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For the lovers of the spiritual and Gematrias. We can segment the number of Mitzvos in many different ways:

  • positive (248) vs negative (365),
  • Mitzvos specifically for men, women, or everyone
  • Temple-related Mitzvos vs others
  • Eretz-Israel-related Mitzvos vs universal
  • Interpersonal vs ritual (cultic)
  • Division by seasons or time periods (for example by month)
  • Personal vs public (like to appoint judges or erect a Temple)
  • And more

We know that 613 must be a magic number for God chose it, and I bet a lot could be learned from the partitioning of the Mitzvos by different aspects. I only know of two attempts: positive vs negative and by body organs (R' Eliezer Ascari - Sefer Haredim), but those numbers themselves are not significant.

IIRC, the Kabbala movement developed after Rambam's MT and I'd expect that many would try to find special meaning in those numbers.

Did anyone try different segmentations and explain the meaning of those numbers?

Al Berko
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  • https://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/106297/1739 no reasoning but other divisions – robev Aug 04 '22 at 06:00
  • The positive vs. negative are significant. See the Gemara. Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan has something about 600 and 13. – N.T. Aug 04 '22 at 08:54
  • The “Kabbalah Movement “? What is that? You mean like the teachings of the Gaonim, who preceded Rambam, all of whose teachings are Kabbalah? They have a different enumeration/segmentation and so does BaHag. What are you asking here? Your actual question appears to be the last sentence and it doesn’t seem to relate specifically to Jewish teaching. – Yaacov Deane Aug 04 '22 at 11:12
  • @YaacovDeane, more of the geonim were Aristotilian than Qabbalistic. I mean, just look at Emunos veDei'os! The Behag counts the mitzvos differently than the Rambam, but does he offer categories like those in the question's bullet list? – Micha Berger Aug 05 '22 at 15:46
  • Your first bullet item -- commandments vs prohibitions -- is fundamentally different in kind to other divisions, as it is part of Rav Simlai's original statement about there being 613 mitzvos. https://www.sefaria.org/Makkot.23b.18 "365 prohibitions corresponding to the number of days in the solar year, and 248 positive mitzvot corresponding to the number of a person’s limbs" – Micha Berger Aug 05 '22 at 15:50
  • The Rambam offers 14 categories, around which he organizes his Mishneh Torah. Rav Hirsch has 6 categories, the structure of Horeb. Then there is the common division of bein adam laMaqom vs bein Adam lachaveiro (between a person and the Omnipresent vs between a person and their peers). Or a lesser used variant in which there is a third category -- between a person and themselves (self-improvement, like Torah study). – Micha Berger Aug 05 '22 at 15:52
  • @MichaBerger This is the kabbalistic explanation which in truth is according to the prophetic schools which go back to Moshe Rabbeinu and before. – Yaacov Deane Aug 05 '22 at 17:14
  • @MichaBerger I won’t argue the point. I can’t make an assessment about how the majority of the Gaonim hold. I would suspect, based on my own library, which has a decent amount, that we don’t have a comprehensive collection of the teachings of all the Gaonim to make that kind of analysis. – Yaacov Deane Aug 05 '22 at 17:19
  • @YaacovDeane, let me modify what I wrote... The majority of what geonim have published has been Rationalist. I consider the Kuzari a pushback against it. I wasn't saying the Rationalist school was the only one, just that all evidence is that it was very popular among geonim. (R Saadia Gaon didn't even believe that reincarnation was a Jewish idea to begin with. Emunos veDei'os calls its advocates "who call themselves Jews".) – Micha Berger Aug 10 '22 at 14:55
  • @YaacovDeane, I will add now that Rationalism dates back to at least Unqelus, and to Rav and his chain of repeaters (on Megillah 3a) who say that Unkelus restored the Targum, and Ezra (!) originally wrote it. Not to mention those who hold (eg the Tur) that shenayim miqra ve'echad targum means specifically THAT targum. That's a pretty firm anchoring of a translation that gives a very Rationalist expansion of every idiom about Hashem, Providence, prophecy, or prayer. – Micha Berger Aug 10 '22 at 14:57
  • @MichaBerger so the commentary of Saadia Gaon to Sefer Yetzirah (a text most people would place in the category of Kabbalah) is the Aristotelian/Rationalist commentary on Sefer Yetzirah? Sounds like a wild thought! – Yaacov Deane Aug 10 '22 at 17:16
  • @YaacovDeane, have you seen the commentary? It has been argued that demystifying the Seifer haYetzirah was RSG's driving reason to write a commentary on it. – Micha Berger Aug 12 '22 at 18:29
  • @YaacovDeane, Emunos veDei'os, also by RSG is no less Aristotelian than the Moreh Nevuchim. Perhaps more, as there isn't the neo-Platonic elements the Rambam has. But equally rationalist, in any case. – Micha Berger Aug 12 '22 at 18:58
  • @MichaBerger I have it printed in my first edition of the Ari z”l commentary from (around) 1730. You would probably love it. Got it from Bigeleizen like 30 years ago. – Yaacov Deane Aug 12 '22 at 22:55
  • @MichaBerger I also have RSG, Emunot v’Deiyot. Love it. If you saw the personal library I have assembled since you were last in my home, you would flip. – Yaacov Deane Aug 12 '22 at 22:57
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    @YaacovDeane, I keep my EvD next to Shaar haGilgulim.(R Chaim Vital), I consider it an exercise in Experimental Theology. The fact that the whole universe hasn't imploded into a black hole in my sefarim shrank proves something about eilu va'eilu. – Micha Berger Aug 22 '22 at 16:25
  • @MichaBerger 😂 – Yaacov Deane Aug 23 '22 at 00:01

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