There is something i've been sharing to basically everyone i met in the last two years or so and i can't believe i still didn't tell you guys [my holiest most beautiful sweetest friends] about this, it is possible that according to the rashba you are not yoitzei kriyas shema without knowing this, so here goes:
there's a teshuva in the rashba 5, 55, where he writes that by kriyas shema you must understand what you're saying and then he goes on to explain the shema. i would recommend anyone interested every single yid to look it up for himself even though it's a bit of a difficult lashoin kodesh, but i'll write the basic gist of it here.
shema yisrael, don't just hear, don't just listen but understand and comprehend what i'm about to say, hashem, this being called hashem, eloikeinu, he is our judge- he judges what happens to us and to the whole universe at any given time. you know what else... hashem echad, this same hashem who is busy deciding whether we'll catch the bus or miss the bus, he is one, with all the awesomeness that his absolute oneness dictates.
SO, WHAT NOW?
veahavta es hashem eloikecha, love him, he the awesome highest supreme being who worries over your dinner and breakfast and everything and anything, do you know how- bechol levovcha, bishnei yitzarecha- this alludes to avraham who took even the middah of retzicha and channeled it to ahavas hashem, uvechol nafshecha, with your entire soul, this refers to yitchak wh literally sacrificed his life in ahavas hashem. uvechol meodecha, with all your assets like yaakov who gave up the entire physical world and went to study the ratzoin hashem for fourteen years without resting his guf.
WHAT ELSE?
Vehayu hadvarim haelah asher anoichi metzavecha hayoim al levavecha, place these words on your heart. But how will I truly know that they’re there- on your heart, if. veshinantam livanecha, you actually go ahead and keep on repeating this to your children- every child knows what is genuinely on his father’s heart from the way his father keeps reminding him about those things. vidibarta bam beshivtecha beveisecha uvelechtecha baderech, beshachbecha uvkumecha, keep on talking about it whenever, wherever. And go ahead ukshartam leois al yadecha vehayu letoitafois bein einecha ukesavtem al mezuzois beisecha uveshearecha, write it on your t-shirts, your baseball caps make a bumper sticker out of it, whatever
JUST MAKE SURE EVERYONE KNOWS THAT YOU LOVE HIM