According to many commentators and authorities, the opening words of the Ten Commandments include the mitzvah of emunah. In a celebrated passage in his commentary on the Torah, Rav Avraham Ibn-Ezra quotes a question of Rav Yehuda Halevi regarding the wording of the first commandment. Why, he asked, does the Torah say "I am your G-d who took you out of Egypt" and not "I am your G-d who created the world."?
The answer to the question appears in the classic philosophical work of Rav Yehuda Helevi, the Kuzari. In it, he explains that G-d is inaccessible to us except through historical events by which we can come to know Him. Therefore the description of G-d as He who took us out of Egypt is not an incidental fact about G-d but rather the only way that we can approach Him. The G-d we speak of is the G-d Who we have confronted through history.
The Rambam takes a very different approach. His magnum opus, the Mishneh Torah, opens with the following statement:
"The basis of all bases and the pillar of all wisdom is the knowledge that there is a first Being who brought all into being… and if it could be imagined that He did not exist, nothing else could exist. This being is Lord of the Universe, Master of the World." After this description of G-d, he adds "The knowledge of this is a positive mitzvah, as it is written "I am the Lord your G-d." (Chapter 1, Halacha 6).
The contrast with the Kuzari is clear. Rambam does not see the end of the verse "who took you out of Egypt" as directly connect to belief in G-d. He emphasizes philosophical statements about the transcendent G-d, rather than a G-d who we learn of through historical events transmitted by tradition. Achieving knowledge of G-d is ultimately a challenge to every individual, who must come to emunah through his own efforts. Thus, Rambam sets a higher ideal of emunah, one which should not be based on historical memory but on a personal quest.
However, Rambam was aware of the difficulty of this path toward faith. In his philosophical work Guide of the Perplexed (1:33-35), he explains the difficulty for a person to achieve knowledge of G-d by one's own efforts. This path is difficult, time-consuming, and requires preparation and maturity. Therefore, says Rambam, the way of tradition is a way by which most people - those who are unable to discover G-d on their own - can take part in emunah. (This understanding of the first commandment also appears in the famous work on the 613 mitzvot, Sefer haChinuch).
This awareness is probably the basis for Rambam's well-known expansion of the category of the Talmudic notion of "captive baby" (tinok shenishbah), in which he explains that the children of Karaites, who were not exposed to the traditions of the Oral Law, should not be seen as excluded from the Jewish people (Hilchot Mamrim [Laws of Rebels] Chapter 3). If tradition is the way most people are expected to learn about G-d and Torah, people cut off from it are not to be blamed for their deficiencies.
What does this say for our generation? Which way to emunah - historical/traditional or personal/reflective - is appropriate for us? Perhaps (as Rav Kook suggests) the way one proceeds toward emunah is less important than the inner experience and awareness of the Infinite. This is a question to ponder as we again approach Har Sinai on Shavuot and try to recreate the experience of Matan Torah.
Rav Dr. Kalman Neuman
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Rav Kalman Neuman teaches at Yeshivat Bat Ayin. He studied at Yeshivat Merkaz Harav and Yeshivat Har Etzion, and holds a Ph.D. in European History from the Hebrew University. |