The Shema draws its opening line from Deuteronomy and is traditionally recited together with two following paragraphs, one commanding love of God with all one's heart, soul and might and teaching these words diligently to one's children, and a second, from Numbers, concerning the practice of wearing fringes, tzitzit. Jewish tradition does not describe the Shema as a creed in the sense familiar from Christian theology, since Judaism has generally resisted fixed dogmatic formulas of that kind, yet its declaration of God's oneness functions in practice as the closest thing Judaism has to a single required statement of belief, recited twice daily by observant Jews without exception.
Rabbinic law developed detailed rules about its recitation, including the specific time windows in the morning and evening during which it must be said and the requirement, where possible, to say it with a minyan, though unlike many other prayers it may also be recited alone. Its role at the deathbed, as the last words a dying Jew is traditionally encouraged to speak, gives the declaration of divine oneship a significance that extends well beyond its place in the ordinary daily liturgy. Talmudic discussion also debates precisely how much concentration, kavanah, is required for the first verse to count as validly recited, with some authorities holding that intention on the single opening line suffices even if attention lapses during the paragraphs that follow it.