I believe with perfect faith....This is the standard phraseology that used in the fundamentals of faith as a summary of the commentary of the Rambam (Maimonides) on the Mishnah on Sanhedrin. There is some debate among the early Medieval commentators whether these thirteen principles constitute the fundamentals of Judaism, or that there are only three, and the rest are not fundamental and essential, but are nonetheless central tenants of Judaism.
One of the central messages of Judaism (aside from the Mishnah in Sanhedrin - Chapter 10, Mishnah 1), is rooted in the 4th Chapter of Deuteronomy. Here G-d lays out His perspective of what He expects His people to understand, know and accomplish:
The following is an excerpt from: The Judaica Press Translation of the Tanakh (Jewish Bible) with the commentary of Rashi (a Medieval Commentator) http://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/9968
(The emphasis is mine)
Devarim Chapter 4
1. And now, O Israel, hearken to the statutes and to the judgments which I teach you to do, in order that you may live, and go in and possess the land which Hashem, G-d of your forefathers, is giving you.
2. Do not add to the word which I command you, nor diminish from it, to observe the commandments of Hashem your G-d which I command you.
[....]
6. And you shall keep [them] and do [them], for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the eyes of the peoples, who will hear all these statutes and say, "Only this great nation is a wise and understanding people. "
[....]
10. the day you stood before Hashem your G-d at Horeb, when Hashem said to me, "Assemble the people for Me, and I will let them hear My words, that they may learn to fear Me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.
11. And you approached and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire up to the midst of the heavens, with darkness, a cloud, and opaque darkness.
12. Hashem spoke to you out of the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of the words, but saw no image, just a voice.
13. And He told you His covenant, which He commanded you to do, the Ten Commandments, and He inscribed them on two stone tablets.
14. And Hashem commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances, so that you should do them in the land to which you are crossing, to possess.
15. And you shall watch yourselves very well, for you did not see any image on the day that Hashem spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire.
| 16. Lest you become corrupt and make for yourselves a graven image, the representation of any form, the likeness of male or female, 17. the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the heaven, 18. the likeness of anything that crawls on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters, beneath the earth. 19. And lest you lift up your eyes to heaven, and see the sun, and the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, which Hashem your G-d assigned to all peoples under the entire heaven, and be drawn away to prostrate yourselves before them and worship them. 20. But Hashem took you and brought you out of the iron crucible, out of Egypt, to be a people of His possession, as of this day. [....] 32. For ask now regarding the early days that were before you, since the day that G-d created man upon the earth, and from one end of the heavens to the other end of the heavens, whether there was anything like this great thing, or was the likes of it heard? 33. Did ever a people hear G-d's voice speaking out of the midst of the fire as you have heard, and live? 34. Or has any god performed miracles to come and take him a nation from the midst of a[nother] nation, with trials, with signs, and with wonders, and with war and with a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great awesome deeds, as all that Hashem your G-d did for you in Egypt before your eyes? 35. You have been shown, in order to know that Hashem He is G-d; there is none else besides Him. 36. From the heavens, He let you hear His voice to instruct you, and upon the earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words out of the midst of the fire, 37. and because He loved your forefathers and chose their seed after them, and He brought you out of Egypt before Him with His great strength, 38. to drive out from before you nations greater and stronger than you, to bring you and give you their land for an inheritance, as this day. 39. And you shall know this day and consider it in your heart, that Hashem He is G-d in heaven above, and upon the earth below; there is none else. |
We thus see that the fundamental point is that G-d has no form, and that no other nation, group, religion, cult or sect has ever or can ever claim that G-d Himself spoke out of fire, and did the miracles that were done to Israel, to take them out of Egypt - with all the signs and wonders and awesome deeds - to know that Hashem He is G-d and there is none else besides him.
The Jewish people are, as Rabbi Yisroel Blumenthal (Rabbi Blumenthal's 7th Response to Dalton Lifsey) so eloquently states, a witness nation, as G-d's chosen people, the Jewish people have a unique role in the world.
One need not overstate this point, but it is fundamental to any meaningful discussion on Judaism and its relationship with the world as a whole.
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