We continue with our series on Keriat Shem a, quoting from Rav Wolbe’s sefer Alei Shur , (vol 2, page 362). He continues the discussion of what happens when we decide to accept the yoke of God's kingdom in Keriat Shema , on all of our senses and forces, but we feel that part of us doesn't want to. In the Sephardic Selichot, in the introduction to the confession, we say, “ The rest of my limbs, do the evil in your eyes, they whisper day and night, constantly. They are not silent. ” These means that our limbs, so to say, have an opinion of their own. They're constantly whispering. What does that mean? If you pay attention, you see that you have desires and wants that are contrary to your goals. For example, you may accept upon yourself not speak Lashon Hara, but there’s one part of you that says, “ What do you mean that you’re not going to speak Lashon Hara. I want to speak Lashon Hara. I'm not going cooperate. ” And another part of you says, “ What do you mean? Of course I am!” So what do you do then? Rav Wolbe says someone that really knows what's going on inside of himself feels what's going on, and realizes that a lot of him doesn't agree to this yoke. If you are someone who works on yourself, you don't ignore, squelch or suppress these feelings. Rather, you start dealing with it. He says that it's not enough to read Keriat Shema, tightly close your eyes and ignore what's going on inside of you, saying Keriat Shema aloud as you imagine yourself jumping into the fiery furnace. What do you do? You have to talk back to that voice inside of you and say, “ What do you mean you want to speak Lashon Hara? There's a God. He created you. He's in charge of everything about you. We are responsible for our deeds.” You have to continue to talk with yourself and have an inner dialogue. There's an inner voice inside of you. These are psychological terms, but all these terms were originally recognized by our Torah. Rabbenu Yonah, quoted by Rav Wolbe says, “ Cut off the rebellious thoughts from your thinkings.” That means there are rebellious thoughts inside of us, and we have to deal with them. We must have that inner dialogue when we say Keriat Shema . He says that one of the reasons why the Rambam says that saying Keriat Shema is so difficult is not just because it's difficult to juggle all the intentions that you're supposed to have, but because it's difficult to sincerely accept upon yourself the yoke of God's kingdom. A quote from Wikipedia will help us further understand this concept on a psychological level: “ Interpersonal communication is the process by which an individual communicates within themselves, acting as both sender and receiver of messages. It encompasses the use of unspoken words to consciously engage in self-talk and inner speech. It's also referred to as internal monologue , self-talk , or inner speech . It's all about a person's inner voice , which provides a running monologue of thoughts while they are conscious.” Science doesn't exactly understand where this comes from, but we understand, because the Torah is the source of everything. There's something called the Yetzer HaTov and the Yetzer HaRa . We have two sides inside of us, that talk to us. When we say Keriat Shema , our job is to deal with the different forces inside of us, and to truly get every part of us on board. It’s almost like a classroom. Your intellect is the teacher, and there are a bunch of unruly kids in your classroom. You need classroom control, so you have to quiet everyone in the classroom. When do you notice this? When you start to pray the Amida , and suddenly all your thoughts come out. That's all those unruly children in the class. One of them's name is Arrogance . He wants to get involved. The other one's name is Desire . He also wants to get involved. Another one's name is Impatience , and he, too, wants to get involved. All of our forces, character traits, Middot, or however you want to refer to them, have a mind of their own, and an opinion of their own. Our job is to control them all. It says the man is considered an Olam Katan/ a mini world. Just like world peace means getting every country under control, there's a thing called inner peace, and there's a lot to get in under control in there. There is more to this very deep concept, but the main point is that when you say Keriat Shema , in order to do it for real, and really accept the yoke of God's kingdom, you need to have an internal dialogue to deal with your inner voices. This is especially important on Rosh Hashana, because we're accepting upon ourselves the yoke of God's kingdom for the entire year, and recommitting ourselves to religion. You have a lot inside of you that says, “ I'm not in for it. I do not want sign on this document,” and you have to convince everyone in your “ classroom,” to sign that document. Have a wonderful day.