The 613 Mitzvot (Commandments)

May 9, 2009 | by Aish.com

613 is one of the most famous Jewish numbers, representing all the commandments of the Torah. How many can you name?

The following is a brief listing of the 613 commandments (mitzvot), as recorded and classified by Maimonides in the 12th century. This listing is taken from his classic compendium of Jewish law, the "Mishneh Torah," which contains 14 primary "books" or sections.

This list should not be used as a source for any practical Halachic ruling. There are differences of opinion over the applicability today of some commandments in this list. Similarly, distinctions must often be made between rabbinically-decreed commandments and those that still have binding force as Torah-law today. In all cases of doubt, a competent rabbinical authority should be consulted.

This list is reprinted from the book, "Bible Basics," a user-friendly, illustrated reference guide to the Five Books of Moses. (Published by International Traditions Corporation, Jerome S. Hahn, General Editor.)

COMMANDMENT SOURCE

BOOK ONE: THE BOOK OF KNOWLEDGE

Fundamentals of Torah:
1	To know there is a God	Ex. 20:2
2	Not to entertain thoughts of other gods besides Him
Ex. 20:3
3	To know that He is one	Deut. 6:4
4	To love Him	Deut. 6:5
5	To fear Him	Deut. 10:20
6	To sanctify His Name	Lev. 22:32
7	Not to profane His Name	Lev. 22:32
8	Not to destroy objects associated with His Name	Deut. 12:4
9	To listen to the prophet speaking in His Name	Deut. 18:15
10	Not to test the prophet unduly	Deut. 6:16

Laws of Character
11	To emulate His ways	Deut. 28:9
12	To cleave to those who know Him	Deut. 10:20
13	To love Jews	Lev. 19:18
14	To love converts	Deut. 10:19
15	Not to hate fellow Jews	Lev. 19:17
16	To reprove	Lev. 19:17
17	Not to embarrass others	Lev. 19:17
18	Not to oppress the weak	Ex. 21:22
19	Not to speak derogatorily of others	Lev. 19:16
20	Not to take revenge	Lev. 19:18
21	Not to bear a grudge	Lev. 19:18

Laws of Torah Study
22	To learn Torah	Deut. 6:7
23	To honor those who teach and know Torah	Lev. 19:32

Laws of Idolatry and Paganism
24	Not to inquire into idolatry	Lev. 19:4
25	Not to follow the whims of your heart or what your eyes see	Num. 15:39
26	Not to blaspheme	Ex. 22:27
27	Not to worship idols in the manner they are worshiped	Ex. 20:5
28	Not to worship idols in the four ways we worship God	Ex. 20:5
29	Not to make an idol for yourself	Ex. 20:4
30	Not to make an idol for others	Lev. 19:4
31	Not to make human forms even for decorative purposes	Ex. 20:20
32	Not to turn a city to idolatry	Ex. 23:13
33	To burn a city that has turned to idol worship	Deut. 13:17
34	Not to rebuild it as a city	Deut. 13:17
35	Not to derive benefit from it	Deut. 13:18
36	Not to missionize an individual to idol worship	Deut. 13:12
37	Not to love the missionary	Deut. 13:9
38	Not to cease hating the missionary	Deut. 13:9
39	Not to save the missionary	Deut. 13:9
40	Not to say anything in his defense	Deut. 13:9
41	Not to refrain from incriminating him	Deut. 13:9
42	Not to prophesize in the name of idolatry	Deut. 13:14
43	Not to listen to a false prophet	Deut. 13:4
44	Not to prophesize falsely in the name of God	Deut. 18:20
45	Not to be afraid of killing the false prophet	Deut. 18:22
46	Not to swear in the name of an idol	Ex. 23:13
47	Not to perform ov (medium)	Lev. 19:31
48	Not to perform yidoni (magical seer)	Lev. 19:31
49	Not to pass your children through the fire to Molech	Lev. 18:21
50	Not to erect a column in a public place of worship	Deut. 16:22
51	Not to bow down on smooth stone	Lev. 26:1
52	Not to plant a tree in the Temple courtyard	Deut. 16:21
53	To destroy idols and their accessories	Deut. 12:2
54	Not to derive benefit from idols and their accessories	Deut. 7:26
55	Not to derive benefit from ornaments of idols	Deut. 7:25
56	Not to make a covenant with idolaters	Deut. 7:2
57	Not to show favor to them	Deut. 7:2
58	Not to let them dwell in our land	Ex. 23:33
59	Not to imitate them in customs and clothing	Lev. 20:23
60	Not to be superstitious	Lev. 19:26
61	Not to go into a trance to foresee events, etc.	Deut. 18:10
62	Not to engage in astrology	Lev. 19:26
63	Not to mutter incantations	Deut. 18:11
64	Not to attempt to contact the dead	Deut. 18:11
65	Not to consult the ov	Deut. 18:11
66	Not to consult the yidoni	Deut. 18:11
67	Not to perform acts of magic	Deut. 18:10
68	Men must not shave the hair off the sides of their head	Lev. 19:27
69	Men must not shave their beards with a razor	Lev. 19:27
70	Men must not wear women's clothing	Deut. 22:5
71	Women must not wear men's clothing	Deut. 22:5
72	Not to tattoo the skin	Lev. 19:28
73	Not to tear the skin in mourning	Deut. 14:1
74	Not to make a bald spot in mourning	Deut. 14:1

