Is It a Mitzvah to Believe in G-d?
In the opening chapter of Mishneh Torah, Maimonides articulates the fundamentals of faith: The foundation of all foundations and the pillar of wisdom is to know that there is a Primary Being who brought into being all existence. All the beings of the heavens, the earth, and what is between them came into existence only from the truth of His being . . . The knowledge of this concept is a positive commandment, as [implied by Exodus 20:2]: "I am Gd, your Lrd . . . It is clear that according to Maimonides, there is a mitzvah to believe in Gd. While it may seem evident that belief in Gd is a prerequisite to the observance of the Torahs laws, the uncertainty lies in classifying this belief as a commandment within the count of 613 mitzvahs. With a bit of further research, we discover that although there is broad consensus that this is counted as a commandment, this view is not unanimous. The first authority to enumerate the 613 mitzvahs, the Baal Halachot Gedolot, noticeably omits belief in Gd from his list. His understanding, explains Nachmanides, is based on the idea that belief in Gd must precede the 613 mitzvahs. According to the Baal Halachot Gedolot, there cannot exist commandments without a Being from whom they originate. Nachmanides quotes a parable of a king who is advised, immediately upon entering a country, to legislate. The king refuses, explaining: First the populace must accept me as their monarch, and only after that is it possible to rule. However, far from downgrading the status of this obligation, the Baal Halachot Gedolot has placed belief in Gd on a pedestal, above and beyond the 613 mitzvahs. Support From the Talmud Maimonides, in his Sefer Hamitzvot, brings proof for his position from the Talmud. The Talmud quotes the verse     (The Torah that Moses commanded us) as the source for there being 613 mitzvahs. This works as follows: The Hebrew word  (Torah) has a numerical value of 611 ( = 400,  = 6,  = 200,  = 5). The verse is alluding to the fact that 611 of the 613 mitzvahs were taught to us by Moses. However, the first two of the Ten Commandments (I am the Lrd your Gd and You shall have no other gods besides me) were taught to us by Gd directly. Thus, according to Maimonides, there is clear evidence that the existence of Gd is to be included in the 613 commandments. This seems to be somewhat of an issue for the Baal Halachot Gedolot, who believes that belief in Gd is not counted as one of the 613 mitzvahs. The solution, again provided by Nachmanides, is that the Baal Halachot Gedolot divides the second of the Ten Commandments, You shall have no other gods into two separate commandments: (1) not to own or form idols and (2) not to worship them. These two elements of the second of the Ten Commandments bring us from 611 to 613. According to the Baal Halachot Gedolot, the first of the Ten Commandments, I am the Lrd your Gd, is a statement rather than a commandment. This statement is a prerequisite to the acceptance of the commandments. The third Chabad Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Lubavitch, known as the Tzemach Tzedek, cites this disagreement in his introduction to his treatise Mitzvat Haamanat Elokut (The Mitzvah of Having Faith in Gd). He goes on to question Maimonides point of view, in a similar manner to Nachmanides above, quoting Rabbi Yitzchak Abarbanel, who quotes Rabbi Chisdai as follows: Those who count belief in Gd as a commandment are making an error, because a mitzvah, by definition, is something additionala mitzvah cannot exist without a Gd issuing the command. Therefore, if belief in Gd is counted as a command, the person has already accepted that there is a Gd who is commanding them to believe in Gd . . . Rabbi Yitzchak Abarbanel offers a solution by explaining that those who count this as a mitzvah do not actually mean that it is a mitzvah to believe that Gd exists. The fact that the world has a Creator is a logical conclusion, for which a command is not required. Rather, one is commanded to believe that Gd is the most perfect and eternal Being. If this is the focus of the mitzvah, then the problem of how a command can exist before the entity who is commanding falls away. Two Modalities of Divine Presence The Tzemach Tzedek ultimately concludes that this positive command to believe in Gd refers to a transcendent level of Gdliness known in Chassidic terms as sovev kol almin (surrounding all worlds). In chassidic thought, there are two general Gdly emanations. One is called memale kol almin (filling all the worlds) and the other is sovev kol almin. Memale kol almin is the Gdly energy that permeates all of creation and enables existence. It is a Gdly lifeforce within, and thus limited by, creation. Sovev kol almin,on the other hand, is a Gdly emanation that is completely unlimited, unrestrainedtranscending physical creation. Observing creation and deducing that there must be a Gd is not the belief in Gd referred to by Maimonides. Such a belief is evident on an intellectual level; faith is not necessary. However, believing that Gd transcends all existence cannot be deduced empirically. For this, faith is needed. In the Tzemach Tzedeks reading of Maimonides, the mitzvah is to believe in Gd's transcendent nature. Achieving Belief The Tzemach Tzedek provides an additional dimension to the disagreement between the Baal Halachot Gedolot and Maimonides. According to the Baal Halachot Gedolot, knowledge of Gd is empirically evident by observing nature. Just like a person who sees a living body realizes that it is the soul that gives it life, so too a person who observes the complexity of creation realizes that there must be a Creator. Therefore a command to believe is extraneous because a command necessitates a choice. Something that is patently clear does not need to be commanded. For this reason, he does not count belief in Gd as a positive commandment. According to Maimonides, on the other hand, the mitzvah is twofold. One element is to contemplate this empirical observation and to integrate the knowledge into daily life. True, the knowledge itself does not require any effort; however, that is not enough. We must work to strengthen this knowledge and contemplate deeply on the existence of Gd. The second element is belief in a Gd that transcends this world. Here we are no longer referring to a knowledge that can be empirically deduced from nature; we are referring to belief (emunah) in a Being that is completely beyond this world. Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, expands on the Tzemach Tzedeks approach based on an analysis of the first chapter of Mishneh Torah. He poses the following question: Maimonides opens by articulating the importance of belief in Gd. However, he doesnt actually state that belief in Gd is a mitzvah until the sixth paragraph. He devotes the first five halachot to describing the Primary Being. This is puzzling. By perceiving that He is the most perfect and eternal Being as described by Maimonides. Additionally, this explains why Maimonides continues to explore various details relating to knowledge of Gd, details which seemingly do not directly relate to the mitzvah of belief in Gd. In Maimonides view, the mitzvah is not to simply know that Gd exists; one must intently study and focus on the details as they are laid out in the first chapter of Mishneh Torah.