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Only edition of this commentary on Maimonides' formulation of the 13 articles of faith by R. Abraham ben Eliezer Lipman Lichtstein. The title page begins Ammudei Shamayim (“The pillars of heaven” Job 26:11) “a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven” (Genesis 28:12) part two of the work Koteret ha-Ammudim in the thirteen yesodei ha-dat . . . The text is accompanied by two commentaries entitled Even ha-Bohan and Even me-Hokek. The thirteen principals of faith according to Maimonides are Maimonides' "Thirteen Principles" are set down in his commentary on the Mishnah by way of introducing his comments on Sanhedrin 10. Maimonides undertook such a presentation to teach the rank and file of the community the true spiritual meaning of the belief in the world to come (ha-olam ha-ba) and to disabuse their minds of crude, materialistic notions. Since the ultimate felicity of man depends on the possession of true concepts concerning God, the formulation and brief exposition of true notions in the realm of faith is meant to help the multitude to avoid error and to purify belief. The "fundamentals" listed by Maimonides are (1) the existence of God which is perfect and sufficient unto itself and which is the cause of the existence of all other beings. (2) God's unity which is unlike all other kinds of unity. (3) God must not be conceived in bodily terms, and the anthropomorphic expressions applied to God in Scripture have to be understood in a metaphorical sense. (4) God is eternal. (5) God alone is to be worshiped and obeyed. There are no mediating powers able freely to grant man's petitions, and intermediaries must not be invoked. (6) Prophecy . (7) Moses is unsurpassed by any other prophet. (8) The entire Torah was given to Moses. (9) Moses' Torah will not be abrogated or superseded by another divine law nor will anything be added to, or taken away from it. (10) God knows the actions of men. (11) God rewards those who fulfill the commandments of the Torah, and punishes those who transgress them. (12) The coming of the Messiah . (13) The resurrection of the dead.

R. Abraham ben Eliezer Lipman Lichtstein, (18th–19th century), Polish rabbi. He functioned as rabbi in Wolkowysk, Lida, and Przasnysz, and as dayyan and preacher of the small town of Lask where he went to have more leisure to devote himself to his scholarly endeavors. Lichtstein is the author of the following works: Kanfei Nesharim (1881), a commentary on the Pentateuch containing explanations and homilies, some of them inspired by Naḥmanides, Gersonides, and Isaac Arama; Ammudei Shamayim; Ge'ullat Olam (Grodno, 1822) on the Haggadah; Iggeret ha-Ẓofeh (Bialystok, 1806), a commentary on the Halakhot of Isaac Alfasi, explaining the latter's methodology; Or ha-Even (Sklow, 1822) on religious ethics and morals; and a commentary on the pseudo-Aristotelian Sefer ha-Tappu'aḥ. A commentary of his on Alfasi is still in manuscript.