Why Jacob's Sons Said the Shema at His Deathbed

"Hear, O Israel" (Deuteronomy 6:4). At the hour when Jacob came to reveal the End, as it is written, "Gather together, that I may tell you" (Genesis 49:1), and when he wished to reveal the End the Holy Spirit departed from him, immediately he began to be distressed. He said: My sons, perhaps there is some unfit one among you, or there is some unfit one in my bed, just as there was a wicked son to Abraham — namely Ishmael and the sons of Keturah — and likewise with Isaac, Esau and Eliphaz; and that is why the Shekhinah has departed from me. Immediately his sons said to him, "Hear, O Israel, the LORD is our God, the LORD is One." The old man began and said, "Blessed be the name of the glory of His kingdom forever and ever." Another interpretation: "Hear" — to make your ears hear the commandment. "The LORD is One" — and one must prolong the dalet, in order to enthrone Him above and below and in the four directions of the world; only let one not snatch the chet. And the dalet of "Echad" must protrude outward — that is, the point of the dalet — so that it does not appear like a resh.