I Believe

Rabbi Irwin Wiener, D.D.


Many times I hear from different people with different attitudes and histories indicating that it is not necessary to do many things that are expected regarding faith observance because all that is needed is to believe.

“I believe in God, what more is needed?” “I am a good person, isn’t that enough?” Both questions sound logical on the surface but actually difficult to answer. We observe different customs because of background or location and then change them to fit our present requirements. Some enhance those traditions by strict observance and some dilute them by saying that they are old fashioned and hold no relevance in today’s world.

We even excuse the lack of response by finding excuses such as,”The laws of Kashrut were originated for health and cleanliness. Now that we have refrigeration and health inspections, etc. it is no longer necessary.” That’s just one example. There are many more.

I am reminded about a man who lived in the 12th century. He was called The Rambam, an acronym for his real name, Rabbi Moshe Ben Maimon. He was better known as Maimonides. He was a physician, philosopher and rabbi. His feats were many, primarily in the field of medicine and Torah. In fact some of his medical pronouncements are still used today. He promoted and developed philosophical traditions of Aristotle. Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas were among the notables of Western readers of the Rambam. There was an equal legion of Torah scholars who embraced his writings on Talmud and explanations of Scripture.

Because of his worldly appeal and his love of philosophy he was criticized by his peers and even threatened with ex-communication. He sat down, and among his most notable writings we find the Thirteen Principles of Faith. It is a digest of all the laws of Judaism and their significance to human values and our relationship to God.

These principles are repeated time and again in many different ways. You can find them in song and prayers and poems. They are repeated on the lips of the devout as well as the martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the sake of their faith.

1. I believe with perfect faith that God is the Creator and Ruler of all things. He alone has made, does make, and will make all things.
2. I believe with perfect faith that God is One. There is no unity that is in any way like His. He alone is our God He was, He is, and He will be.
3. I believe with perfect faith that God does not have a body; physical concepts do not apply to Him. There is nothing whatsoever that resembles Him at all.
4. I believe with perfect faith that God is first and last.
5. I believe with perfect faith that it is only proper to pray to God. One may not pray to anyone or anything else.
6. I believe with perfect faith that all the words of the Prophets are true.
7. I believe with perfect faith that the prophecy of Moses is absolutely true. He was the chief of all prophets, both before and after him.
8. I believe with perfect faith that the entire Torah that we now have is that which was given to Moses.
9. I believe with perfect faith that this Torah will not be changed, and that there will never be another given by God.
10. I believe with perfect faith that God knows all of man’s deeds and thoughts. It is thus written (Psalm 33:15), “He has molded every heart together. He understands what each one does.”
11. I believe with perfect faith that God rewards those who keep His commandments, and punishes those who transgress them.
12. I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Messiah. How long it takes, I will wait His coming every day.
13. I believe with perfect faith that the dead will be brought back to life when God wills it to happen.

There are many who will dispute some of these beliefs because they seem foreign in today’s understanding of God and religion. As time progresses so does our thinking and our understanding of life and its origins and its finality.

Each generation goes through its battles with beliefs. Each generation has its standards of these beliefs. Each generation goes through adjustments of thought. And each generation proclaims its commitment in ways that may seem strange to generations past and even stranger to the generations that will follow.

This does not mean that each was right or wrong. What it does mean that just as we have alternative concepts of God we alter the traditions to fit those notions. God gave us the ability to think and choose. That is why change is not a repudiation of the past but rather an enhancement. We could not have modern ideas if they were not preceded by ancient heritages.

We began communicating with each other with fire followed by drums succeeded by wireless and then came the telephone and cell phones and computers and who knows what will follow. Does that make fire less important? NO, because we have found a way to harness that flame to create warmth for comfort and enjoyment. We just moved forward with the help of what was.

So saying, “I believe in God” is not as bad as it sounds as long as it is accompanied by further clarification through word and deed. We all can’t be as firm in our faith as Maimonides and we all can’t sit down and write thirteen principles of faith. It is important to remember that we come together as we do for prayer and meditation to proclaim some belief because we know that without faith there can be no future.
Faith is just not belief in God. Faith is also confidence in ourselves. Faith is loyalty to family. Faith is being in love. Faith is all these things and more. We round it out with an expectation of a benevolence that we understand to be God.

If we all knew the true essence of God what would we be? Part of the mystery of life is the mystery of our birth and the mystery of our continuation after death. Faith is trust. The Hebrew word Shechina indicates a “presence or manifestation” and allows us to imagine the meaning of God without really knowing the reality of God because we can never really know God. This is the beauty of faith: The imagination of magnificence.

Maimonides searched for this reality and came to his conclusions after a life time of learning and teaching and applying his craft as given to him by God. We may not be as extensive in our search but we know that each of us has the ability to reach heights that seem unreachable because of two simple words: “I believe.”