Berakhot 025

2:
As it almost invariably does, the mishnah does not state a general rule as regards mindset, but offers a concrete situation (with a ruling) from which we are to extrapolate the general rule. Our mishnah says that if, by chance, one were reading the first parashah of the Shema [Deuteronomy 6:4-9] as part of one's Torah study or, as suggested in the Gemara, in order to check a Sefer Torah, and the time came for reciting the Shema as a ritual duty, that duty will have been fulfilled if one intended this to be so. In other words, the recitation of the Shema must be a deliberately intended act of conscious awareness, not something that happens by chance.

3:
One of the more discussed topics of the Gemara is the question as to whether "mitzvot require conscious intent" [kavvanah]. If we put this issue in more modern (and general) terms we would ask whether doing the right thing is still virtuous even if we did not intend to do it. The Gemara never really answers this point satisfactorily, but the later poskim [decisors] conclude that the performance of a mitzvah does, indeed, require conscious intent. This, however, only applies to mitzvot that are mi-de-orayta [from the Written Torah], such as the Shema; it does not apply to mitzvot that are considered to be mi-de-rabbanan [instituted by the sages]. Thus, as the Talmud of Eretz-Israel points out, while the Shema itself requires conscious intent, the berakhot that surround it do not, having been instituted by the sages.

4:
What do we mean by conscious intent as far as the recital of the Shema is concerned? Obviously, the first consideration must be that one is aware of what one is doing. This is particularly true of that all-important first line. Saying it (or singing it) without thinking of the meaning of the words and their import would not, halakhically speaking, constitute conscious awareness. One "trick" that can help is to cover the eyes with one's hand when reciting the first verse of the Shema. This can serve as a reminder to concentrate all one's thoughts on the verse in hand and to exclude all extraneous thoughts and images. Another "trick" that can help concentration is not to "sight read" the Shema, but to let one's ears hear the words uttered from the mouth; however, be careful that it's only your ears that hear, otherwise you could be destroying someone else's concentration.

5:
At least as far as the first verse is concerned, this kavvanah is so important that one situation would nullify it beyond question: if one did not understand the Hebrew! The Gemara points out that the Shema may be recited in any language that one understands. (It occurs to me that modern speakers of English reciting the Shema in quaint pseudo-Shakespearian English might not be fulfilling the mitzvah.) However, to purists, all translations are perforce renditions; this is one good reason to really learn the Hebrew so as to avoid the problematica of translation. Just to illustrate: the word Shema can mean 'listen' or 'obey'; the word Yisra'el can mean 'Israel' or 'Jew'; the best rendition of the Tetragrammaton – the four Hebrew letters of the Divine name – is not to render it at all; the translation of the word Eloheynu is problematic, depending on the solution found for the previous problem; we have touched on the deeper meanings of the word eĥad [one] in the first few shiurim of this tractate. How do you convey all these possibilities in a translation? When reading the Hebrew they can all co-exist simultaneously in the mind.

To be continued.