In this week’s perasha the Jewish people witnessed the revelation of Hashem at Mount Sinai. It was at this juncture that the Ten Commandments were transmitted and as taught in the Talmud (Makot 24a), it was the first two that were uttered by Hashem Himself. Focusing our attention to the first commandment we see that the Torah states: “I am Hashem your G-d, Who has taken you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery” (Yitro 20:2).
There are interesting commentaries that deal with the first commandment, with some stating that it is not part of the Decalogue but rather is just an opening statement, while others hold that it inherently is a specific commandment.
For example the Abarbanel (1437-1508) echoes the sentiment of the Maharal (1520-1609) by explaining that the first directive of “I am Hashem your G-d” holds within it no practical instruction, neither positive nor negative, but is just a preface to the Jewish people indicating where the rest of the directives are coming from. It is a testimony of truth of Hashem being the Creator of the universe.
The Rambam (1135-1204) has a different perspective and it is on his understanding that we will look to explore. The Rambam holds that having faith in Hashem is the first of the 248 positive mitzvot just the same way as refuting Hashem’s existence is the first of the 365 prohibitions placed on man. The first commandment of “I am Hashem your G-d” is to belief in Hashem. Here is the excerpt from his Sefer Hamitzvot which outlines the principle: “The first mitzvah is that He commanded us to believe in the Divine Being, that is, that there is a cause and motive force behind all existing things. This idea is expressed in the statement “I am Hashem, your G-d” (Sefer Hamitzvot, Mitzvah I).
The uniqueness of the above explanation becomes revealed when we view an alternate statement made by the Rambam which states: “It constitutes the most fundamental of fundamentals and pillar of all sciences to know that there is a first cause bringing into existence all existing things, and that all that exists on heaven and earth and between them exists only through the truth of His existence…The knowledge of this concept constitutes a positive precept as it is said “I am Hashem your G-d” and whomever it enters his mind to think that there is any other god besides Him, transgresses a negative precept as it said “Thou shall have no other gods before me” and repudiates a fundamental principle since this is the most important principle on which everything depends” (Yesodei Hatorah I, 6).
Both explanations given to us by the Rambam focus on recognizing that Hashem exists, yet in the Sefer Hamitzvot the obligation is accomplished through belief in Hashem while in the Yesodei Hatorah the obligation is expressed via knowledge of Hashem. How do we explain what is our obligation – do we say that we need to believe in Hashem or do we say that we need to know Hashem? Furthermore, is not our religion one of belief alone? For once we say we know Hashem than with that, have we not taken away free choice? Let us see if we can probe deeper to uncover a direction.
What we first need to do is define the context of what we mean by belief and knowledge. The way we understand belief is whereby we have a strong sense of something being true without actually knowing it to be true, while knowledge is based on information which has been verified and accepted as such. Now if we say that a belief is someone’s feelings on a subject regardless of facts then even if it is right, it was nothing more than blind luck since it is not based on something of merit. It is this type of belief which has no anchor into anything of substance and therefore can not divulge any inner clarity. When we say that there is Hashem in the world, it is a statement of information that we wish to convey which needs to be anchored in some sort of knowledge. Yet, when we contemplate Judaism, it has always been one based on belief, of those that have faith in our Creator. So on one side, we consider that if there is no evidence for something then why should I believe it? On the other side if my belief is something that is anchored in what is known, why should it be called belief? It should be called knowledge.
These concepts become extremely important when considering that the first commandment is a positive precept to fulfill. If we say that the obligation is to believe in Hashem, yet there is no anchor of truth then we could ask – why should we believe at all?
If we say that we can demonstrate Hashem’s existence then it is not a belief which fulfills our obligation but instead it is the knowledge of Hashem which fulfills it. Extending this point to a practical level we must define what is required of this first positive commandment in order to make its fulfillment a meaningful one.
The Rambam’s initially explained that the fulfilling of this obligation is that we need to believe in Hashem which in Hebrew is called having emunah. We are able to answer the Rambam’s seemingly conflicting explanations of believing and knowing Hashem by accurately defining the word emunah. Rabbi Akiva Tatz Shlita is able to unravel our quandary by telling us exactly what emunah is. Once understood in its proper context, our problem of resolving these two Rambam’s on belief and knowledge of Hashem disappears.
The root word of emunah is ne’eman which means to be loyal or faithful. We see clearly that in its usage in Torah, its definition is in this context of loyalty or faith and not belief. We see in the Torah when discussing the Jewish war with Amalek and how the Jews would win when Moshe’s hands were up and how they would begin to lose if his hands went down, it states “Vayehi yadav emunah ad ba hashemesh” (Beshalach 17:12) which means “And Moshe’s hands were loyal until the sun went down”. This is means that Moshe’s hands stayed loyal to remaining where they were and it could not be translated any other way.
We see also that when the Torah conveys Hashem speaking to Avraham and promising him children, it states “V’heemin Hashem” (Lech Lecha 15:6). This cannot be understood as Avraham believed in Hashem since it was Hashem that was speaking to Avraham directly which means that Avraham as a prophet doesn't need to believe – he knows Hashem! The meaning then is that Avraham was loyal to Hashem.
So why is this important and how does is relate to our subject? When we survey the world and our lives, when we see the everyday miracles that we take for granted and trample over, when we recognize that there is something more, something beyond, that is here and that I may be able to see or understand – will I remain loyal and faithful to that knowledge? Understanding the spiritual realm is not so much the challenge as remaining loyal to it.
Once we arrive at our loyalty to this knowledge we are able to then strive in our pursuit of it. We are now ready to interact with the world around us with a pristine scope. We can look to our origin and see the validation of truth. There is no other people that professes a direct revelation of G-d to them in their entirety. Three million Jewish people witnessed the experience of this revelation. Other religions that profess a revelation are confined to one witness who then conveyed the message. Could one even consider in the Sinai experience of the Jewish people that it was false, that would then mean that whole generation collaborated in a unified fashion on all the details of this “falsehood”! Three million people and there future generations, working together, without any dissent, to further a message which never had any basis?! This postulation is neither rational nor acceptable.
The first commandment is there to acknowledge that there is more here than meets the eye. It is for us stay loyal and faithful to the knowledge that a higher being lies hidden, and at the same time, remains so evident in our lives. It is in our loyalty and faithfulness to this knowledge that fuels our Torah learning and ultimately brings us close to Hashem.