613 commandments

According to Jewish tradition, the Torah contains 613 commandments (Hebrew: תרי״ג מצוות, romanized: taryág mitsvót). This tradition is first recorded in the 3rd century CE, when Rabbi Simlai mentioned it in a sermon that is recorded in Talmud Makkot 23b.^[1] Other classical sages who hold this view include Rabbi Simeon ben Azzai^[2] and Rabbi Eleazar ben Yose the Galilean.^[3] It is quoted in Midrash Exodus Rabbah 33:7, Numbers Rabbah 13:15–16; 18:21 and Talmud Yevamot 47b. The 613 commandments include "positive commandments", to perform an act (mitzvot aseh), and "negative commandments", to abstain from an act (mitzvot lo taaseh). The negative commandments number 365, which coincides with the number of days in the solar year, and the positive commandments number 248, a number ascribed to the number of bones and main organs in the human body.^[4]

Although the number 613 is mentioned in the Talmud, its real significance increased in later medieval rabbinic literature, including many works listing or arranged by the mitzvot. The most famous of these was an enumeration of the 613 commandments by Maimonides. While the total number of commandments is 613, no individual can perform all of them. Many can only be observed at the Temple in Jerusalem, which no longer stands. According to one standard reckoning,^[5] there are 77 positive and 194 negative commandments that can be observed today, of which there are 26 commandments that apply only within the Land of Israel.^[6] In addition, some commandments only apply to certain categories of Jews: some are only observed by kohanim, and others only by men or by women.

Rabbi denied that this was an authentic rabbinic tradition. Ibn Ezra writes "Some sages enumerate 613 mitzvot in many diverse ways [...] but in truth there is no end to the number of mitzvot [...] and if we were to count only the root principles [...] the number of mitzvot would not reach 613".^[9]

Abraham ibn Ezra

held that this particular counting was a matter of rabbinic controversy, and that rabbinic opinion on this is not unanimous. Nonetheless, he concedes that "this total has proliferated throughout the aggadic literature... we ought to say that it was a tradition from Moses at Mount Sinai".^[10]

Nahmanides

Rabbi likewise rejected the dogma of the 613 as being the sum of the Law, saying that "perhaps the agreement that the number of mitzvot is 613... is just Rabbi Simlai's opinion, following his own explication of the mitzvot. And we need not rely on his explication when we come to determine [and affect] the Law, but rather on the Talmudic discussions".^[11]

Simeon ben Zemah Duran

held that the number 613 was only one rabbi's (Rabbi Simlai's) opinion, and if the conclusion of a Talmudic discussion indicated that the number of commandments was greater or lesser than 613, Rabbi Simlai's opinion would be overruled.^[12] He argued that the number 613 was only intended as an approximation, and that the comparison to 248 limbs and 365 days was intended homiletically, to motivate Jews to keep the commandments.^[13]

Gersonides

The suggested that there exist many more than 613 commandments (because otherwise large narrative parts of the Pentateuch would be without commandments, which he considered difficult to accept) and that the count of 613 refers to "roots" (shorashim) of the other commandments.^[14]

Vilna Gaon

Rabbinic support for the number of commandments being 613 is not without dissent. For example, Ben Azzai held that there exist 300 positive mitzvot.^[8] Also, even as the number gained acceptance, difficulties arose in elucidating the list. Some rabbis declared that this count was not an authentic tradition, or that it was not logically possible to come up with a systematic count. No early work of Jewish law or Biblical commentary depended on the 613 system, and no early systems of Jewish principles of faith made acceptance of this Aggadah (non-legal Talmudic statement) normative. A number of classical authorities denied that it was normative:

Even when rabbis attempted to compile a list of the 613 commandments, they were faced with a number of difficulties:

Ultimately, though, the concept of 613 commandments has become accepted as normative amongst practicing Jews and today it is still common practice to refer to the total system of commandments within the Torah as the "613 commandments", even among those who do not literally accept this count as accurate.

However, the 613 mitzvot do not constitute a formal code of present-day halakha. Later codes of law such as the Shulkhan Arukh and the Kitzur Shulkhan Arukh do not refer to it. However, Maimonides' Mishneh Torah is prefaced by a count of the 613 mitzvot.

("Great Laws"), thought to be written by Rabbi Simeon Kayyara (the Bahag, author of the Halakhot Gedolot) is the earliest extant enumeration of the 613 mitzvot.^[16]

Halachot Gedolot

Sefer ha-Mitzvoth ("Book of Commandments") by Rabbi . Written during the period of the Geonim, Saadia's work is a simple list (though it was later expanded by Rabbi Yerucham Fishel Perlow.)

Saadia Gaon

("Book of Commandments") by Maimonides, with a commentary by Nachmanides. Maimonides employs a set of fourteen rules (shorashim) which determine inclusion into the list. In this work, he supports his specification of each mitzvah through quotations from the midrash halakha and the Gemara. Nachmanides makes a number of critical points and replaces some items of the list with others.^[17]

Sefer Hamitzvot

("Book of Education"). This work generally follows Maimonides' reckoning of the 613 commandments. It is written in the order in which the commandments appear in the Torah rather than an arrangement by category (as in Maimonides' work.) In addition to enumerating the commandments and giving a brief overview of relevant laws, the Sefer ha-Chinuch also tries to explain the philosophical reasons behind the mitzvot. It has been attributed to various authors, most commonly Rabbi Aaron ha-Levi of Barcelona (the Ra'ah), though its true authorship is unknown.

Sefer ha-Chinnuch

or SMaG ("Large book of Commandments") by Rabbi Moses ben Jacob of Coucy.

Sefer Mitzvot Gadol

Sefer ha-Mitzvoth by Rabbi (the "Chafetz Chaim"). The Chafetz Chaim's work follows the reckoning of Maimonides but gives only the commandments relevant today. Notably, this listing omits commandments regarding temple service, ritual purity, sacrifices, and so on. Though the original work included only those commandments relevant in all places and at all times, later editions include agricultural laws relevant today only in the Land of Israel.

Yisrael Meir Kagan

Halakha

Jewish ethics

Torah

Laws and customs of the Land of Israel in Judaism

Eisenberg, Ronald L. The 613 Mitzvot: A Contemporary Guide to the Commandments of Judaism, Rockville, Schreiber Publishing, 2005. 0-88400-303-5

ISBN

translation by Charles Ber Chavel and Moses ibn Tibbon. The book of divine commandments (the Sefer Ha-mitzvoth of Moses Maimonides) London: Soncino Press, 1940.

Moses Maimonides

Friedberg, Albert (2013). (PDF). Boston: Academic Studies Press. doi:10.2307/j.ctt21h4wf8. ISBN 9781618111678. JSTOR j.ctt21h4wf8.