613 Mitzvot or
613 Commandments (
Hebrew: תרי"ג מצוות‎
transliterated as
Taryag mitzvot;
TaRYaG is the
gematria for the number "613") are a list of commandments from
God in the
Torah.
Jewish tradition holds that the Torah contains 613 distinct
mitzvot.
Traditionally, of these 613 commandments, 248 are
mitzvot aseh ("positive commandments," commands to perform certain actions) and 365 are
mitzvot lo taaseh ("negative commandments," commands to abstain from certain actions). Three-hundred and sixty-five corresponds to the number of days in a
solar year, and 248 was believed to be the number of bones and significant organs in the human body.
Many Jewish
philosophical and
mystical works (e.g. by
Baal ha-Turim, the
Maharal of Prague and leaders of
Hasidic Judaism) find allusions and inspirational calculations relating to the number of commandments. Other works dispute that exactly 613 mitzvot exist.
The
tzitzit ("knotted fringes") of the
tallit ("[prayer] shawl") are connected to the 613 commandments by interpretation: principal Torah commentator
Rashi bases the number of knots on a
gematria: the word tzitzit (Hebrew: ציצת (Biblical), ציצית, in its
Mishnaic spelling) has the value 600. Each tassel has eight threads (when doubled over) and five sets of knots, totalling 13. The sum of all numbers is 613. This reflects the concept that donning a garment with tzitzit reminds its wearer of all Torah commandments.
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
Shemot Rabbah 33:7,
Bamidbar 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).
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).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" binding on other persons.
http://www.jewfaq.org/613.htm
and ye on the sabbath day circumcise a man. If a man on the sabbath day receive circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken; are ye angry at me, because I have made a man every whit whole on the sabbath day?
