Thirteen from One
Judaism is obsessed with G-d’s unity. Yet there are 13 Principles of Faith. In truth, all of these 13 emerge from one principle.
Connecting the 13 Principles to the Shema
Of all the Parshios (Torah portions) of the Torah, this week’s, Vo’eschanan, contains the two most fundamental selections of the entire Torah: The Ten Commandments (which appears here for the second time) and the Shema.
While the Ten Commandments focus primarily on the most basic norms of behavior, the Shema emphasizes the most important tenets of our faith. Maimonides formulated thirteen principles of faith, which form the basis of Judaism.
The Jerusalem Talmud finds all of the Ten Commandments mentioned or alluded to in the Shema. With some effort we can trace many, if not all, of the 13 principles of faith as well in the Shema.
The First Five Principles
“Hear o Israel, the L-rd is our G-d, the L-rd is one.” First and foremost the Shema affirms that there is a G-d. Second, the Shema establishes the principle of G-d’s unity:
“G-d is one”—the first two principles of faith.
From the principle that G-d is one, one can derive the third principle that G-d has no physical form, because everything physical is a composite of many parts. If G-d is truly one, then there can be no composition in Him.
The fifth principle that precludes worshipping any other entity besides G-d, is implied in the belief that G-d is one.
Furthermore, even the fourth principle that the universe was created by G-d, whereas G-d was always here, can also be inferred from the belief in G-d’s unity. If the universe were to have shared G-d’s eternal nature, then there would have been two eternal and, therefore, absolute beings.
Thus, the first five principles of Judaism, the existence of G-d, His unity, incorporeality, eternality and the negation of worshipping anything else are all contained in the Shema.
The Sixth and Seventh Principle
The Shema also stresses how G-d is “our G-d, declaring thus that G-d has a special relationship with us. There is no area where this relationship is more obvious than in prophecy—the sixth principle.
But even within the framework of prophecy, Moses enjoyed its most intimate form. G-d communicated to him “face to face.”
This encapsulates the sixth and seventh principle establishing the role of prophecy and the uniqueness of Moses’ form of prophecy.
Eighth and Ninth Principle
The eighth and ninth principles of faith enunciated by Maimonides that the Torah is Divine and that it can never be altered, are alluded to in the latter part of the Shema:
“And these words that I have commanded you today, shall be upon your heart.”
“These words that I have commanded you,” refers to the Divine source of the words of the Torah. Furthermore, the word “today,”
our Sages tell us, teaches us that every day the teachings of the Torah shall be as if they were given that very day — the principle that the words of the Torah are eternal.
The Tenth and Eleventh Principle
The tenth principle of faith is: G-d knows all of our actions and has not divorced Himself from the world.
This principle is implicit in the words: “Our G-d” in the Shema; i.e., G-d is aware of our actions.
But, even more explicitly, this principle, as well as the eleventh one that G-d rewards and punishes us for our actions, is stated in the second, follow up paragraph to the Shema (that appears in next week’s Parsha, but is always recited together with the Shema).
Twelfth Principle
The twelfth principle of faith, the belief in and anticipation for the coming of the Moshiach, according to Rashi, is implied in the very first verse of the Shema. “Hear o Israel, the L-rd who is presently our G-d, recognized by the Jewish people, will eventually become “one G-d” for all of humankind in the future Messianic Era.
The Thirteenth Principle
One of the sources for the thirteenth principle of faith, that the Dead will come back to life at some point in the Messianic Age, has been traced by the Talmud to the second part of the Shema:
“So that your days and the days of your children shall be multiplied on the land that G-d swore to give to your ancestors…”
Those ancestors did not have possession of the land, and yet the Torah suggests that they will receive their portion. This teaches us that the dead will be brought back to life and will claim their share in the Land of Israel.
If we delve more deeply into the Shema we can find a hint, although remote, to the principle of the Resurrection of the Dead.
The Torah cmmands us to love G-d with all our soul. The Tlamud translates this to mean that we are to die rather than betray our allegiance to one G-d.
This begs a question.
Why would martyrs, about whom the Talmud states there I no one who can close to them in the afterlife in the spiritual world of Paradise. How could it be that these people will not enjoy the joy and benefits of the Final Redemption?
This is the logical basis for the Resurrection which is when all will return to this physical world, especially the ones whose lives were cut short because of their self-sacrifice for G- d’s unity, the very essence of the Shema.
The irony is even more pronounced when we consider the fact that the Shema, according to Rashi cited above, is about how G-d’s unity will become pervasive in the future Redemption. How then can we accept that those people who died to uphold G-d’s unity will not live to see how G-d’s unity will spread to the entire world?
In light of the above we can see how, in essence, the all of the 13 principles derive from one principle: G-d’s unity. All of the principles point to one objective: that the entire world should witness and experience how G-d’s unity is absolute. There will not be even one person who will not know G-d’s unity. Every fiber of a person’s consciousness will be aware of His absolute oneness. In the words of the prophet, even “every flesh shall see the mouth of G-d that has spoken.” Chassidic explains that every being will see the Divine in everything.
From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Voeschanan by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
