<HTML>The "creation-revelation-redemption" trilogy is firmly established in
Jewish tradition long before Franz Rosenzweig. The 3 benedictions recited
together with "keriyat shema" every morning (corresponding to 3 out of the
4 benedictions recited in the evening) relate to these themes: "yotzer
ha-meorot" (evening: "ha-ma'ariv aravim") deals with creation; "ahavah
rabbah"\"ahavat olam" with revelation (= torah); "emet ve-yatziv"\"emet
ve-emunah" with redemption (according to bavli berakhot 4b, the fourth
evening benediction, "hashkivenu" - a supplication for nighttime
protection - is also an extension of the theme of redemption). The same
trilogy may be seen as the foundation of the matters of faith whose denial
by a Jew results in his\her exclusion from the world to come, according to
Mishnah Sanhedrin 10:1: "One who says that revival of the dead is not a
Torah precept (= denial of ultimate redemption), or that the Torah is not
from heaven (= denial of revelation), or an Epicurean (= denial of divine
origin of creation)". The 13 principles of faith of the Rambam may be
divided into 3 groups: existence of God\Creator (#1-5), revelation -
especially of Mosaic Torah (#6-#9), Providence and redemption (#10-#13).
These 3 groups correspond to R. Yosef Albo's 3 "ikkarim". It may readily
be seen that each of these sources formulates the 3 principles somewhat
differently and gives different slants or emphases to each of them,
however I think one can readily detect an affinity among all of them.
Rosenzweig's "hiddush" is likewise in the particular - sometimes
idiosyncratic - way in which he analyzes each of the three principles,
rather than in the trilogy per se.
Avie Walfish</HTML>
