Emunah
The Rambam's 13 Principles of Faith — What You Are Actually Saying in Ani Maamin
Most of us say the Ani Maamins fast and never stop on them. Here is what the thirteen ikkarim are claiming, and how two of them sit directly under hashgacha pratit.
The Rambam laid out thirteen ikkarim in his commentary to the Mishnah, and most of us met them as the Ani Maamin list in the back of the siddur, said at speed. Slow them down and a few of them are pointing straight at the subject of this site.
The thirteen, quickly
- Hashem exists and is the cause of everything that exists.
- He is one, in a way nothing else is one.
- He has no body and no physical form.
- He is first and last — outside of time.
- He alone is to be davened to.
- The words of the nevi'im are true.
- Moshe Rabbeinu's nevuah was the highest.
- The Torah we have is the Torah given to Moshe.
- The Torah will not be changed or replaced.
- Hashem knows every deed and every thought of every person.
- He rewards those who keep His mitzvos and holds accountable those who don't.
- Mashiach will come, however long it takes.
- The dead will live again.
Number ten is the one to sit with
The tenth is the wall holding up hashgacha pratit.
Hashem knows every deed and every thought of every person. Not humanity in general — every person, and inside every person, every thought. A Creator who only knew the general shape of things could only supervise in general. The tenth ikkar shuts that down at the root.
So when somebody says "Hashem probably isn't paying attention to something this small," that isn't humility. It's arguing with an ikkar.
And number eleven keeps you on the hook
Reward and accountability only make sense if the choices are really yours. Which brings us right back to the balance this whole thing turns on: everything is in the hands of Heaven except the fear of Heaven (Berachos 33b).
Total Divine control and real human responsibility are both on the Rambam's list, sitting next to each other with no embarrassment. Anybody who resolves the tension by quietly dropping one of them has left the list.
Why saying them slowly is worth it
The ikkarim aren't a loyalty oath. They're a description of the world you're actually standing in — one where you are known in detail, run in detail, and answerable for what you pick.
Take one a day for thirteen days and actually think about it. Most people find at least one they never really looked at.
Then start watching for it: what hashgacha pratis looks like in a normal week.