The Universal Principles of Religion

By the grace of G-d
Copyright © 2014 Nathaniel Segal

The Jewish religion or a universal religion? – an essay by Nathaniel Segal

Maimonides actually calls his principles of faith the "Thirteen Principle Foundations of Religion." This how he introduces the text of these principles in his Commentary on the Mishnah. One assumes that Maimonides is referring to the Jewish religion.

However, Maimonides also authored the Code – the Mishneh Torah. In Chapter 10 of the "Laws of Kings and Their Wars," ruling 9, we learn:

We [Jews] do not allow them [Noahites] to establish a new religion or to create commandments of their own which originate in their own minds. Instead, either a Noahite becomes a righteous convert and accepts all the [613] commandments [that every Jew is expected to observe], or he/she should remain with the instructions designated for him/her and not add or subtract.

This suggests the possibility that Maimonides is describing the universal principles of religion in his Commentary on the Mishnah. Accordingly, if a religion exists which deviates from these principles, it is a false religion. Therefore, the principles of Noahide religion are the same as the principles of the Jewish religion. Granted that obligations differ between Jews and Noahites, but the belief system is the same.

(continued here from “The Thirteen Principles of Faith”)

Maimonides' Hebrew word that I'm translating as 'religion' is dat (daht). This word appears in the Bible 22 times with several related meanings. The appearances in the Books of Esther and Ezra are part of an Appendix to this page.

º In Deuteronomy, starting with chapter 33, verse 1, we read:

This is the blessing that Moses, the man of G-d, blessed the Israelites before his death, [33:2] so he said –

"The L-rd has come from [Mount] Sinai . . .

He shined out to them [the Israelites] from Se'ir . . .

He appeared [to the Israelites] from Mount Paran . . .

He came with thousands of holy attendants . . .

From His right hand He gave them [the Israelites] a fiery Law – dat (daht)."

• He has just come from greeting you, the Israelites, at your camp at the foot of Mount Sinai with instructions for preparing for the Giving of the Torah.

• Se'ir is the land of Esau and his descendants.
Why has G-d "shined out . . . from Se'ir?" First, he offered the Torah to Esau's family, but they refused.

• Why did He appeared to the Israelites from Mount Paran?
He offered the Torah to Ishmael's descendants, but they also refused.

• As a groom with his best men.

• "His right hand" - G-d engraved the Tablets of the Law (commonly called the "Ten Commandments") to give us. The "right hand" is a way of saying "hand over."

• What is "a fiery Law?."

After Mount Sinai was enveloped in fog, smoke began to engulf the mountain as if it were burning. Why? Because G-d was "revealing Himself" from within fire (Exodus 19:18). Again, why fire? As He tells us, "You, the House of Jacob and the Children of Israel [the Patriarch whose birth name was Jacob and then earned the name Israel], saw what I did to Egypt and how I carried you on the wings of eagles and that I brought you here to serve Me" (paraphrase of Exodus 19:3-4).

We humans, as flesh and blood, only see what G-d does. When He wishes to reveal Himself to us, He masks Himself in fog or smoke or fire. As humans, we don't see Him as we see the world around us. On the other hand, if we were to see Him, we would cease to exist – "No person will see Me and live" ().

"A fiery Law" is the Law of the Torah as given to the human race by an unseeable G-d.

The Tablets of the Law are a token of the full Revelation of G-d's Covenant. The full Covenant was then and is now written with black ink on white parchment as a single scroll, the Torah scroll. This is the Five Books of Moses – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. From the Greek language, these five books of the Bible are call the 'Pentateuch'.

The white parchment is like fire.

We believe in the literal words of Scripture on the one hand (of course). At the same time, we see how each letter (not to mention word) is surrounded on the sides, top, and bottom by the pure white, unmarked parchment. When we read and study the text, we realize that we are also supposed to study what "is written between the lines."

We Jews read a portion of the text of the Five Books of Moses weekly, finishing the reading during a year. However, the lessons "between the lines" are for each of us to learn in the course of a lifetime.

Accordingly, the Hebrew word dat in this context only means 'religion' in the sense of 'law'. This set of laws is G-d's Law, which we call Torah.

Appendix

º Then, the Hebrew word dat appears 20 times in the Book of Esther, sometimes in singular form and sometimes in the plural:

Verses

1:8, according to each person's inclination.
1:13, custom – description of who the King asked to assemble: those who know the Persian custom and law,
1:15, judgement – and the King asked these men who assembled before him, his seven closest ministers, naming them, to judge Vashti.
1:19, laws (plural) – advice to the King from advisor Memuchan to enact a law.
2:8, law – another law, to find the King a new queen.
2:12, custom – the customary preparation for preparing the young women for their "interview" with the King.
3:8 (twice), laws – Haman's unflattering description of how Jews stand out from other nations in the empire by having a unique set of laws for themselves and of how, allegedly, they don't follow the King's laws.
3:14-5, edict (order, command) – Haman's edict in the name of the King to loot and kill all Jews, to be sent to every province; also to immediately announce this order in the King's capital city.
4:3, edict (order, command) – the King's edict which Haman had composed.
4:8, edict (order, command) – to inform Queen Esther of this edict.
4:11, judgement – the law verdict declared against someone who approaches the King without his permission.
4:16, (not according to) law – Esther will break this law, approaching the King without his permission.
8:13-14, edict (order, command) – Mordechai's edict in the name of the King for Jews to take revenge against all who attack them.
8:17, edict (order, command) – wherever the King's announcement of his edict reaches.
9:1, edict (order, command) – the King's edict for Jews to overwhelm their enemies, and finally
9:13-4, edict (order, command) – one day's extention to continue the King's edict to fight the Jews' enemies in the capital city with a new order to permit Jews to hang the corpses of Haman's ten sons in public.

In the Book of Esther, then, the Hebrew word dat generally refers to legal issues. An 'edict' in its strictest sense refers to an oral decree or proclamation. The origin of a decree is from the king or in his name. On the other hand, the Hebrew word dat also means 'custom'. This suggests how Persian laws change according to the inclination of the king and his advisors. In the case of the Jews in the Persian Empire, the Hebrew word dat refers to Jewish laws. For Jews this is a religion – their devotional obligations to G-d. From the viewpoint of Persians (at least in Haman's eyes), Jews observe their own set of laws regardless of the king's laws.

º Lastly, the Hebrew word dat appears once in the Book of Ezra, chapter 8, verse 36. The equivalent Aramaic word data’ (DAH tah) also appears in the Book of Ezra, chapter 7, verses 12 and 21:

[7:11] The content of the decree (pahr SHEGG en) that was given to Ezra [both] the priest [and] the sage, sage of the proclamations of the L-rd's commandments and His laws over Israelites – [7:12] "[I,] Artachshast, King of Kings, [am declaring] to Ezra the priest, the accomplished sage of the Law (data’) of the Heavenly G-d. [7:13] I hereby give permission . . ."

[7:21] T

[8:36] T

This translation is based more on the commentary Metzudat David by Rabbi Yechiel (yuh KHEE uhl) Hillel Altshuler (son of Rabbi David) (flourished 1770) than on any other. This commentary is attributed to Rabbi David. His son, Rabbi Yechiel Hillel, published it in his father's name. The commentary Metzudat David covers all the books of the Hebrew Bible except for the Pentateuch – the Five Books of Moses.

Without a doubt, I consulted Rashi's commentary. It's difficult, though, to have great confidence in this commentary since some say that it was composed and published by Rashi's students, not by Rashi himself.