המצוה הראשונה מצות עשה להאמין כי אותו שנתן לנו את התורה בהר סיני על ידי משה רבינו הוא ה׳ אלהים שהוציאנו ממצרים וזהו מה שאמר בשעה שנתן את התורה: אנכי ה׳ אלהיך אשר הוצאתיךמארץ מצרים: 

The first commandment is a positive command to believe that the one who gave us the Torah at Har Sinai through Moshe is the God who took us out of Egypt. And (the source for this) is what it says when the Torah was given: "I am God your Lord who took you out of Egypt."

The Semag agrees with Rambam that the definition of Emunah is cognitive, but he has a very different definition of the object of that cognition. Rambam’s cognitive belief is abstract (first cause); Semag’s is about giving of Torah and Yetziat Mitzrayim. The distinction here is important. For Rambam, faith is primarily about abstract, philosophical knowledge. In that sense, it is more universalistic. The human being, no matter of what ethnicity or background, could know about God and truth. But for Semag, faith is about the specific truths that matter to the historical People of Israel. As we saw above, Rambam sees practice as stemming from knowledge. Semag agrees, but he sees human practice as motivated by specific cultural and historical conditions rather than abstract, philosophical truths.



Here's what students will take away from this source:

1. Like the Rambam, Semag also defines emunah as "knowing" something - but instead of focusing on abstract knowledge that God exists, Semag understands that we must believe/know specific cultural and historical truths about the Jewish people - and he thinks that our religious practice then stems from this knowledge





This passage creates opportunities for discussing what motivates our religious practice: abstract principles or history and community? This will become critical for the issue of covenant later on, and particularly as we explore sections of R' Sacks' “Letter in the Scroll.”

For some students, human commitments and priorities are much more dependent on narrative and belonging than abstract beliefs. The Semag might be a kind of bridge between Rambam and R. Sacks, since the cognitive content of belief according to the Semag are the kinds of things that help create social belonging and commitment to a movement (the People of Israel) and practice (mitzvot) than some kind of philosophical abstraction.