You may have noticed that we have extended this series for additional weeks, to be held during the Elul mini-semester, starting August 21. The decision to do so was based on two considerations: (1) I did not want to have to “shoehorn” our learning of the last berachot of Shema into this last originally scheduled (8th) session, and not have the time to learn them properly; (2) After all, this material is also relevant to the month of Elul and the 10 Days of Repentence, when we put special focus on our prayers in general. We will emphasize this relevance and extend our discussion, where appropriate, to the themes of Elul and the High Holidays.
In this 8th installment of our series, we will continue learning the first blessing of Kriyat Shema in the morning, “Yotzer Or”. We will see how the text of the blessing makes the transition back from telling about the praise of the angels to bring us back to the human realm. I have posted a source that discusses a halachic aspect of saying this bracha, which I think will help more fully understand things.
We will then begin a careful study and comparison of the two parallel (evening and morning) 2nd blessings of the Shema.