The Thirteen Principles of Faith
Maimonides'
theological principles were never unanimously embraced.
By Daniel Septimus
The following is
largely based on Marc Shapiro's "Maimonides' Thirteen Principles: The Last
Word in Jewish Theology?" published in The Torah U-Madda Journal, volume 4 (1993).
Maimonides wrote his Thirteen Principles of faith in his
introduction to the tenth chapter of Talmud Sanhedrin.
According to Maimonides, anyone who denies--or even doubts--any of these principles is a
heretic with no place in the World to Come. Yet, these principles were hardly undisputed.
Many scholars who preceded and succeeded Maimonides held contrary beliefs.
Below, is a list of the Thirteen Principles with references
to some of these divergent beliefs. Unless otherwise noted, all the scholars
mentioned are medieval authorities.
The Principles
Principle 1
God exists; God is perfect in every way, eternal, and the
cause of all that exists. All other beings depend upon God for their existence.
Objections
Some medieval authorities believed that God created the
world from eternal matter (see Principle 4). Thus, according to these scholars,
it would not be true to say that God is the cause of all that exists.
Principle 2
God has absolute and unparalleled unity.
Principle 3
God is incorporeal--without a body.
Objections
In the Mishneh Torah,
Maimonides asserts that anyone who believes that God is corporeal is a heretic.
In reference to this, Abraham ben David Posquieres (also known as Rabad) comments that people greater than
Maimonides have believed that God has a physical form. Rabad himself does not
subscribe to this view, but objects to the claim that those who do are
heretics.
In addition, Moses ben Hasdai Taku, a tosafist (medieval commentator on the Talmud), believed that God
could take a physical form. Finally, Samuel David Luzzatto, a 19th-century
scholar, defended the idea that God has a body, claiming that an embodied God
was the only God conceivable to most people.
Ironically, Maimonides himself seemed to share this view. In
the Guide of the Perplexed (I, 46) he
writes: "For the multitude perceive nothing other than bodies as having a
firmly established existence and as being indubitably true."
Principle 4
God existed prior to all else. (In a later version of the
Thirteen Principles, Maimonides included the notion that God created the world
from nothing [creation ex nihilo].)
Objections
In his commentary to Genesis 1:1, Abraham Ibn Ezra suggests
that the word bara (created) implies
cutting or setting a boundary. Scholars such as Joseph Tov Elem and David Arama
understood this to mean that Ibn Ezra believed that God sculpted the world from
eternal matter. Gersonides also believed that the world was created from
eternal matter.
Principle 5
God should be the only object of worship and praise. One
should not appeal to intermediaries, but should pray directly to God.
Objections
Some of the selihot
prayers--prayers of repentance recited on fast days and during the High Holy
Days--and the third paragraph of the Shalom
Aleichem hymn, sung prior to the Shabbat kiddush, are directed to angels. In addition, one of the Geonim--the leaders of Babylonian Jewry
from the 7th to 11th centuries--defended the use of angels to intercede with
God (Ozar ha-Geonim, Shabbat
4-6). He added that angels could
sometimes fulfill the petitions of a prayer without consulting God.
Jacob Emden (1697-1776) is among some of the others who have
approved of petitioning angels to intercede on ones behalf. Nissim Gerondi (Ran) maintained that there is one
specific angel whom one may pray to.
Principle 6
Prophets and prophecy exist.
Principle 7
Moses was the greatest prophet who ever lived. No prophet
who lived or will live could comprehend God more than Moses.
Objections
Nahmanides and Gersonides believed that the Messiah would
gain more knowledge of God than Moses. Shneur Zalman of Lyady (1745-1813), the
first Lubavitcher Rebbe, in his Likutei
Amarim, notes that Moses' prophetic abilities weren't as great as those of
Isaac Luria, the renowned medieval kabbalist.
Principle 8
The Torah is from heaven. The Torah we have today is the
Torah that God gave to Moses at Sinai.
Comment
This principle assumes that there is and has always been one
text of the Torah and that the Masoretic text--the text established by ben
Asher in 930 CE--is this text.
Objections
The Talmud (Baba Batra 14b-15a; Makot 11a) relates that
Joshua wrote the last 8 verses of the Torah. Abraham Ibn Ezra believed that
Joshua wrote the last 12 verses. The Midrash Tanhuma, a rabbinc text, cites
cases of tikkun soferim, instances
where the scribes of the Great Assembly (the leaders of the Jews during the
Persian exile) emended the Bible--including the Torah.
Menahem ben Solomon ha-Meiri mentions the "Masoretic
works" instead of a singular "Masoretic text."
Solomon ben Aderet (Rashba)
discussed when we should change our Torah to accord with the Talmud's version
(which differs from the Masoretic text). Aryeh Loeb Guenzberg (18th century)
opined that the commandment that every Jew write a Torah scroll no longer
applies because of our doubts about how certain words are to be written.
Similarly, Moses Sofer (1762-1839) believed that there's no need to say a
blessing before writing a Torah because, perhaps, the Talmud's version is
correct and the Torah being written is invalid.
Principle 9
The Torah will never be abrogated, nothing will be added to
it or subtracted from it; God will never give another Law.
Objections
Joseph Albo suggested that, in theory, if a prophet came
whose mission could be verified in the same way Moses' could, then commandments--except
for the Ten Commandments--could be abolished.
Principle 10
God knows the actions of humans and is not neglectful of
them.
Objections
According to Ibn Ezra, "The Whole [God] knows the
individual in a general manner rather than in a detailed manner." Some
interpreted this to mean that God knows the general actions of humans, but not
the particular details. Gersonides developed this idea fully: God knows
universals, but not particulars.
Principle 11
God rewards those who obey the commands of the Torah and
punishes those who violate its prohibitions.
Principle 12
The days of the Messiah will come.
Objections
The talmudic Rabbi Hillel (not to be confused with the
earlier Hillel) stated that: "There shall be no Messiah for Israel,
because they have already enjoyed him in the days of Hezekiah (Sanhedrin
99a)."
Principle 13
The dead will be resurrected.
Conclusion
In Judaism, disagreement is not anomalous. However, whereas
in the legal tradition we can speak of a mahloket
l'shem shamayim--a debate in the name of heaven (God)--according to
Maimonides, debate is not possible when it comes to dogmatic principles. The
consequences of diverging from Maimonides' principles are severe.
After listing and describing his Thirteen Principles,
Maimonides states: "When all these foundations are perfectly understood
and believed in by a person he enters the community of Israel and one is
obligated to love and pity him…But if a man doubts any of these foundations, he
leaves the community [of Israel], denies the fundamentals, and is called a
sectarian, apikores, and one who
'cuts among the plantings' [a reference to the talmudic heretic Elisha ben
Abuyah]. One is required to hate him and destroy him."
According to this assessment, revered authorities--such as
Ibn Ezra, Nahmanides, Rabad, ha-Meiri--whose works are studied to this day,
would fall into the latter category. They would be considered heretics who not
only have no redemption in the afterlife, but who are not true members of
Israel and who deserve nothing but our scorn.
What are we to conclude from this?
Probably not that these scholars were heretics, nor that
Maimonides' principles were incorrect or untrue (for in most cases, even the
divergences from Maimonides were relatively minor). If we can conclude anything
from this analysis, it is that the Thirteen Principles of Faith--as
articulated--were never normative, never as defining and consequential as
Maimonides believed them to be.
Daniel Septimus is the
Ideas & Beliefs editor of MyJewishLearning.com.
