In the previous entry I mentioned Maimonides’s Credo Ani Maamin as the Jewish Profession of Faith, to be recited as such by all observant Jews. In case I am contradicted by those who, with some justification, would point to the Biblical Shema Yisroel (Devarim/Deuteronomy 6:4) as the more common Profession of Faith, I am not going to argue. However, I will retort that the well known phrase “Shema Yisroel: Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Ehad” is a more symbolic and non-specific expression of the Jewish connection with God than the Maimonides formulation, which incorporates the principal Credo of Rabbinical Judaism, totally absent from the Torah.
To make my point perfectly clear, here is the longer excerpt from the Torah (Devarim/Deuteronomy 6:4-9), which is regarded by all Orthodox Jews as a specific religious instruction accounting for their obligatory use of the Tefillin and the Mezuzot. Mind you, only the first sentence is counted as the proper “Credo,” whereas the rest of it is known among the Orthodox as the “Child’s Shema,” the first prayer the child must learn and recite every day:
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God; the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your means. And these words, which I command you this day, shall be upon your heart; and you shall teach them to your sons and speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up; and you shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for ornaments between your eyes; and you shall inscribe them upon the doorposts of your house and upon your gates.”
Notice, that there is obviously no mention of the Zionist Dream here, nor of the key Jewish concept of the last two thousand years, that of the Mashiach. So here now is Maimonides’s Credo Ani Maamin:
Thirteen Principles of Faith.
1. I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, Blessed be His Name, is the Creator and Guide of everything that has been created; He alone has made, does make, and will make all things.
2. I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, Blessed be His Name, is One, and that there is no unity in any manner like His, and that He alone is our God, who was, and is, and will be.
3. I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, Blessed be His Name, has no body, and that He is free from all the properties of matter, and that there can be no (physical) comparison to Him whatsoever.
4. I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, Blessed be His Name, is the first and the last.
5. I believe with perfect faith that to the Creator, Blessed be His Name, and to Him alone it is right to pray, and that it is not right to pray to any being besides Him.
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 our teacher, peace be upon him, was true and that he was the chief of the prophets, both those who preceded him and those who followed him.
8. I believe with perfect faith that the entire Torah that is now in our possession is the same that was given to Moses our teacher, peace be upon him.
9. I believe with perfect faith that this Torah will not be exchanged, and that there will never be any other Torah from the Creator, Blessed be His Name.
10. I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, Blessed be His Name, knows all the deeds of human beings and all their thoughts, as it is written, “Who fashioned the hearts of them all, Who comprehends all their actions.“(Psalms 33:15)
11. I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, Blessed be His Name, rewards those who keep His commandments and punishes those that transgress them.
12. I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Messiah; and even though he may tarry, nonetheless, I wait every day for his coming.
13. I believe with perfect faith that there will be a revival of the dead at the time when it shall please the Creator, Blessed be His name, and His mention shall be exalted for ever and ever.
It was this Maimonides Credo, Ani Maamin, that was adapted and sung as the “Hymn of the Camps” during the Holocaust, as the Jews prepared themselves and walked to imminent death as martyrs for faith. Today it is still sung at the Jewish religious services around the world. In my opinion, the basic difference between the Shema and Ani Maamin is that the one has come to signify the Jews as a people, while the other reflects their religious identity. It is terribly ironic that it is the Torah portion which is in practical terms associated with race, while the Maimonides Credo has primarily religious significance… Well, after all, Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon does represent Rabbinical Judaism, the one practiced today by the Orthodox Jews, whereas the Torah, and Torah Judaism, have not been practiced for two thousand years, and thus have retained mostly symbolic, impractical, extra-religious, and therefore, secular-friendly value.
To make my point perfectly clear, here is the longer excerpt from the Torah (Devarim/Deuteronomy 6:4-9), which is regarded by all Orthodox Jews as a specific religious instruction accounting for their obligatory use of the Tefillin and the Mezuzot. Mind you, only the first sentence is counted as the proper “Credo,” whereas the rest of it is known among the Orthodox as the “Child’s Shema,” the first prayer the child must learn and recite every day:
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God; the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your means. And these words, which I command you this day, shall be upon your heart; and you shall teach them to your sons and speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up; and you shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for ornaments between your eyes; and you shall inscribe them upon the doorposts of your house and upon your gates.”
Notice, that there is obviously no mention of the Zionist Dream here, nor of the key Jewish concept of the last two thousand years, that of the Mashiach. So here now is Maimonides’s Credo Ani Maamin:
Thirteen Principles of Faith.
1. I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, Blessed be His Name, is the Creator and Guide of everything that has been created; He alone has made, does make, and will make all things.
2. I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, Blessed be His Name, is One, and that there is no unity in any manner like His, and that He alone is our God, who was, and is, and will be.
3. I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, Blessed be His Name, has no body, and that He is free from all the properties of matter, and that there can be no (physical) comparison to Him whatsoever.
4. I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, Blessed be His Name, is the first and the last.
5. I believe with perfect faith that to the Creator, Blessed be His Name, and to Him alone it is right to pray, and that it is not right to pray to any being besides Him.
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 our teacher, peace be upon him, was true and that he was the chief of the prophets, both those who preceded him and those who followed him.
8. I believe with perfect faith that the entire Torah that is now in our possession is the same that was given to Moses our teacher, peace be upon him.
9. I believe with perfect faith that this Torah will not be exchanged, and that there will never be any other Torah from the Creator, Blessed be His Name.
10. I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, Blessed be His Name, knows all the deeds of human beings and all their thoughts, as it is written, “Who fashioned the hearts of them all, Who comprehends all their actions.“(Psalms 33:15)
11. I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, Blessed be His Name, rewards those who keep His commandments and punishes those that transgress them.
12. I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Messiah; and even though he may tarry, nonetheless, I wait every day for his coming.
13. I believe with perfect faith that there will be a revival of the dead at the time when it shall please the Creator, Blessed be His name, and His mention shall be exalted for ever and ever.
It was this Maimonides Credo, Ani Maamin, that was adapted and sung as the “Hymn of the Camps” during the Holocaust, as the Jews prepared themselves and walked to imminent death as martyrs for faith. Today it is still sung at the Jewish religious services around the world. In my opinion, the basic difference between the Shema and Ani Maamin is that the one has come to signify the Jews as a people, while the other reflects their religious identity. It is terribly ironic that it is the Torah portion which is in practical terms associated with race, while the Maimonides Credo has primarily religious significance… Well, after all, Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon does represent Rabbinical Judaism, the one practiced today by the Orthodox Jews, whereas the Torah, and Torah Judaism, have not been practiced for two thousand years, and thus have retained mostly symbolic, impractical, extra-religious, and therefore, secular-friendly value.
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