The Bedtime Shema

THE BEDTIME SHEMA -- Jewish evening prayer (The equivalent of our Compline Prayer)

Read it below, so that you, Christian readers, may see the depth and bond of brotherhood you should feel with all people who recite this lovingly before retiring. Traditionally, when you recite the Shema, you cover your eyes, focusing intently on God's Sovereignty. There is an old Jewish tale that some of the Jewish children who were hidden in monastaries during the war (many were handed over to Christian families, monastaries, and orphanages) had little memory of their "jewishness" once the war was over. Persistent rabbis attempted to come and retrieve them, since most of their parents were dead. The story goes that some of the children, now fully "Christianized," were all laying in bed in their neat little rows in the monastary orphanage. After a brief argument at the door because of the rabbi's inability to "prove" that the children were indeed Jewish because of lack of documentation, the Rabbi was allowed into the room to examine the children briefly.

He  walked down the aisle between their beds, calling out: (They) slowly walked through the aisles of beds, calling out, "Shema Yisrael--(Hear, Israel), the Lord is our God, the Lord is One!" And one by one, children here and there burst into tears and shrieked, "Mommy!" "Maman!" "Momma!" "Mamushka!" in each of their native languages.

Here is the text, then, of the Bedtime Shema-- the Jewish Night Prayer. Please take a moment to read it if you are unfamiliar, and to try to understand. 

Master of the universe, I hereby forgive anyone who angered or antagonized me or who sinned against me — whether against my body, my property, my honor or against anything of mine; whether he did so accidentally, willfully, carelessly, or purposely; whether through speech, deed, thought, or notion; whether in this transmigration or another transmigration — I forgive every Jew. May no man be punished because of me. May it will be Your will, HASHEM, my God and the God of my forefathers, that I may sin no more. Whatever sins I have done before You, may You blot out in Your abundant mercies, but not through suffering or bad illnesses. May the expressions of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart find favor before You, HASHEM, my Rock and my Redeemer.1

Blessed are You, HASHEM, our God, KING of the universe, who casts the bonds of sleep upon my eyes and slumber upon my eyelids. May it be Your will, HASHEM, my God and the God of my forefathers, that You lay me down to sleep in peace and rise me erect in peace. May my ideas, bad dreams, and bad notions not confound me; may my offspring be perfect before You, and may You illuminate my eyes lest I die in sleep,2Who illuminates the pupil of the eye. Blessed are You, Hashem, Who illuminates the entire world with His glory.

God, trustworthy King.

Recite the first verse aloud, with the right hand covering the eyes,and concentrate intensely upon accepting God's absolute sovereignty.

(Hear, O Israel: HASHEM is our God,
HASHEM, the One and Only. 3)

In an undertone: 

Blessed is the Name of His glorious kingdom for all eternity.

Deuteronomy 6:5-9

You shall love HASHEM, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your resources. Let these matters that I command you today be upon your heart. Teach them thoroughly to your children and speak of them while you sit in your home, while you walk on the way, when you retire and when you arise. Bind them as a sign upon your arm and let them be tefillin between your eyes. And write them on the doorposts of your house and upon your gates.

May the pleasantness of my Lord, our God, be upon us — may He establish our handiwork for us; our handiwork may He establish.4(1) Psalms 19:15. (2) Cf. 13:4. (3) Deuteronomy 6:4. (4) Psalms 90:17.

Psalm 91

Whoever sits in the refuge of the Most High, he shall dwell in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of HASHEM, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, I will trust in Him." For He will deliver you from the ensnaring trap, from devastating pestilence. With His pinion He will cover you, and beneath His wings you will be protected; shield and armor is His truth. You shall not fear the terror of night; nor the arrow that flies by day; nor the pestilence that walks in gloom; nor the destroyer who lays waste at noon. Let a thousand encamp at your side and myriad at your right hand, but to you they shall not approach. You will merely peer with your eyes and you will see retribution of the wicked. Because [you said,] "You, HASHEM, are my refuge," you have made the Most High your dwelling place. No evil will befall you, nor will any plague come near your tent. He will charge His angels for you, to protect you in all your ways. On your palms they will carry you, lest you strike your foot against a stone. Upon the lion and the viper you will tread; you will trample the young lion and the serpent. For he has yearned for Me and I will deliver him; I will elevate him because he knows My Name. He will call upon Me and I will answer him, I am with him in distress, I will release him and I will honor him. With long life will I satisfy him, and I will show him My salvation. With long life will I satisfy him, and I will show him My salvation.

Psalm 3:2-9

HASHEM, how many are my tormentors! The great rise up against me! The great say of my soul. "There is no salvation for him from God — Selah!" But You HASHEM are a shield for me, for my soul, and the One Who raises my head. With my voice I call out to HASHEM, and He answers me f rom His holy mountain — Selah. I lay down and slept, yet I awoke, for HASHEM supports me. I fear not the myriad people deployed against me from every side. Rise up, HASHEM; save me, my God; for You struck all of my enemies on the cheek, you broke the teeth of the wicked. Salvation is HASHEM's, upon Your people is Your blessing — Selah.

