Image from Faith In His Blood . Org
[We dug this up from 2012 files; helpful to those who are overwhelmed in finding out the Torah actually listed not 2, nor 10, but 612 commandments as of a Jewish scholar’s count! Whaaaat???? But before you panic, please read why not ALL 612 are applicable to us, Gentiles, and hey, not even to Jews.
There is logic to the Torah-Giver’s progressive revelation of do’s and don’ts to Israel during their wilderness wandering, as specific situations and needs, crises and exigencies arose. This is why we, readers in this day and age, need to learn how to read these 612 in context to determine what is universal and apply to people of all nations at all times in all cultures, and what is specific to Israel during the wilderness wandering, in the Land, in diaspora; which are specific to Levites, to women, men, etc., you get the picture. And which are addressed to both the Israelite and “the stranger in your midst”. One resource book we have featured here well clarifies that for us, our MUST READ/MUST OWN: TORAH for Dummies, Arthur Kurzweil (http://www.dummies.com)gives a breakdown of the 613 commandments. Reformatted for post.-—Admin1]
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The term used to refer to these 613 commandments is Taryag.
It’s an acronym made up of 4 Hebrew letters:
- Tav [T],
- Resh [R],
- Yud [Y],
- Gimmel [G].
Each letter in the Hebrew alphabet corresponds to a number, so
- taf is 400,
- resh is 200,
- yud is 10, and
- gimmel is 3.
These numbers add up to 613 which are the DO’s and DON’Ts of the Torah.
Categories of commandments:
- Positive commandments
- Negative commandments
- Time bound commandments (for specific times)
- Non-time bound commandments (for any time)
- Simple commandments
- Complex commandments
- Rational commandments
- Non-rational commandments
- Ritual commandments
- Commandments between humans and God
- Commandments for all Jews at all times
- Commandments for the priesthood only
- Commandments for women only
- Commandments for all humankind
- Commandments for the King of Israel only
- Commandments in the Holy Temple
- Commandments for specific times and places
- Commandments that are constant
Another way to classify commandments is by negative and positive:
- There are 365 negative commandments called mitzvoth lo ta’aseh —by negative, these are commandments that tell us what not to do. They’re said to correspond to the 365 days of the year. The symbolism of these commandments lies in the idea that, according to the Torah, these prohibitions must be observed everyday.
- There are 248 positive commandments called mitzvoth aseh —by positive, these are commandments that tell us specific actions or beliefs that we must do. These commandments correspond to the 248 parts of the body [as counted by the Talmudic rabbis]. The symbolism of these commandments lies in the idea that the Torah is saying that the positive commandments must be performed with a wholeness of being. The Torah must be integrated into our life everyday and with our whole body.
According to Kurzweil, Jewish teaching says that all 248 positive commandments are contained within the first of the Ten Commandments:
“I am the Lord thy God,”
and all 365 negative commandments are contained within the second of the Ten Commandments:
“Thou shall have no other gods before me.“
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