Skip to content
Wellsprings
maimonidean philosophyWe're still mapping where this idea was first discussed. Key passages and related ideas below.

Ikarim, Shorashim, Anafim (Albo's Roots and Branches)

A century after Maimonides fixed Jewish belief at thirteen principles, the philosopher Albo argued the list was the wrong shape. Faith, he said, grows like a tree: three deep roots — that God exists, that God reveals, and that God rewards and punishes — from which all other principles branch.

A century after Maimonides fixed Jewish belief at thirteen principles, the philosopher Albo argued the list was the wrong shape. Faith, he said, grows like a tree: three deep roots — that God exists, that God reveals, and that God rewards and punishes — from which all other principles branch. It was a major alternative to Rambam's thirteen.

Key passages(4)

Sefer HaIkkarim · Rabbi Yosef Albo · 1425 CE

Very high

למה שהיתה ההצלחה האנושית נתלת בעיון ובמעשה כמו שבאר הפילוסוף בספר הנפש, והיו הדעות האמתיות והמעשים המשובחים אי אפשר שיושגו על נכון מצד השכל האנושי, להיות שכל האדם לואה מהשיג הדברים על אמתתם כמו שיבא,

Tap to expand

Mishneh Torah, Foundations of the Torah · Moses ben Maimon (Rambam) · 1176 CE

High