Q&A: Engaging in the Enumeration of the Commandments
Engaging in the Enumeration of the Commandments
Question
I don’t remember whether I asked you this once before, but it’s very unclear to me why the medieval authorities (Rishonim) spent so much effort investigating which are the 613 commandments, and even disagreed with one another—if in the end (as I understand it) no halakhic practical difference comes out of it?
Answer
See Rabbi Yerucham Fishel Perla’s introduction to Rav Saadia Gaon’s Book of Commandments, where he discusses this at length. Indeed, it is brought in the name of the Vilna Gaon (in his brother’s book) that he did not engage in this because it has no practical difference. But that is not precise. True, there is no direct practical difference to the question of what is counted and how, but there are many indirect practical differences (the explanation of why something is counted or not counted is bound up with a halakhic understanding of the issues). You can find hundreds and thousands of examples of this in Nachmanides’ glosses on Maimonides’ Book of Commandments and on the roots/principles laid out by Maimonides. That is also what Rabbi Yerucham Fishel Perla writes there.