The Rambam's 13 principles miss the most important one of all!

It's amazing how something can be staring you in the face, yet you can completely miss it.

Let me ask you a question -what is the fundamental principle of faith that defines Orthodoxy?

Clearly, most people would say TMS - Torah Min Hashamayim. Yet that is very vague and insufficient. Christians also believe in TMS, and so do Kairites. The real fundamental of Orthodoxy is in fact that Torah Shebal Peh AS INTERPRETED BY CHAZAL, is ultimately Min Hashamayim (even if not from Sinai).

It's not for nothing that we are called followers of Rabbinic Judaism. And it's also not for nothing that in the recent Science and Torah fight, the Chareidim and Gedolim were most concerned about the perceived (or perhaps real) attacks on Chazal's infallibility and authority.

As has been pointed out numerous times, the Chareidim don't care about interpreting the Torah literally. They probably don't even care about an ancient earth or evolution. What they really care about is Chazal, because they recognize that our entire religion (or at least our version of it) is completely and utterly based on Chazal's interpretation of Torah SheBaal Peh.

The academics call this "the myth of the two Torahs". Nowadays, we are used to debating the DH and Torah Shebichtav. But back in the day, everyone accepted the written Torah, and the fights were about the Oral Torah.

So, having said all this, if I asked you to name the fundamental belief of Orthodox (or Tradiional) Judaism - it really is belief in Chazal and Torah She Baal Peh. Everything else (even our belief in one God) all flows from that.

So it's somewhat surprising, even mind-boggling, that not only is belief in Chazal and Torah ShebaalPeh NOT number 1 in the ikkarim, it barely even gets a mention. Where is the ikkar that Chazal are the only interpreters of God's word? Where? Nowhere, that's where! Rambam didn't even mention it. He says something about Moshe receiving explanations of the Mitzvot along with the Torah, but he doesn't even make that a seperate principle.

Why is this? How could the Rambam have made such a glaring omission?

Well, I think that the Rambam didn't actually have as much respect for Chazal as you might think. He famously writes in the Moreh about a certain comment of Chazal "Would that all their sayings be so wonderful!" What a chutzpah! The Rambam also famously writes that now that we have his Mishneh Torah, we can stop learning Gemarah, it's no longer necessary.

Now of course the Rambam believed in TSBP, but he just didn't seem to think very much of Chazal. Or certainly not as much as we tend to think of them today. I guess he could say that, but we can't. It's also ironic that the way things turned out, our 13 fundamental's of faith basically miss the most important one of all.

Oh the irony!