Throughout time, the cry of Shema has always symbolized the ultimate manifestation of faith in the gravest situations. With the Shema on their lips, Jews went to martyrdom at the Inquisitor's stake and in the Nazi gas chambers. Rabbi Akiva endured while his flesh was being torn with iron combs, and died reciting the Shema. He pronounced the last word of the sentence, "Echad" (one) with his last breath (Talmud Berachot 61b). The Talmud says that when Jacob was about to reveal the end of days to his children, he was concerned that one of them might be a non-believer. His sons reassured him immediately and cried out, "Shema Yisrael." We are commanded to say the Shema twice each day: once in the morning and again in the evening. This requirement is derived from the verse: "And you should speak about them when you... lie down and when you get up" (
Deut. 6:7). The Talmud explains that when you "lie down and when you get up" does not refer to the literal position of one's body, but rather designates the time of day to say the Shema (Brachot 10b).
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