"Hear O Israel, the Lord Our God, the Lord is One."

Prayerbook/Siddur

A Shiviti is the Jewish equivalent of a mandala: an image at which to gaze, for the purpose of letting it take one more deeply into meaning. Pictured here are the words of the Shema prayer: (my unusual translation)

“Listen, O you God-wrestler! Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey is our God! Is-Was-Will Be is Unique!”

There are many profound thoughts in the phrases that make up this declaration, for example:

“Is-Was-Will be is our God” (and nothing more definable than that!)

“Listen, God is One”

“Listen!”

“Hear! One is Adonai, our God”

The viewer can order and reorder the phrases to make new messages. But the main theme, written in the largest letters against the Universe, is that God is One.

The combined Hebrew letters aleph & lamed (in the bottom line in red) is a medieval scribal device to save room on their precious vellum. The three yuds together are a medieval device representing God's most holy name.