Editing Emunah (section)

== The Mitzvah of Faith ==
According to the Zohar<ref>Ra'aya Mehemna on Parshas Va'eira daf 25a</ref> and early authorities, faith in Hashem is one of the 613 mitzvos of the Torah.

Some raised the question: every mitzvah requires the preliminary assumption that there is a Commander who is Hashem, so how can there be a mitzvah to believe in Hashem when this belief must precede all mitzvos? Some answer that the mitzvah is to believe Hashem's existence is necessary, unlike created beings that depend on Him. However, the Tzemach Tzedek explains this too is obvious from believing there is a Creator.

Therefore, the Tzemach Tzedek explains the mitzvah of faith is to believe Hashem transcends all worlds (sovev kol almin) - to believe He is far above the wisdom that gives life to creation. But believing He fills all worlds (memale kol almin) - that He gives life to everything - needs no faith as it's tangible. Just as a person feels their life-force animating them, since without it the body would be like meat and bones in a pot, so too the world has life-force, as evidenced by planetary motion and vegetation growth, necessarily indicating a Creator constantly giving life.