[Avodah] THE HEAD MOVEMENTS OF SHEMA’

[Prof. Levine]

 From http://tinyurl.com/3mcolml

The most important utterance in Judaism is the Shema': Shema' yisrael 
adonai eloheinu adonai ehad. (Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the 
Lord is one.) This declaration of the absolute unity of God is the 
cornerstone of our faith. By Biblical mandate, a Jew recites the 
Shema' twice daily, be-shokhbekha u-ve-kumekha ("when you lie down 
and when you rise up"). See Deuteronomy 6:7.

All of the above is quite famous. What remains today a little known 
fact is that once upon a time this recitation was accompanied by head 
movements to the four directions, and up and down. This practice is 
recorded both in the Ge'onim (post-Talmudic Babylonian sages) and the 
Rishonim (medieval European sages).

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