Lay us down to sleep, HASHEM, our God, in peace, raise us erect, our King, to life; and spread over us the shelter of your peace. Set us aright with good counsel from before Your Presence, and save us for Your Name's sake. Shield us, remove from us foe, plague, sword, famine, and woe; and remove spiritual impediment from before us and behind us, and in the shadow of your wings shelter us1 — for God Who protects and rescues us are You; for God, the Gracious and Compassionate King, are You. 2 Safeguard our going and coming — for life and for peace — from now to eternity.3(1) Cf. Psalms 17:18. (2) Cf. Nechemiah 9:31. (3) Psalms 121:8.

Blessed is HASHEM by day; blessed is HASHEM by night; blessed is HASHEM when we retire; blessed is HASHEM when we arise. For in Your hand are the souls of the living and the dead. He in Whose hand is the soul of all the living and the spirit of every human being.1 In Your hand I shall entrust my spirit, You redeemed me, HASHEM, God of truth.2 Our God, Who is in heaven, bring unity to your Name; establish Your kingdom forever and reign over us for all eternity.

May our eyes see, our heart rejoice and our soul exult in Your salvation in truth, when Zion is told, "Your God has reigned!" 3 HASHEM reigns,4 HASHEM has reigned,5 HASHEM will reign for all eternity.6For the kingdom is Yours and You will reign for all eternity in glory, for we have no King but You.

May the angel who redeems me from all evil bless the lads, and may my name be declared upon them — and the names of my forefathers Abraham and Isaac — and may they proliferate abundantly like fish within the land.7

He said: "If you diligently heed the voice of HASHEM, your God, and do what is proper in His eyes, and you listen closely to His commandments and observe His decrees — the entire malady that I inflicted upon Egypt I will not inflict upon you, for I am HASHEM your Healer." 8

HASHEM said to the Satan, "HASHEM shall denounce you, O Satan, and HASHEM, Who selects Jerusalem, shall denounce you again. This is indeed a firebrand rescued from flames." 9

Behold! The couch of Shlomo! Sixty mighty ones round about it, of the mighty ones of Israel. All gripping the sword, learned in warfare, each with his sword on his thigh, from fear in the nights.10

Recite three times:

May HASHEM bless you and safeguard you. May HASHEM illuminate His countenance for you and be gracious to you: May HASHEM turn His face toward you and establish peace for you.11

Recite three times:

Behold, the Guardian of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps.12

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(1) Job 12:10. (2) Psalms 31:6. (3) Cf. Isaiah 52:7. (4) Psalms 10:16.
(5) 93:1 et al. (6) Exodus 15:18. (7) Genesis 48:16. (8) Exodus 15:26.
(9) Zechariah 3:2. (10) Song of Songs 3:7-8. (11) Numbers 6:24-26. (12) Psalms 121:4.

Recite three times:

For Your salvation do I long, HASHEM.1 I do long, HASHEM, for your salvation. HASHEM, for Your salvation do I long.

Recite three times:

In the Name of HASHEM, God of Israel: may Michael be at my right, Gabriel at my left, Uriel before me, and Raphael behind me; and above my head the Presence of God.

Psalm 128

A song of ascents. Praiseworthy is each person who fears HASHEM, who walks in His paths. When you eat the labor of your hands, you are praiseworthy, and it is well with you. Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the inner chambers of your home; your children shall be like olive shoots surrounding your table. Behold! For so is blessed the man who fears HASHEM. May HASHEM bless you from Zion, and may you gaze upon the goodness of Jerusalem, all the days of your life. And may you see children born to children, peace upon Israel.

Recite three times:

Tremble and sin not. Reflect in your hearts while on your beds, and be utterly silent. Selah. 2

Master of the universe. Who reigned
before any form was created,
At the time when His will brought all into being —
then as "King" was His Name proclaimed.
After all has ceased to be,
He, the Awesome One, will reign alone.
It is He Who was, He Who is,
and He Who shall remain, in splendor.
He is One — there is no second
to compare to Him, to declare as His equal.
Without beginning, without conclusion —
His is the power and dominion.
He is my God, my living Redeemer,
Rock of my pain in time of distress.
He is my banner, a refuge for me,
the portion in my cup on the day I call.
Into His hand I shall entrust my spirit
when I go to sleep — and I shall awaken!
With my spirit shall my body remain.
HASHEM is with me, I shall not fear.

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(1) Genesis 49:18. (2) Psalms 4:5.

The first prayer, in which forgiveness is given and asked for, is a favorite one for me-- reminding me of our own "examination of conscience" made just before Compline. It is hard to say those words, impossible even, to God if we are lying. As we read them, images from our day pop up before us-- faces we must forgive. It's powerful.

I love the rest as well and read it often at bedtime to the kids, loving especially the part that reads: "May the angel who redeems me from all evil bless the lads, and may my name be declared upon them — and the names of my forefathers Abraham and Isaac — and may they proliferate abundantly like fish within the land." 

WOULD that our Catholic families would pray this often and understand especially the last portion of that prayer, and see that Children are an inheritance and a blessing.

I hope you enjoyed reading and that you walk away from the experience with a deeper understanding of what unifies Christians and Jews as believers in the One Eternal God who created us, called us, and reigns above all. It is especially sweet to me to think of Our Blessed Mother lovingly teaching the Child Jesus the Shema on his bed.  

Pax!