Shema Yisrael שמע ישראל
"Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one"—the Torah verse that became the confession of faith; said morning, evening, and in the last hour.
It is not a prayer of petition but a saying of Torah verses: "Hear, O Israel" with "and you shall love the Lord your God", the passage on the commandments and the passage on tzitzit. The Torah commands these words "when you lie down and when you rise"—hence the Shema of evening and morning, and the whole Mishnah opens with "from what hour is the Shema read in the evening?"
People died with the Shema: Rabbi Akiva under torture drew out the word "one" until his soul departed, saying he had waited all his life to fulfil "with all your soul"—even as it is taken. The Shema is said over a child falling asleep, and again in the last hour of life; six words a Jew knows earlier and longer than any others.
On the timeline
Related
Sources
Tanakh
- Deuteronomy 6:4-9 — «Hear, O Israel» and «when you lie down and when you rise»
- Berakhot 61b — Rabbi Akiva's death on the word «one»
Basis: stated in the Tanakh.