[Avodah] Dogma and kavana vs the objective deed

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, March 12, 2008 8:58 am, R Michael Makovi wrote:
: But Sefer haIkkarim requires only 3, not the 13. The 13 may be
: universally accepted, but if someone held by R' Albo, could we really
: call him a heretic?

Not quite. The Ikkarim assumes a different definition of "ikkar",
meaning something more like postulate. If you also include his
"shorashim", you 12 of the Rambam's 13. (Mashiach is missing, although
techiyas hameisim is included.) There might be a significant
difference between the Rambam's #5 (that Hashem alone is worthy of
worship) and the Ikkarim's ikkar 1, shoresh 2 (Hashem's absolute
perfection). Or perhaps not.

See <http://www.aishdas.org/asp/2006/01/ikkarei-emunah.shtml> where I
work out the correspondences and note the Tif'eres Yisrael's very
different list of mandatory beliefs.

: In any case, notice how many issues are NOT included in this list of
: yours. The thread on Avodah about G-d's attributes, where I claimed
: that He actually does feel anger etc. - I violated no issurim by going
: against the status quo, because belief in certain dogmas is not so
: important as deed.

If someone believes that assignment of emotions does not imply
plurality  or imperfection, then it wouldn't violate the standard list
of ikkarim to believe it.

(Of course R' Marc Shapiro would say I'm making too big of a deal
about the list, but we've argued that one far too many times already.
I just want to acknowledge the dissenting viewpoint.)

...
: I think you mean, "because you want to do the NICE thing" or "because
: you want to be NICE" - i.e., because according to some nebulous
: undefined standard of morality, it's good, stam. But to do the RIGHT
: thing (which is what you said) means to do what G-d said, because
: that's what makes it right!

Euthphro's Dilemma?

SheTir'u baTov!
-micha

-- 
Micha Berger             "Man wants to achieve greatness overnight,
micha at aishdas.org        and he wants to sleep well that night too."
http://www.aishdas.org     - Rav Yosef Yozel Horwitz, Alter of Novarodok
Fax: (270) 514-1507