Rambam's 13 Principles

Hello Everyone;

Welcome to the class on the Rambam’s “Thirteen Principles.”  While the Rambam was not the first to discuss the basics (or essentials) of Jewish belief he was the first to present a list of essential ideas.

The Rambam’s list of principles were eventually incorporated into the Siddur. They were appended to the end of the daily prayers as the thirteen statements of the “אני מאמין” declaration and they provide the framework for the prayer said at the beginning of the service “יגדל א-לוהים חי.”

In this series of classes we will discuss the Rambam’s principles and compare them to the ideas and principles found in other writings.

I look forward to meeting with all of you and I hope that you will find the classes informative and thought provoking.

Please feel free to write to me with suggestions and comments.

Stuart Fischman

<[email protected]>

The Rambam wrote that one of the principles of Judaism is the belief in Hashem’s “Oneness.” The Rambam of course did not create this idea- it is what we say twice every day when we sayשמע ישראל ה’ אלקינו ה’ אחד

We will discuss today what is meant when we say Hashem is “One” and how the dissemination of the ideas from סםר הזוהר  provoked questions in certain circles regarding this principle.

Hello Everyone,

In this session we will discuss the Rambam’s opinion that one of the principles of Judaism is that Hashem is incorporeal. This we saw in his list of principles in the commentary to masechet Sanhedrin. In Hilchot Teshuvah (which is the Rambam’s codification of the Halacha) he lists the person who believes that Hashem is corporeal among sectarians who have no share in the World to Come.

The Ra’avad wrote a cryptic comment regarding what the Rambam wrote and we will discuss what seems to me to be at the center of their disagreement.

Shabbat shalom

Stuart Fischman

Hello Everyone,

Today we will discuss the fifth of the Rambam’s principles, the principle that we must pray only to Hashem. This principle is perhaps the only one which has led to actual Halachic controversy. Other principles have been debated but it is only this principle which is apparently ignored by large portions of the population.

I look forward to meeting with you later today.

Hello Everyone,

The twelfth principle of the Rambam is the belief in the redemption of the Jews by the Messiah. This may be the only principle that is actually questioned in the Talmud. A certain Rabbi Hillel (not to be confused withe the famous Hillel about whom so many stories are told) taught “There is no Messiah for Israel.” This teaching of Rabbi Hillel appears on page 98b in masechet Sanhedrin and is rejected on page 99a.

Despite its being rejected, the very fact that a sage of the Talmud did not believe in what the Rambam held to be a “principle” led many to examine more closely what exactly is a “principle.”

There is another fact which differentiates this principle from the others in the Rambam’s list.  In the Talmud itself there is a debate as to what exactly we may expect to experience with the Messianic redemption. Will it be an era of miracles or will it resemble our current existence to a great extent.

Today we will begin a discussion of the this principle of the Rambam.

Hello Everyone

Tomorrow we will continue to discuss the Rambam’s principle concerning the Messiah. We will study the divergent views found already in the Talmud concerning the nature of the Messianic era. The source pages can be found in the web-page for last week’s class.

I look forward to meeting with you

Shavua tov

Stuart Fischman

Hello Everyone

Tomorrow we will begin a discussion of the Rambam’s eleventh principle, the principle of  reward and punishment.

This principle might be the one that troubles people more than any other. “Why does God allow this to happen?” Is a question that has troubled believers from all faiths (as far as I know).

The subject , as described in the Talmud is referred to as the question of שכר מצוה בהאי עלמא and צדיק ורע לו, רשע וטוב לו.

I hope that in the next two (or possibly three) we will see the significant opinions on this very crucial issue.

Shavua tov

Stuart Fischman

Hello Everyone

Today we will continue our study of the Rambam’s eleventh principle, the principle of God’s reward and punishment.

In today’s session we will focus on how Rav Sadiah Gaon and the Rambam interpreted the Book of Job which is itself an exploration by Job and his friends of how Hashem judges us.

Hello Everyone

In today’s discussion on how Hashem rewards and punishes we will see the idea put forward by the Ramban (and others) that גלגול נשמות explains the difficulties in seeing apparently undeserved suffering.

Hello Everyone,

In today and in the next one or two meetings we will discuss two fundamental concepts: תחיית המתים and עולם הבא.

The final three principles in the Rambam’s list of thirteen principles are Reward and Punishment, the Messiah and the Resurrection of the Dead. Are these three principles related and if so, then how?

The question of their relationship was taken very seriously  and this question led to t the attacks on the Rambam by Rabbeinu Meir Abulafiah( known (in English) as the “Maimonidean Controversy”).

The Rambam and Rav Sadiah Gaon disagreed about ideas which they felt were central to Judaism. We have seen in the past two meetings that they did not agree about the ultimate lesson to be drawn from the story of Job. We will see that they disagree about what the term עולם הבא means and how it relates to the Resurrection.

I look forward to meeting with you.

Hello Everyone,

In today’s class we will continue the discussion of the Rambam’s view on the Redemption, Resurrection and what is called “The World to Come.”  We will compare the view of the Rambam to that of Rav Sadiah Gaon

Hello Everyone,

Today we will discuss the Rambam’s ninth principle, the eternal nature of the Torah. The Rambam states that the Torah will never be changed. Its content will never be altered and it will most certainly will never be exchanged by Hashem for a different Torah.

This idea  seems rather unsurprising ( as many principles tend to appear) but we will see that among the more mystically inclined thinkers it is not to be taken for granted.

Hello Everyone,

Tomorrow, in our final class on the Thirteen Principles of the Rambam, we will discuss the first principle which is belief in the existence of Hashem.

Studying the Rambam’s principles with you was a source of great pleasure for me and I hope that everyone who participated enjoyed it as well.