Selected Topics from: S. Schechter, Aspects of Rabbinic Theology

The Torah in Its Aspect of Law (Mizwoth):

The Tradition about 613 Commandments:

TB Makkot 33b:

Rabbi Simlai expounded:
Six hundred and thirteen commandments were spoken to Moses.
Three hundered and sixty five negative commandments, corresponding to the number of days in the solar year;
and two hundred and forty-eight positive commandments, corresponding to the limbs in a human body.

Says Rav Hamnuna: What is the Biblical source?
"Moses commanded us a law [Torah], even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob" (Deuteronomy 33:)--
The numerical value of the word "Torah" totals 611.
"I am [the Lord thy God, etc." (Exodus 20:2) and "Thou shalt have no [other gods before me]" (Exodus 20:3) we heard directly from the Almighty.

Schechter refutes the Christian accusation that obeying so many commandments is "burdensome" [cf. Paul: "the curse of the law"].

• Relatively few commandments can actually be observed by any individual, especially without the Jerusalem Temple.
• Historically contingent precepts: e.g., building the Tabernacle; conquering the land.
• Laws directed at defined groups: Priests (regular or High), nazirites, the community leadership, king, etc.
• Laws governing special circumstances: e.g., divorce, levirate marriage, punishment for crimes and sins.
• In all, barely 100 commandments that are applicable to ordinary Jews
• The Torah as the source of all wisdom.
  Through the commandments, Judaism integrates all aspects of life [unlike compartmentalizations of modern Western society].
  No distinctions between:

  "religious	and	"secular"
  "spiritual"	and	"material"
  soul	and	body

  The administration of civil and criminal justice perceived as an essential part of the Torah.
• The liturgy states that the giving of the Torah is the ultimate expression of God's love for Israel.
• The commandments turn every deed into an act of worship or devotion.

• The tradition about the prophets successively reducing the number of commandments
  implies an underlying spiritual or moral purposed to all the commandments.

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