613 mitzvot

In Judaism there is a tradition that the Torah contains 613 mitzvot (Hebrew for commandments, from mitzvah - מצוה - precept, plural mitzvot; from צוה, tzavah- command).

Other views

The Talmudic source is not without dissent. Apart from Rabbi Simlai, to whom the number 613 is attributed, other classical sages who hold this view include Rabbi Simeon ben Azzai (Sifre, Deuteronomy 76) and Rabbi Eleazar ben Yose the Galilean (Midrash Aggadah to Genesis 15:1). It is quoted in Midrash Exodus Rabbah 33:7, Numbers Rabbah 13:15–16; 18:21 and Talmud Yevamot 47b.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

However, some held that this count was not an authentic tradition, or that it was not logically possible to come up with a systematic count. This is possibly why no early work of Jewish law or Biblical commentary depended on this system, and no early systems of Jewish principles of faith made acceptance of this Aggadah (non-legal Talmudic statement) normative. The classical Biblical commentator and grammarian Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra 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" (Yesod Mora, Chapter 2).

Related Topics:
Jewish principles of faith - Biblical commentator - Abraham ibn Ezra

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nahmanides held that this counting was the matter of a dispute, and that rabbinic opinion on this is not unanimous. Despite this, he states that "this total has proliferated throughout the aggadic literature... we ought to say that it was a tradition from Moses at Mount Sinai" (Nahmanides, Commentary to Maimonides' Sefer Hamitzvot', Root Principle 1).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rabbi Simeon ben Tzemah Duran states 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 the law, but rather on the talmudic discussions" (Zohar Harakia, Lviv, 1858, p.99).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rabbis who attempted to compile a list of the 613 commandments faced a number of difficulties, being:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Which statements were to be counted as commandments? Every command by God to any individual? Only commandments to the entire people of Israel?
• Would an order from God be counted as a commandment, for the purposes of such a list, if it could only be complied with in one place and time? Or, would such an order only count as a commandment if it could - at least in theory - be followed at all times? (The latter is the view of Maimonides.)
• How does one count commandments in a single verse which offers multiple prohibitions? Should each prohibition count as a single commandment, or does the entire set count as one commandment?

In Torah Min Hashamayim ("Heavenly Torah"), Conservative Judaism's Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel writes:

Related Topics:
Conservative Judaism - Abraham Joshua Heschel

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:Judah ibn Bal'am denigrates those who number the mitzvot, and who attempt "to force their count to equal 613." In his opinion, this is impossible, for if we were to count all of the mitzvot, including those that were temporary commandments and those that were intended to endure, the number would be far greater than 613. "And if we confined ourselves only to those that endure, we would find fewer than this number." (Behinat Hamitzvot Rabbi Yehiel Mikhel Gutmann, Breslau, 1928, p.26)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Despite these misgivings, the idea that there are 613 commandments became accepted as normative in the Jewish community. Today, even among those who do not literally accept this count as accurate, it is still a common practice to refer to the total system of commandments within the Torah as the "613 commandments".

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~