To understand the Maimonidean understanding of monotheism—and what separates it from the currently popular post-Zoharic expression that the Jewish world has been inundated with over the last few centuries—one simply needs to have a clear understanding of the first three halachot in the Mishneh Torah, Rambam’s code of Jewish law.
The first halacha reads as follows:
יְסוֹד הַיְסוֹדוֹת וְעַמּוּד הַחָכְמוֹת לֵידַע שֶׁיֵּשׁ שָׁם מָצוּי רִאשׁוֹן. וְהוּא מַמְצִיא כָּל נִמְצָא. וְכָל הַנִּמְצָאִים מִשָּׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ וּמַה שֶּׁבֵּינֵיהֶם לֹא נִמְצְאוּ אֶלָּא מֵאֲמִתַּת הִמָּצְאוֹ
The foundation of foundations and pillar of wisdom is to know that there is a Prime Existent. From its existence, everything exists. And all that exists, from heaven and earth and what is between them, only exists from the fact that it exists.
Over the years, there has been an attempt by many academics and some Torah scholars to insist that the Prime Existent of the Rambam and the Prime Mover of Aristotle are comparable. This idea usually flows from a superficial understanding of both the Rambam’s outlook and Aristotle’s philosophy as espoused in his Metaphysics. While Rambam spoke highly of Aristotle in a few places, more often than not he argues with him on the things that truly matter, such as the nature of the Creator, creation ex nihilo, prophecy, and other fundamental matters.
It is true that Rambam uses Aristotelian language in a wide variety of places, but this was the philosophical language of his day—similar to the widespread use in our current society of psychological terminology that has penetrated Torah thought.
Rambam’s Prime Existent is not the same non-involved initial cause Aristotle describes as the Prime Mover. Rather, Maimonidean thought clearly describes the Prime Existent in the present tense, and from that existence all of our existence is manifested. For Aristotle, it is a series of causes, almost mechanical, with no involvement from the first cause in current reality other than that the first cause merely set off the chain of cause and effect that ultimately led to our existence.
To understand this further, it is important to learn the next two halachot in the Mishneh Torah deeply.
Halacha 2 says the following:
וְאִם יַעֲלֶה עַל הַדַּעַת שֶׁהוּא אֵינוֹ מָצוּי אֵין דָּבָר אַחֵר יָכוֹל לְהִמָּצְאוֹת
If one thinks that He—the Prime Existent—does not exist, then nothing else would be able to exist.
Halacha 3 continues:
וְאִם יַעֲלֶה עַל הַדַּעַת שֶׁאֵין כָּל הַנִּמְצָאִים מִלְּבַדּוֹ מְצוּיִים הוּא לְבַדּוֹ יִהְיֶה מָצוּי. וְלֹא יִבָּטֵל הוּא לְבִטּוּלָם. שֶׁכָּל הַנִּמְצָאִים צְרִיכִין לוֹ וְהוּא בָּרוּךְ הוּא אֵינוֹ צָרִיךְ לָהֶם וְלֹא לְאֶחָד מֵהֶם. לְפִיכָךְ אֵין אֲמִתָּתוֹ כַּאֲמִתַּת אֶחָד מֵהֶם
If one thinks that none of existence existed, He—the Prime Existent—alone would still exist. Their nullification would not nullify Him. All that exists needs Him, but He, blessed be He, does not need them—not one of them. Therefore, His reality is not like the reality of any of them.
These three halachot form the basis of Maimonidean monotheistic thought. Let’s streamline the formula Rambam clearly maps out:
- There is a Creator.
- All existence only exists because of the Creator.
- This Creator has no comparison to anything that exists.
- Nothing that exists can be compared to the Creator.
- All that exists needs the Creator.
- The Creator does not need anything in Creation.
- Therefore, the Creator is not affected by anything in Creation.
Rambam is purposely structuring his pure form of monotheism in a way that requires an infinite gulf between the Creator and Creation. Despite this gulf, Creation is entirely dependent for its existence on the Creator with whom it has nothing in common.
This entire approach may seem alien to our post-Zoharic Judaism, which gives us the feeling that we can somehow comprehend the space between the Creator and Creation. But for the Rambam and those in his school of thought, the Creator is not a being who is comprehensible. Any thought that He is will inevitably lead to paganism.
So how does one relate to a Creator who is not comparable to anything in Creation? We are, after all, finite beings.
For the Rambam, the purpose is not to try to comprehend the Creator—that would be a fruitless endeavor. Rather, the point is to focus on the lack of comparison. In that space, one can and should recognize the utter dependency we all have on the Creator for our own existence.
In that space, a relationship of true, authentic acceptance can develop: an acceptance that one’s existence, and all the things that matter, have their ultimate source in the Creator’s will that they exist.
This acknowledgment may not give us the spiritual high that we are too often searching for and that other spiritual paths promise to deliver. However, it ultimately delivers something far more concrete: a subtle awareness that there is nothing to strive to connect to because we are all ultimately already connected to the Creator through our dependency on His will that we exist.
This awareness changes the nature of our prayers. Rather than seeking to reach out to an infinite Being we can never truly grasp, prayer becomes a tool for opening our consciousness to the Creator who exists and upon whom our own existence is entirely dependent.
Torah Sourced 