הֶאֱרִיךְ בְּ"אֶחָד"

ביטוי (אנגלית)

He lengthened on 'Echad'

הגדרה (אנגלית)

To say the word 'Echad' (found at the end of the verse 'Shema Yisrael Hashem Eloheinu Hashem Echad') with length and deep intention. It is a custom among those who beautify the mitzvah of reciting the Shema, as an interpretation, to 'lengthen on Echad', primarily when it is said during the course of prayer.

("And when they took him out to be killed, it was the time of reciting the Shema, and they were combing his flesh with iron combs, and he was accepting upon himself the yoke of the kingdom of heaven... He lengthened on 'Echad' and his soul went out at once. A daughter of a voice exclaimed, 'Blessed are you Rabbi Akiva that your body is pure and your soul went out on 'Echad' in purity, and you are destined for the life of the world to come'" - Otzer HaMidrashim (Eisenstein) Ten Martyrs, 447. Also: "Three times a day he shook the worlds in his prayer... and his 'Echad' when he read the Shema, trembled and broke all the heavens" - Y.L. Peretz / To the Impressions of a Dying Man, 7. Also: "And when he reached the recitation of the Shema he covered his eyes and lengthened on 'Echad' until he vanished, he and the whole world with him" - Agnon / Yesterday, Today and the Day Before, 261. Also: "He closed his eyes... and read the portion of Shema when he lengthened on 'Echad', intent that the Creator is One in a unique oneness without likeness, and King over seven heavens and earth, and over the four winds of the heavens" - Chaim Sabato / Like the Eyelids of Dawn, 53.)