Principals of Faith

Philo of Alexandria (20-50 BCE)

The first to make the attempt to formulate the Articles of Faith was Philo of Alexandria. Philo enumerates five articles as embracing the chief tenets of Mosaism:

• God is and rules;
• God is one;
• the world was created;
• Creation is one;
• God’s providence rules Creation.

Rabbi Saadia Ben Joseph Gaon (882-942ce)

Rabbi Saadia Ben Joseph Gaon’s “Emunot we-Deot” is in reality one long exposition of the main tenets of the faith. The plan of the book discloses a systematization of the different religious doctrines that, in the estimation of the author, constitute the sum total of his faith. They are, in the order of their treatment by him, the following:

• The world is created;
• God is one and incorporeal;
• belief in revelation (including the divine origin of tradition);
• man is called to righteousness and endowed with all necessary qualities of mind and soul to avoid sin;
• belief in reward and punishment:
• the soul is created pure; after death it leaves the body;
• belief in resurrection;
• Messianic expectation, retribution, and final judgment.

Rabbi Hasdai Ben Avraham Crescas (1340-1410ce)

Crescas proposed an alternative system in his book ‘Or Adonai’. According to Crescas, the central belief of Judaism – that God exists, is One and incorporeal – is in a separate category from other beliefs. In addition to this fundamental principle of Judaism there are three categories of beliefs, namely:

1. Fundamentals without which the Jewish religion is unimaginable:

• God’s knowledge of his creatures;
• God’s providence;
• God’s power;
• prophecy;
• human freewill; and
• the belief that the Torah leads to man’s true hope and ultimate bliss.

2. True opinions independent of precept and belief:

• creation;
• the immortality of the soul;
• reward and punishment;
• resurrection;
• the immutability of the Torah;
• Moses’ God-given authority;
• the belief that the High Priest had the oracle of Urim and Thummim; and
• the Messiah.

3. True opinions dependent on precept and belief:

• beliefs implied in prayer and the bless­ings of the priests;
• beliefs implied in repentance; and
• beliefs implied in Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) and other Jewish festivals.

In Crescas’ view, anyone who denies any of the fundamental beliefs or any of the true opinions is an unbeliever, yet the only dif­ference between these two categories is that the Jewish faith is inconceivable without the fundamental beliefs whereas it is imagin­able with the true opinions. These two categories are further supplemented by probabilities; these are opinions which are based on Jewish teaching which Crescas deduces as being valid. Yet, because these conclusions are neither obvious nor simple, they are not mandatory for Jewish believers. Many of these probabilities are expressed as questions:

• Is the world eternal?
• Are there many worlds?
• Are the spheres living creatures?
• Have the stars an influence over human destiny?
• Is there any efficacy to charms and amulets?
• Do demons exist?
• Is the doctrine of metempsychosis true?
• Is the soul of an infant immortal?
• Paradise and Hell.
• Are the mystical doctrines of Maaseh Bereshit (work of creation), and Maaseh Merkavah (work of the heavenly chariot) to be identified with physics and meta­physics?
• The nature of comprehension.
• The First Cause.
• Can the true nature of God be understood?

Rabbi Joseph Albo (1380-1445)

Rabbi Joseph Albo reduces the articles to three fundamental principles:

1. Existence of God:

• Comprehension of God’s unity,
• His incorporeality,
• His eternity,
• and of the fact of His being the object of man’s worship.

2. Revelation:

• Comprehension of prophecy,
• of Moses as supreme authority,
• of the divine origin and immutability of the Law.

3. Retribution:

• Comprehension of the divine judgment and of Resurrection.

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Albo concludes his discussion of the principles of Judaism [in his book ‘The book of Principles (Sefer ha-Ikkarim)’] by contending that there are eight derivative principles which branch out from the three major principles of the faith. Together with the belief in the existence of God, divine revelation, and reward and punishment, these derivative beliefs constitute the indispensable elements of the divine law.

Four of these derivative principles pertain to the existence of God:

• divine unity;
• divine incorporeality;
• God’s independence from time; and
• divine perfection.

Three other derivative principles are related to revelation:

• God’s knowledge as embracing the terrestrial world;
• prophecy; and
• the authenticity of divine messengers proclaiming the law.

Finally, the eighth derivative principle is concerned with the notion of reward and punishment:

• providence.

In addition to these central beliefs (the three essential, and the eight derivative, principles), Albo states that there are six dogmas which everyone who professes the law of Moses is obliged to accept – anyone who denies them is a heretic who has no share in the world to come. However, they are not referred to as principles of the faith since, in Albo’s opinion, the only beliefs entitled to be designated as fundamental principles are those without which the Jewish faith is inconceivable. These six further beliefs, or dogmas, are:

• creatio ex nihilo;
• the superiority of Moses’ prophecy;
• the immutability of the Torah;
• human perfection can be attained by fulfilling even one of the commandments of the Torah;
• the resurrection of the dead; and
• the Messiah.

Rabbi Joseph Ben Hayyim Jabez

Rabbi Joseph Ben Hayyim Jabez was an opponent of philosophy. For him the truth of the Jewish religion is demonstrated by the miracles recorded in the Bible. He criticizes the thirteen articles of faith of Maimonides, the six of Rabbi Hasdai Crescas, and the three of Rabbi Joseph Albo. According to him, only the following three, alluded to in the verse “I am that I am” (Ex. 3:14), are the fundamental principles of Judaism:

• that God is one;
• that He governs the world;
• that in the end all mankind will believe in His unity.