Jewish philosophy -- Early works to 1800; Judaism -- Works to 1900; Philosophy, Medieval -- Early works to 1800
This suffices for the guidance of children and of ordinary persons who
must believe that there is a Being existing, perfect, incorporeal, not
inherent in a body as a force in it—God, who is above all kinds of
deficiency, above all affections. But the question concerning the
attributes of God, their inadmissibility, and the meaning of those
attributes which are ascribed to Him; concerning the Creation, His
Providence, in providing for everything; concerning His will, His
perception, His knowledge of everything; concerning prophecy and its
various degrees; concerning the meaning of His names which imply the
idea of unity, though they are more than one; all these things are very
difficult problems, the true “Secrets of the Law” the “secrets”
mentioned so frequently in the books of the Prophets, and in the words
of our Teachers, the subjects of which we should only mention the
headings of the chapters, as we have already stated, and only in the
presence of a person satisfying the above-named conditions.
That God is incorporeal, that He cannot be compared with His creatures,
that He is not subject to external influence; these are things which
must be explained to every one according to his capacity, and they must
be taught by way of tradition to children and women, to the stupid and
ignorant, as they are taught that God is One, that He is eternal, and
that He alone is to be worshipped. Without incorporeality there is no
unity, for a corporeal thing is in the first case not simple, but
composed of matter and form which are two separate things by
definition, and secondly, as it has extension it is also divisible.
When persons have received this doctrine, and have been trained in this
belief, and are in consequence at a loss to reconcile it with the
writings of the Prophets, the meaning of the latter must be made clear
and explained to them by pointing out the homonymity and the figurative
application of certain terms discussed in this part of the work. Their
belief in the unity of God and in the words of the Prophets will then
be a true and perfect belief.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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