 Rabbi Abbahu taught that the Sages ruled that Jews should recite the words aloud, so as not to allow heretics to claim that Jews were adding improper words to the "Shema".But in Nehardea, where there were no heretics so far, they recited the words quietly.Rabbi Phinehas ben Hama taught that the Israelites merited to recite the "Shema" at the Revelation on Sinai, for it was with the word "Shema" that God first began to speak at Sinai when God said in 6