For example, Ben Azzai held that there exist 300 positive mitzvot. Rabbinic support for the number of commandments being 613 is not without dissent. by Baal HaTurim, the Maharal of Prague and leaders of Hasidic Judaism) find allusions and inspirational calculations relating to the number of commandments. Many Jewish philosophical and mystical works (e.g. The sum of all these numbers is 613, reflecting the concept that tzitzit reminds its wearer of all Torah commandments. Each tassel has eight threads (when doubled over) and five sets of knots. Other sources connect the tzitzit (ritual fringes of a garment) to the 613 commandments by gematria: the word tzitzit (Hebrew: ציצית, in its Mishnaic spelling) has the value 600 ( צ = 90, י = 10, ת = 400). Combining 611 commandments which Moses taught the people, with the first two of the Ten Commandments which were the only ones directly heard from God, a total of 613 is reached. Rav Hamnuna sourced the count of 613 in the verse Deuteronomy 33:4 ("Moses commanded us the Torah."). 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.įurther information: Law given to Moses at Sinai De Rouwdagen (The mourning days) by Jan Voerman, ca 1884 According to one standard reckoning, there are 77 positive and 194 negative commandments that can be observed today, of which there are 26 commands that apply only within the Land of Israel. Many can only be observed at the Temple in Jerusalem, which no longer stands. While the total number of commandments is 613, no individual can perform all of them. The most famous of these was an enumeration of the 613 commandments by Maimonides. Īlthough 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 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. The 613 commandments include "positive commandments", to perform an act ( mitzvot aseh), and "negative commandments", to abstain from an act ( mitzvot lo taaseh). It is quoted in Midrash Exodus Rabbah 33:7, Numbers Rabbah 13:15–16 18:21 and Talmud Yevamot 47b. Other classical sages who hold this view include Rabbi Simeon ben Azzai and Rabbi Eleazar ben Yose the Galilean. 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. According to Jewish tradition, the Torah contains 613 commandments ( Hebrew: תרי״ג מצוות, romanized: taryag mitzvot).
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