Q&A: The Nature of the Count — the 613 Commandments
The Nature of the Count — the 613 Commandments
Question
Hello Honorable Rabbi,
According to the Torah (as interpreted in the Oral Torah), there are many more than 613 commandments.
What is the difference between a commandment that is included in the count of the 613 and one that is not included in the count?
Answer
For that, Maimonides' principles are devoted. We wrote a book about them, He Will Send Forth His Roots. An article that summarizes exactly this issue appears in the volume published in honor of Rabbi Rabinovitch and here on the site.
Discussion on Answer
Thank you very much for referring me to the article. I read it, but I’m not sure I understood.
I’ll give an example:
– Suppose the count of commandments is 3.
– And suppose the commandments are putting on tefillin, and tzitzit with a blue thread (on a four-cornered garment).
– It would then come out that one halakhic decisor would count tzitzit as one commandment, tefillin of the head as two, and tefillin of the arm as three.
Another halakhic decisor would count tefillin (head and arm) as one commandment, and would be forced to say that tzitzit is two and the blue thread in the tzitzit is three.
I still haven’t understood how this is different from a commandment that would not enter the count of the 613 at all—both in the essential/theoretical sense and in terms of practical Jewish law.
I don’t understand the question. I wrote there that some principles deal with classification, while others deal with validity. I also discussed the practical ramifications of the count of the commandments.