13 Ikarim (Principles of Faith), Class One. As part of the Siddur series and in conjunction with the meditation of אדון עולם we decided to explore the י”ג עקרי האמונה. We talked about the אריז”ל’s issue (not with the content, but) with the Nusach of the 13 Ikarim (whoever wrote them had no connection to “Sod”), but the ideas are from the RaMbaM and are true. We read the 13 אני מאמין’s inside.
13 Ikarim (Principles of Faith), Class One.
13 Ikarim (Principles of Faith), Class Two. We read an English translation of each of the first five Ikarim and compared and contrasted them to the language of the אני מאמין and יגדל there are quite a few discrepancies. Ikar One: Hashem is the Creator, we need Him He doesn’t need us. Ikar Two: Hashem is one and not a divisible or unified one, but an absolute One. Ikar Three: Hashem has no body or body-like aspects (in my opinion this is the idea of מציאות בלתי מציאות נמצא) Ikar Four: He is the only eternal being; i. e. above time. [the question of יש מאין is briefly addressed here]. Ikar Five: He’s the only One with any power, and we should Daven ONLY to Him, this offsets the ideas of עבודה זרה.
13 Ikarim (Principles of Faith), Class Two.
13 Ikarim (Principles of Faith), Class Three. We read an English translation of each of the next four Ikarim and compared and contrasted them to the language of the אני מאמין and יגדל there are quite a few discrepancies. Ikar Six: Prophecy is real: man can raise himself to the extent that he earned (and deserves) a conscious intimate connection to Hashem. Ikar Seven: Moshe is the greatest a Prophet could (possibly) be; and he is “the Father of all the Prophets” [this means he gives them credibility כמבואר בהלכות יסודי התורה שאמונתינו בנבואה אינו מפני האות והמופת אלא מפני שאנו עדות לנבואת משה שעינינו ראו ולא זר וכו]. Ikar Eight: The Torah WE HAVE is the one Hashem gave there are no mistakes and it cannot be changed at all. Ikar Nine: The Torah is forever and there will never be a new one: the one we have He will never replace or modify.
13 Ikarim (Principles of Faith), Class Three.
13 Ikarim (Principles of Faith), Class Four. We read an English translation of each of the last four Ikarim and compared and contrasted them to the language of the אני מאמין and יגדל there are quite a few discrepancies. Ikar Ten: He knows what man is doing; is primarily about ידיעה and not about knowing secrets (which is really not such a big deal). Ikar Eleven: Reward and Punishment, including עולם הבא and כרת; that isn’t so emphasized in the יגדל and אני מאמין. Ikar Twelve: Waiting (and expecting) for Moshiach every day; and don’t calculate קיצים. Moshiach is from Dovid’s children from Shlomo’s branch of that family. Ikar Thirteen: Why the RaMbaM says so little (here) about תחיית המתים. The only real discussion in the RaMbaM (though it is in הלכות תשובה and here (and more) is in אגרת תחיית המתים. The reason why he has nothing more to say יש לומר בדרך אפשר because it is (לשיטתו) part of ימות המשיח so people can live again and do more מצוות so that יזכו לחיי העולם הבא. So, in his opinion it is “only” a means to an end and therefore he has not that much to say.
