Bedtime Prayers

The Bedtime Shema

The Shema is a traditional Jewish prayer consisting of passages from Deuteronomy 6 and 11 and Numbers 15. Many pray a condensed version of the Shema known as "the bedtime Shema": Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is One. Blessed is the Name of His glorious kingdom for all eternity. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might. And these words which I command you this day shall be on your heart. You shall teach them to your children, and you shall speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the way, when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign upon your arm, and they shall be for a reminder between your eyes. And you shall write them upon the doorposts of your house and upon your gates.