One of the most important prayers in the Jewish Lexicon is called the “Shma:.
שמע ישראל ה’ אלו-הנו ה’ אחד
Hear O Israel, the Lord Hashem, the Lord is One.
The word “sh’ma” is found in the Fifth book of the Tora (Devarim or Deuteronomy) more than 90 times. But… that word really is untranslatable.
It can mean to hear, to listen, to pay attention, to internalize, to understand, and to respond. Moreover, there is no word in Hebrew telling one “to obey”.
Maybe because we really can’t see Hashem (The Supreme Being) that we never created a clear definition for the word. But, I think there’s way more thought and philosophy associated with the word .
In the English vernacular, almost all the words we use to connote understanding involve sight. Hindsight, foresight, insight, vision, imagination. Hebrew, on the other hand, stresses hearing (the ear) more than the eye that affords one understanding.
Think about it. When we converse with others, we tell them who and what we are. But, when we listen, we are allowing others to explain who they are to us. We need to learn about them and their needs.
And, in a nutshell, that is the modern dilemna- too many of us refuse to listen to others unless they are going to say something with which we already agree. Which is a real problem for a healthy approach to civilization.
When we don’t want to listen to others, it pretty much means that we probably don’t listen to or for Hashem, so we miss major messages.
We should not be seeking out echo chambers to hear voices similar to our own. After all, it is only when we listen to others with different points of view that we have a chance to grow as human beings.
Remember, listening to others (especially Hashem) means we are exposing ourselves to psyches radically different from our own. That requires courage; we are rendering ourselves to be vulnerable, we are exposing ourselves to thoughts that may be radically different from our foundations, to challenge our assumptions.
Listening to others is the greatest gift we can impart to another human being. When we listen, we hear them, and they know we are taking them seriously. It’s consider the basic tenet of leadership at work and should be our foremost goal in interpersonal communication in general.
Sh’ma!
Powerful post. Unfortunately, social media capitalizes on the echo chamber with their algorithms that give the user only what they want to see. If we have social media friends with different opinions, we can mute them with a click of the mouse. It’s strange, also, that Facbook uses the word “mute” for that action when it is so much a visual medium. Of course, social media isn’t responsible for our lack of listening but it doesn’t help.
I think youŕlast sentence is critical, Alana. Thank you so much for your cogent comments.