Then one day my instructor started handing out copies of the Shema (pronounced “shmah”), a profession of faith that pious Jews have recited daily since before the first century. Eagerly, I scanned down the page of what I assumed was their Apostles’ Creed. I wasn’t too surprised that it started off in a theological way, with God’s command to love and worship him alone (Deut. 6:4–9).20 But the next section, from Deuteronomy 11:13–21, stopped me in my tracks. I absolutely couldn’t believe my eyes: I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in
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