were still permitted to gather for more generic acts of praise and thanksgiving, including the communal repetition of the Amidah. Within this narrow space, rabbis and poets developed creative strategies to preserve core declarations of faith, even when they could not be spoken openly.

One of the most ingenious devices was the insertion of the Shema into the Kedusha, the sanctification section of the repetition of the Amidah. Normally, the Kedusha centers on verses proclaiming God’s holiness: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts” from Isaiah and “Blessed be the glory of the Lord from His place” from Ezekiel. By weaving the opening line of the Shema (“Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One”) into this section, worshippers could recite their central confession of monotheism in a liturgical context that outward observers might perceive simply as part of a longer doxology. The Shema’s........

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