Page "Jewish principles of faith" Paragraph 63

Importantly, Maimonides, while enumerating the above, added the following caveat " There is no difference between Biblical statement ' his wife was Mehithabel ' 10, 6 on the one hand an " unimportant " verse, and ' Hear, O Israel ' on the other an " important " verse ... anyone who denies even such verses thereby denies God and shows contempt for his teachings more than any other skeptic, because he holds that the Torah can be divided into essential and non-essential parts ..." The uniqueness of the 13 fundamental beliefs was that even a rejection out of ignorance placed one outside Judaism, whereas the rejection of the rest of Torah must be a conscious act to stamp one as an unbeliever.

Others, such as Rabbi Joseph Albo and the Raavad, criticized Maimonides ' list as containing items that, while true, in their opinion did not place those who rejected them out of ignorance in the category of heretic.

Many others criticized any such formulation as minimizing acceptance of the entire Torah ( see above ).

As noted however, neither Maimonides nor his contemporaries viewed these principles as encompassing all of Jewish belief, but rather as the core theological underpinnings of the acceptance of Judaism.