Derech HaShem Chapter 1: Six Fundamentals of God's Existence

Full Summary

This shiur begins the first chapter of Ramchal's Derech HaShem (ה׳), focusing on six fundamental principles about God's nature that every Jew must understand. Rabbi Zweig opens with an important discussion about the value of thinking and awareness, emphasizing that deeper thinking leads to richer experience and understanding. He explains that avoiding difficult concepts is a form of denial, while engaging with challenging ideas enhances our ability to truly experience and appreciate life. The six fundamentals are presented as follows: (1) God always was and will always be, serving as the ultimate cause of all existence; (2) God is unfathomable and totally perfect - neither physical nor spiritual in any way we can comprehend; (3) God's existence is intrinsically imperative - God must exist and cannot cease to exist; (4) God's existence depends on nothing else and God needs nothing; (5) God is not comprised of parts but is a seamless unity; and (6) God is the only existence that is intrinsically imperative, which is the true meaning of "God is one" in the Shema. A crucial distinction is made between emunah (אמונה) and yedi'ah. Contrary to common translation, emunah does not mean "belief" but rather "internalization" - taking knowledge and making it real and integrated within oneself. Yedi'ah means knowledge itself. The obligation is both to know that God exists (as stated explicitly in the Torah (תורה)) and to internalize this knowledge. This understanding transforms how we approach the "thirteen principles of faith," which are actually thirteen principles of internalized knowledge. The concept of bitachon (faith) is explained as believing that what God promised will happen, dealing with future events we haven't yet experienced. This differs from emunah, which involves internalizing what we can know to be true. The Ramchal's use of the term "mitzius" (existence, literally "finding") is explored deeply. Everything that exists is described as being "found" into existence because God didn't need to create anything. Like finding a lost object in an unexpected place, creation isn't the result of logical necessity but of God's choice. This perspective transforms our relationship with existence from one of entitlement to one of appreciation, viewing everything as a windfall rather than something owed to us. Practical applications include: focusing on saying "amen" as internalization and affirmation rather than mere agreement, and training ourselves to think in terms of "knowing" rather than "believing" when it comes to God's existence. The shiur concludes with a discussion about the limitations of thinking alone - action and speech are necessary to truly integrate knowledge, as seen in Jewish practices of verbal affirmation through blessings and prayer.