About This Text
Author: Joseph Albo
Composed: Castille, 1425 CE
Important religious-philosophical work by Joseph Albo, Sefer HaIkkarim ("Book of Principles") elaborates on aspects of Jewish faith. In contrast to Maimonides who bases religious belief on thirteen principles, Albo narrows them down to three main roots: a) G-ds existence; b) Divine origin of Torah; c) Divine reward and punishment. These three are then divided further into secondary roots ("shorashim"). His omission of the belief in the Messiah drew criticism from Abarbanel and others.