The story is told of a staunch maamin who faced an agonizing moment of challenge — perhaps before an auto-da-fé or inside the gas chamber. Confronting his destiny, he asserted, “I could not serve a G-d I understood — for then, He wouldn’t be G-d.”

The Thirteen Principles of Emunah define the crucial underpinnings of our life in This World, and they’re our entrance ticket to eternal life. At the same time, they are detailed, precise — and multifaceted. The first four principles, which deal with the existence of Hashem, are particularly abstract to us mortals.

Look Only Ahead

Where do we start? Let us begin… at the very beginning. The Torah opens with “Bereishis.” And the beginning of “the beginning” is the beis, the very first letter of the Torah.

The Midrash Rabbah tells us the significance of the Torah’s initial letter: The beis is enclosed on three sides and open only on the left, indicating that there’s information that is blocked from us. We are not permitted to ask, “What’s under and above; what’s before and after?” The structure of the beis signifies that we cannot fathom worlds that lie beyond our own (“what exists under and above”), nor may we investigate what was before Creation and what will be at the End of Days. Just as the beis opens forward, so we can only examine our world from the moment of Creation until the conceivable future.

The Midrash continues, quoting Sefer Devarim (4:32): “For ask now about the days of the past, from the day that Hashem created man upon Earth, and from one side of the heaven to the other…” These are the parameters, in time and in space, of what we can investigate and perceive. Our existence as sojourners at this time and in this place — Olam Hazeh — precludes questions such as: What was before Creation? How did Hashem choose what to create? What will happen after the world ends? Additionally, and more importantly, we don’t have direct knowledge of the Creator Himself. We know of Hashem only that which He has chosen to reveal to us in the Torah. As the Sefer HaIkrim (2:30) writes, “Ilu yedativ, hayisiv, If I knew Him — I would be Him.”

For this reason, we can’t delve too deeply into the first four Principles, as they are unfathomable to most. We can only develop a basic understanding of them and focus on the impact of their meaning on our lives.

How, indeed, does the life and inner world of the believer differ from that of the nonbeliever? Chazal tell us, “One who has pas b’salo (bread in his basket), yet worries about tomorrow, is weak in emunah.” The Belzer Rebbe Rav Yissocher Dov’s interpretation of these words is unique and piercing: This person manifests a deficiency in emunah not because he lacks bitachon that Hashem will provide him with the next day’s food, but because he is complacent about today’s bread! Does he not recognize that he is no richer today than tomorrow, that the pas in his hand is not truly his own; that he depends, moment by moment, on Hashem’s largesse?

One and Absolute

The very first principle of the Yud Gimmel Ikrim is the core belief of Judaism and the axis around which all the other twelve revolve: I believe with perfect faith [that Hashem exists], that He, the Creator, fashions and supervises everything, and that He alone has formed, continues to form, and will form all that exists.

This Principle is based on the first of the Ten Commandments, Anochi Hashem Elokecha. It is a constant mitzvah that can be fulfilled at any time; one is rewarded for each moment that he contemplates and believes in these words.

What are the details of this assertion? Just as we “know” that we exist, so must we know that Hashem exists. Hashem’s existence is independent and absolute; everything else was created by Him and depends on Him. It may appear that the universe stands autonomously and that the laws of nature advance automatically, but this is untrue. Hashem continues to fashion, sustain, control, and direct all of creation. If He were to withdraw His influence from the world even momentarily, all existence would revert to nothingness. It would simply cease to exist.