A - The Nature of Belief in God
1.
God's Existence. There is no partnership in creation. God
is the sole Creator and the universe continues to exist
only because He wills it so...
2. God is a complete and total
Unity. He is not a collection of limbs and organs, as are
man and animals. He cannot be split as can a rock or divided
into component elements as can everything in Creation. This
is the concept expressed in the first verse of the Shema.
[ed. note- the Shema is the prayer which expresses the core
belief of Judaism: "Hear, o Israel, the Lord is our
God, the Lord is One. Blessed be the name of His glorious
Kingdom forever and ever.]
3. God is not physical nor
can His essence be grasped by the Human imagination... [ed.
note- God is infinite; we are finite; it is physically impossible
for a finite construction such as the human mind to contain
a concept of the infinite like God's essence]
4. God is eternal and the First
Source. Everything in the created universe has a moment
when it came into existence; by definition no creature can
be infinite. God transcends time, however, because time
itself is His creation.
5. Prayers should be directed
to God It is tempting to beseech the angels or such mighty
forces as the sun or constellations, because God has entrusted
them with carrying out His will. None of them have any power
independent of what God assigns them. Therefore, prayers
should only be directed towards God Himself
B - Authenticity of the Torah, its
validity and immutability.
6.
God communicates with man. In order for man to carry out
his divinely ordered mission, he must know what it is. Prophecy
is the means by which God communicates His wishes to man.
It is a gift that man can attain upon reaching heights of
self-perfection.
7. Moses' prophecy is unique.
Moses' prophecy is not only true, but of a quality unapproached
by that of any prophet before or since. It is essential
that his prophecy be unrivaled so that no later 'prophet'
could ever claim that he had received a 'Torah' that was
superior to that of Moses.
8. The entire Torah is God-given.
Every word in the Torah was dictated to Moses by God There
is no difference between [the apparently trivial verses]
and [the awesomely important verses]. Moreover, the same
applies to the Oral Law that explains the Torah. All was
given by God to Moses.
9. The Torah is unchangeable.
Since both the Written and Oral Law were God-given, they
cannot be improved upon in any way.
C - Man's Responsibility and Ultimate
Reward
10. God knows man's thoughts
and deeds. Man's individual deeds are important to God and
so are the hopes and thoughts that drive him. God is aware
of everything man thinks and does.
11. Reward and punishment.
No one acts in a vacuum and no deed goes unrewarded or unpunished.
This includes that one cannot cancel out a bad deed with
a good one. Each is treated independently.
12. The Messiah will come.
We are to conduct our lives according to the Torah and remain
faithful that the Messiah will come at the time deemed by
God to be proper. This faith includes the principle that
only the David dynasty [ed. note- decedents of King David]
will provide the Messianic King. [ed. note- the Messiah
will be a human being, not in any way divine.]
13. The dead will live again
in the Messianic era, when the world will attain a new spiritual
and physical level of perfection. Those who have not been
found too unworthy to enter this exalted state will live
again to enjoy it. [ed. note- Judaism holds that the righteous
of other faiths will also enjoy these rewards]
