613 mitzvot - Maimonides' work

613 mitzvot (or 613 Commandments. Hebrew: תרי"ג מצוות transliterated as Taryag mitzvot; TaRYaG is the acronym for the numeric value of "613".) In Judaism there is a tradition that the Torah (i.e. the "Pentateuch") contains 613 mitzvot (mitzvot in Hebrew means "commandments", from mitzvah - מצוה -- "precept", plural: mitzvot; from צוה, tzavah- "command"). According to the main source, of these 613, 248 are mitzvot aseh ("positive commandments") ...

Including:

• 613 mitzvot - Significance of 613
• 613 mitzvot - Other views
• 613 mitzvot - Works enumerating the commandments
• 613 mitzvot - Maimonides' work
• 613 mitzvot - Maimonides' list

Read more here: » 613 mitzvot: Encyclopedia - 613 mitzvot

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 ...

See also:

613 mitzvot, 613 mitzvot - Significance of 613, 613 mitzvot - Other views, 613 mitzvot - Works enumerating the commandments, 613 mitzvot - Maimonides' work, 613 mitzvot - Maimonides' list

Read more here: » 613 mitzvot: Encyclopedia II - 613 mitzvot - Other views

The Talmud (tractate Makkoth 23b) calculates that the numerical value (gematria) of the Hebrew word "Torah" is 611. The Torah states that Moses transmitted the Torah from God to the Jewish people: "Moses commanded us the Torah as an inhertitance for the community of Jacob" (Deuteronomy 33:4). However, there were two commandments which God directed straight at the Jewish people: the first two of the Ten C ...

See also:

613 mitzvot, 613 mitzvot - Significance of 613, 613 mitzvot - Other views, 613 mitzvot - Works enumerating the commandments, 613 mitzvot - Maimonides' work, 613 mitzvot - Maimonides' list

Read more here: » 613 mitzvot: Encyclopedia II - 613 mitzvot - Significance of 613

In practice there is no one definitive list that explicates the 613 laws. The differences come about because in some places the Torah lists related laws together, so it is difficult to know whether one is dealing with a single law, which lists several cases, or several separate laws; Other "commandments" in the Torah are restricted as one-time acts, and would not be considered as "mitzvot". In rabbinic literature there are a number of works, mainly by the Rishonim, that were composed to determine which commandments belong in this enumeration ...

See also:

613 mitzvot, 613 mitzvot - Significance of 613, 613 mitzvot - Other views, 613 mitzvot - Works enumerating the commandments, 613 mitzvot - Maimonides' work, 613 mitzvot - Maimonides' list

Read more here: » 613 mitzvot: Encyclopedia II - 613 mitzvot - Works enumerating the commandments