There was a common pattern in the middle ages of kings. A king would grab power and become established. He’d take control of the kingdom and secure its boundaries. Suddenly he was the ruler of a whole country with everything at his disposal. You’d think he’d be happy to retire for the rest of his life, but after a few months he promptly risks losing everything and goes out to conquer his neighboring country. Why??
Another case, imagine if you were so wealthy that you owned the whole world. Everything in the world is yours – except for one tree. Would you be happy? Well, this is what happened to Adam. He had everything. The whole world was his. G-d told him you can have everything except for one tree. This is a sign that I’m still the Boss and you are subservient to me. This tree is mine and I forbid it to you. Don’t steal from my tree. (G-d did this for Adam’s benefit – in order that Adam should have a constant reminder that he should be grateful to G-d for all that He had given him.) Surprisingly, he failed. He was not happy. It was not enough for him. He had to have the tree.
From here we learn what a tremendous test it is. The greatest test in the world for a man is to be subservient. Man hates being restricted. Man hates not doing what he wants. What do you mean I can’t have it??
This the greatest test. All men have this test. Don’t think the Wall Street giants want more and more money because they love money. Their underlying desire is to take in what is not theirs. “Yet is there no end of all his labour, neither is his eye satisfied with riches” (Ecclesiastes/Koheles 4:8) Likewise for the womanizers out there, their entire pleasure is “in the chase”.
For this reason the first thing a Jewish man is supposed to when he starts the day is to don tefilin and say the shema. The act of strapping leather boxes on one’s head and arm is a totally illogical act. Anyone who doesn’t know what they are will suspect the man of being crazy. The pious man demonstrates his subservience to the will of G-d and dons the tefilin.
After that, he is prepared for the great test. The shema is one of the most central parts of Judaism and also the least understood.
The first verse “shema yisrael…” proclaims the unity of G-d. What this means is that G-d is unique in existence. He is the exception to all rules. Everything that is must have been brought into existence by some higher cause. He is the exception to this rule. There must be only one G-d otherwise He would not be totally infinite. And if He were not totally infinite then he becomes vulnerable to the rule that there must be some higher cause which created Him (see Chovos HaLevavos Gate 1 for more on this).
The first verse also proclaims that G-d is Elo-henu, which means He is the sole Boss in the universe. The Ramchal writes (138 Gates of Wisdom, Gate 1) that “His will is the sole governing force in existence. If you say He gave some power to another force or a human being, etc., then He would no longer be in control of the world. When someone does evil which seemingly is against His will, He ‘permits it’ and circumvents in thought how this will be repaired in the end, either through repentance or punishment” He is in total control and is bringing the world towards rectification of evil. This can be likened to a grandmaster chess player. Even though you have free will to play, he controls the game and can manipulate you any way he wants. (R.Aryeh Kaplan)
Next comes the real work of subservience to G-d. After proclaiming G-d’s infinite power and that He’s the Boss of the world. One reads the verse which declares that G-d is the first priority in all aspects of our lives and that we accept to be totally subservient to His will: “And you will love the L-ord your G-d, with all your hearts, and with all your soul, and with all your ‘meodecha'”. “Your hearts” refers to subjugating your evil inclination to G-d. This means if some indulgence is forbidden by G-d then you are accepting to refrain from it. This includes forbidden foods, activities, comfort, etc. When saying this, one is declaring that G-d’s will takes precedence over all of one’s desires.
After that, “with all your soul” refers to even giving up your life for Him if torah law demanded.
After that “with all your ‘meodecha'” is usually translated as “your money”. This means one is accepting subservience of all his money to the will of G-d. G-d’s torah takes precedence over all financial considerations. The world “meodecha” also means, literally, “your much”, which means whatever is most precious to you. So you’re also accepting that G-d takes precedence over your dearest wishes such as your desire for honor, approval, leisure, everything.
After this the verse continues – “And these words…”. Rashi brings down the oral tradition (the Sifri), that this third statement teaches us how to accomplish the injunction contained in the previous statement. The Sifri comments, “It says ‘and you shall love the Lord your God’, but I do not know how one loves God. The Torah therefore tells us, ‘these words which I command you shall be upon your heart.’ This refers to the study of Torah, because through it you recognize the One who spoke and caused the universe to come into existence.” i.e. all this comes only through the study of torah. Only the spiritual power in the torah can give a person the strength to change his nature. Without torah one is powerless against the physical side of a man (the evil inclination) which justs wants to be a good for nothing gorilla.
So the shema is the reparation and the training ground for the most difficult aspect of life – subservience to G-d. This is not just for non-religious people. But even for religious people, few have overcome the great psychological hump of dedicating their lives completely without any reservations whatsoever to the will of G-d.
Most people have a limit usually in money, honor or comfort. Although many Jews in the past have given their lives rather than bowing to an idol, few indeed were willing to give their lives psychologically and become totally subservient to the will of G-d. This is tragic because in truth, it is no sacrifice at all. Every Jew really wants to live a life of torah, but he is enslaved by the evil inclination which dwells within him. Real freedom does not mean doing what you want to do. It means doing what you really want to do. And every Jew deep down, really wants to do good, i.e. G-d’s will. So the subservience to G-d is actually the only true freedom there is (Rabbi Zev Leff). (note also, that total subservience is a very high level and takes a lifetime to reach, one step at a time. The first step though is purely external – to put on tefilin (for men) and just verbally say the shema.)
Note that, in some eastern religions, the highest level to reach is something called “enlightenment”, which in essence means nullifying your ego and selfishness. Judaism agrees somewhat with this, however there is a crucial difference. The ideal, according to Judaism, is not to nullify your ego and become nothing. Judaism teaches to channel your ego to G-d’s will. Don’t go off to the mountains to nullify yourself, rather channel your ego and align it with G-d’s torah which is the epitome of absolute good. In so doing you will also become totally unselfish. However instead of being empty, you will become a reflection of the absolute good – i.e. to resemble G-d, as much as humanly possible.
Courtesy of Daf Yomi Review
The Benoni 
