13 beliefs of Maimonides

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As the 13 principles of Maimonides ( Hebrew הַעִקָּרים לְפִי הַרמב"ם; "Ha-Ikkarim lefi ha-Rambam", traditionally "Schelosch essre Ikkarim") is the name given to the central doctrines of Judaism set out by Maimonides in his Mishna commentary.

Characteristics, reception, historical development

They consist of a series of basic statements about the Jewish religion ( Hebrew עִיקָּרֵי הַאֱמוּנָה הַיְהוּדִית) and were formulated by Maimonides in his Mishnah commentary (Kitāb al-Sirāj, Tractate Sanhedrín, Chapter 10, 1, Introduction to Pereq Heleq). They were u. a. Compiled from Talmudic sources.

These principles, which in the opinion of some opponents are not inherent in Judaism - in particular the resurrection, which was previously completely alien to Judaism - and in general the idea of ​​being able to set up binding "dogmas" for Judaism, were very controversial and immediately led to severe criticism. so by the rabbis Isaak Abrabanel , Abraham ben David von Posquières , Chasdaj Crescas and Josef Albo . In his main work Sefer ha-Iqqarim, the latter proposed a reduction to 3 principles (God, revelation, retribution), which, however, should not be understood as “dogmatization”.

The Maimonid Iqqarim were ignored by parts of the Jewish community in the centuries that followed. For Orthodox Judaism they are still valid today. These principles are portrayed in a poetic way in the Jigdal . In the form of a creed ("I believe ...") they are first documented in a Venetian Haggada from 1566.

The beliefs

  1. Existence of God
  2. His unit
  3. Its incorporeality
  4. His eternity
  5. The duty to worship him alone
  6. The fact of prophecy
  7. The superiority of the prophecy of Moses over that of all other prophets
  8. The divinity of the Torah
  9. Your immutability
  10. The divine omniscience
  11. Wages and punishment
  12. The coming of the Messiah
  13. The resurrection

Text editions and translations

  • Joshua Abelson: Maimonides, Commentary on the Mishnah, Introduction to Ḥelek. In: J. David Bleich (Ed.): With Perfect Faith: The Foundations of Jewish Belief , Ktav Pub. House, New York, NY 1983, ISBN 0-87068-891-X , 21-50.
  • Israel Friedländer (Ed.): Selections from the arabic writings of Maimonides , Leiden 1901, reprint 1951, 28f. (Arabic text)
  • Manuel (Manni) Gottlieb: Pērūš ha-Mišnā , Mose ben Maimon's Commentary on the Mishnah, Tractate Sanhedrin. In a new Hebrew translation from the Arabic original, Hanover 1906, 49–55.
  • Jerzy Holzer: Moses Maimunis Introduction to Cheleq / On the history of dogma in the Jewish religious philosophy of the Middle Ages , Poppelauer, Berlin 1901. (Arabic and Hebrew text and German translation) ( digitized , e-text Hebrew )
  • Yosef Kafih (ed.): Mishnah im Peirush Rabbeinu Moshe ben Maimon , vol. 4, Mossad ha-Rav Kook, Jerusalem 1964, 211. (Hebrew text)
  • Josef Maier: [Introduction] On the person and work of Moses ben Maimon. In the S. (Ed.): Moses Maimonides. Leader of the Undecided , ed. and over. Adolf Weiss , Vol. 1, Meiner, Hamburg, 2nd ed. 1972, xi-civ, xli-xlviii. (German translation)
  • MD Rabinowitz (ed.): Hakdamot le-Feirush ha-Mishnah , Mossad ha-Rav Kook, Jerusalem 1961, 137f. (Hebrew text)
  • Fred Rosner : Maimonides' commentary on the Mishnah, Tractate Sanhedrin , Sepher-Hermon Press, New York 1981, 134–158 (ed. And transl.)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cf. Isaac Yishak Abravanel: Rosh Amanah , Tel Aviv 1958, in English translation: Isaac Abravanel: Principles of Faith (Rosh Amanah) , ed. and over. Menachem M. Kellner, London-Toronto 1982.
  2. ↑ Cf. Alexander Altmann : Articles of faith , in: Encyclopaedia Judaica 2nd ed. Vol. 2 (2007), 529-532, 530.