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Does the Torah command us to believe anything?

Believe it or not, Moses Maimonides, in his earliest writing, was perplexed by this question. Though he felt that certain beliefs could be judged as obedient or disobedient towards God, he also opined that a biblical command, a mitzvah cannot apply to belief, because belief involves no “action” or “work”. In this he followed earlier, geonic opinion, which held the same. When he came around to writing his Book of Commandments, he broke new ground (in Jewish legal theory) and declared that beliefs are also included in the mitzvot. For a 22 minute presentation of this new research, see this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1e2Xso4Lbg

Anyone who wants to run trough the slides without my audio can find them here:

https://www.academia.edu/39907475/Are_we_commanded_to_believe_An_early_Maimonidean_conundrum_An_original_presentation_by_Tzvi_Langermann

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