Hear, Israel: HASHEM is our G-d; HASHEM is one. (Devarim 6:4)

This should be a very familiar verse. We have been saying it twice daily for the last 3,336 years and those same words are affixed to each door post in our homes for just as long. What is the message that we are meant to HEAR? What is Israel supposed to understand? What is the practical message behind declaring that HASHEM is ONE?

We can analyze the nature of HASHEM’s unique quality of ONENESS, as the Ramchal describes in Derech HASHEM. Perhaps the message is that there is only one HASHEM and there is no other. That is certainly important to know. There are no competing authorities or possible dual loyalties. That could easily devolve into a world of idolatry, where man makes gods in his feeble image and permission is given to all human foible, and every insanity is thereby legalized and rationalized. That makes knowing HASHEM’s ONENESS very important.

There might just be a message closer to the hearts of decent and devoted servants of HASHEM that would never dream of swerving so far off the reservation. Let us consider an alternative explanation which is not a contradiction to either of the first two mentioned so far. HASHEM is the ONLY ONE AND HASHEM is NUMBER ONE. HASHEM desires an EXCLUSIVE relationship with KLAL YISRAEL. HASHEM cannot be number two or less in our lives. HASHEM is not an afterthought but the primary thought in our lives. For HASHEM your G-d, He is a consuming fire, a jealous G-d! (Devarim 4:24)

No wife appreciates being number two in her house or in her relationship with her husband. She rightfully expects exclusivity and to be number one. Nobody or thing can compete with that bond of devotion. There was a fellow who was so deep into sports that he spent all Sunday, watching every game with rapture. After a while his wife announced, “I am out of here! I cannot get your attention!” Suddenly, he looked up, momentarily, and responded, “What are you talking about!? We’ve been together for eight seasons!” Can you blame her?!

What if a good wife reminds her dutiful husband to come home with four different items from the store and he arrives home with just three out of the four. When confronted, he admits he forgot about the fourth. When he sees her look of deep disappointment, he right away pivots and declares that he will go back to the store and get it. Tears are already flowing. She waves off the “noble” offer. It’s too late. The damage is done. She states, “You don’t listen to me! You don’t love me?”

WOA! What just happened here. To a man it’s a small practical problem but to a wife it’s a cosmic ordeal. With his slight neglect he has demonstrated that she is not number one, perhaps number two or less, who knows. The proof is that if his friend Chaim would have asked him to pick up four specific items, he never would have failed to deliver less. He would make certain that he did it with precision. She must be number two and that’s a personal tragedy.

This can work in either direction. A husband, for example, calls his wife in the middle of the day multiple times. He texts her over and over again with zero response. Who could she be talking to or what could she be doing that is more important than me?! Finally, when he gets through, whatever the reason, besides a medical emergency, it feels like a betrayal or abandonment. We have all had that feeling of frustration and when it happens it makes us wonder about the real strength of the relationship.

When HASHEM is sending us messages through the Torah and the world and He is calling us. If we fail to pick up or answer or notice, then the seriousness of the relationship is on trial. Look at these words from the first chapter of Mishlei: “How long will you naive ones love naivete, and the scoffers covet scoffing, and the fools hate knowledge?…Since I called you and you refused, I stretched out my hand and no one listened, and you have made nothing of all my advice, and you did not desire my reproof, I too, will laugh at your calamity…” (Mishlei 1:22-26)

HASHEM wants to be NUMBER ONE in our lives! Hear this Israel, when we learn His Torah, we start to get the messages.