Written by: Catholics for Israel
Category: Resources

The 613 MitzvotAccording to Jewish tradition, God gave 613 mitzvot (commandments) to Israel in the Torah—248 "positive mitzvot" (do's) and 365 "negative mitzvot" (don'ts).

You can find many lists of the commandments online, but these can be confusing because they are counted according to different numbering systems. The most authoritative compilation of mitzvot is that of Maimonides (the Rambam), but —to add to the confusion—even he has two lists: one that follows his magnum opus, the Mishneh Torah, and another according to his more concise Sefer Hamitzvot.

In the Mishneh Torah, Maimonides lists the positive and negative mitzvot together; he presents them topically in fourteen books that are further divided into sections (halachot). (You can find a good summary of the structure and content of the fourteen books here).

In the Sefer Hamitzvot, Maimonides enumerates the 248 positive mitzvot and 365 negative mitzvot separately, without categorizing them into books.

In addition, there is also the question of which mitzvot can still be observed today: no Jew can observe the 613 mitzvot in our day, because many of them depend upon a functional Temple and sacrifical service in Jerusalem. The Chafetz Chayim (Israel Meir Kagan, 1839-1933) compiled a list of the mitzvot that can be observed without a Temple: according to him, Jews today can observe 77 of the 248 positive mitzvot and 194 of the 365 mitzvot, adding up to a total of 271 commandments (shaded in green). In addition, the Chafetz Chayim lists another 26 mitzvot that can be observed today in the Land of Israel (shaded in blue), bringing the total of observable commandments in Israel to 297 (bold print). The source for this list is The Concise Book of Mitzvoth: The Commandments Which Can Be Observed Today.

The Table of Mitzvot

Catholics for Israel presents a unique, dynamic list of mitzvot, sortable according to the system you prefer. The columns contain the following data:

Mishneh Torah: The numbering of the mitzvot according to Maimonides' Mishneh Torah

Book: The books of the Mishneh Torah.

Section: The sections in each book of the Mishneh Torah.

Nr: The number of each mitzvah in each section of the Mishneh Torah.

Mitzvah: A short description of each mitzvah (commandment).

Torah: The book of the Torah (Pentateuch) where each mitzvah is found.

Verse: The chapter and verse where each mitzvah is found.

Pos/Neg: Whether the mitzvah is a positive (do) or negative one (don't).

Sefer Hamitzvot: The numbering of the mitzvot according to Maimonides' Sefer Hamitzvot. The positive and negative mitzvot are counted separately in this list.

Chafetz Chayim: The numbering of the mitzvot that can be observed today according to the Chafetz Chayim. The positive and negative mitzvot are counted separately in this list. If a mitzvah has no number, it means that it cannot be observed today.

Eretz Israel: The 26 additional mitzvot that can be observed today in the Land of Israel, according to the Chafetz Chayim.

How to use the Table

Here are some examples of how to use the table and sort the mitzvot:

To sort the mitzvot according to the Mishneh Torah (positive and negative mitzvot listed together): click on the Mishneh Torah header.

To sort the mitzvot alphabetically: click on the Mitzvah header.

To sort the mitzvot according to their order of appearance in the Torah (Pentateuch): click on Verse, then on Torah.

To sort the mitzvot according to the Sefer Hamitzvot (positive and negative mitzvot listed separately): click on Sefer Hamitzvot, then on Pos/Neg.

To sort the mitzvot that can be observed today (positive and negative mitzvot listed separately): click on Chafetz Chayim, then on Pos/Neg.

To sort the mitzvot that can be observed today in Israel (positive and negative mitzvot listed together): click on Eretz Israel,  then scroll down.


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