Laws of Repentance
75	To repent and confess wrongdoings	Num. 5:7

BOOK TWO: THE BOOK OF LOVE OF GOD

Laws of Reading the Shema
76	To say the Shema twice daily	Deut. 6:7

Laws of Prayer and Kohanic Blessings
77	To serve the Almighty with prayer daily	Ex. 23:25
78	The Kohanim must bless the Jewish nation daily	Num. 6:23

Laws of Tefillin, Mezuza and Sefer Torah
79	To wear tefillin on the head	Deut. 6:8
80	To bind tefillin on the arm	Deut. 6:8
81	To put a mezuzah on each door post	Deut. 6:9
82	Each male must write a Sefer Torah	Deut. 31:19
83	The king must have a separate Sefer Torah for himself	Deut. 17:18

Laws of Tzitzit
84	To have tzitzit on four-cornered garments	Num. 15:38

Laws of Blessings
85	To bless the Almighty after eating	Deut. 8:10

Laws of Circumcision
86	To circumcise all males on the eighth day after their birth	Lev. 12:3

BOOK THREE: THE BOOK OF SEASONS

Laws of the Sabbath
87	To rest on the seventh day	Ex. 23:12
88	Not to do prohibited labor on the seventh day	Ex. 20:10
89	The court must not inflict punishment on Shabbat	Ex. 35:3
90	Not to walk outside the city boundary on Shabbat	Ex. 16:29
91	To sanctify the day with Kiddush and Havdallah	Ex. 20:8

Laws of Eruvin (Rabbinical)

Laws of Yom Kippur Rest
92	To rest from prohibited labor	Lev. 23:32
93	Not to do prohibited labor on Yom Kippur	Lev. 23:32
94	To afflict yourself on Yom Kippur	Lev. 16:29
95	Not to eat or drink on Yom Kippur	Lev. 23:29

Laws of Festival Rest
96	To rest on the first day of Passover	Lev. 23:7
97	Not to do prohibited labor on the first day of Passover	Lev. 23:8
98	To rest on the seventh day of Passover	Lev. 23:8
99	Not to do prohibited labor on the seventh day of Passover	Lev. 23:8
100	To rest on Shavuot	Lev. 23:21
101	Not to do prohibited labor on Shavuot	Lev. 23:21
102	To rest on Rosh Hashana	Lev. 23:24
103	Not to do prohibited labor on Rosh Hashana	Lev. 23:25
104	To rest on Sukkot	Lev. 23:35
105	Not to do prohibited labor on Sukkot	Lev. 23:35
106	To rest on Shmini Atzeret	Lev. 23:36
107	Not to do prohibited labor on Shmini Atzeret	Lev. 23:36

Laws of Chometz and Matzah
108	Not to eat chametz on the afternoon of the 14th day of Nissan	Deut. 16:3
109	To destroy all chametz on 14th day of Nissan	Ex. 12:15
110	Not to eat chametz all seven days of Passover	Ex. 13:3
111	Not to eat mixtures containing chametz all seven days of Passover	Ex. 12:20
112	Not to see chametz in your domain seven days	Ex. 13:7
113	Not to find chametz in your domain seven days	Ex. 12:19
114	To eat matzah on the first night of Passover	Ex. 12:18
115	To relate the exodus from Egypt on that night	Ex. 13:8

Laws of Shofar, Sukkah, Lulav
116	To hear the Shofar on the first day of Tishrei (Rosh Hashana)	Num. 29:1
117	To dwell in a Sukkah for the seven days of Sukkot	Lev. 23:42
118	To take up a Lulav and Etrog all seven days	Lev. 23:40

Laws of Shekalim
119	Each man must give a half shekel annually	Ex. 30:13

Laws of Sanctification of Months
120	Courts must calculate to determine when a new month begins	Ex. 12:2

Laws of Fasts
121	To afflict and cry out before God in times of catastrophe	Num. 10:9

Laws of Megillah and Chanukah (Rabbinical)

BOOK FOUR: THE BOOK OF WOMEN

Laws of Marriage
122	To marry a wife by means of ketubah and kiddushin	Deut. 22:13
123	Not to have relations with women not thus married	Deut. 23:18
124	Not to withhold food, clothing, and relations from your wife	Ex. 21:10
125	To have children with one's wife	Gen 1:28

Laws of Divorce
126	To issue a divorce by means of a "get" document	Deut. 24:1
127	A man must not remarry his wife after she has married someone else	Deut. 24:4

Laws of Yivum and Chalitzah (Levirate Marriage)
128	To do yibum (marry childless brother's widow)	Deut. 25:5
129	To do chalitzah (freeing a widow from yibum)	Deut. 25:9
130	The widow must not remarry until the ties with her brother-in-law are removed	Deut. 25:5

Laws of Women
131	The court must fine one who seduces a maiden	Ex. 22:15-16
132	The rapist must marry the maiden (if she chooses)	Deut. 22:29
133	He is not allowed to divorce her	Deut. 22:29
134	The slanderer must remain married to his wife	Deut. 22:19
135	He must not divorce her	Deut. 22:19

Laws of Sotah (Suspect Wife)
136	To fulfill the laws of the Sotah	Num. 5:30
137	Not to put oil on her meal offering	Num. 5:15
138	Not to put frankincense on her meal offering	Num. 5:15

BOOK FIVE: THE BOOK OF HOLINESS

Laws of Forbidden Relations
139	Not to have relations with your mother	Lev. 18:7
140	Not to have relations with your father's wife	Lev. 18:8
141	Not to have relations with your sister	Lev. 18:9
142	Not to have relations with your father's wife's daughter	Lev. 18:11
143	Not to have relations with your son's daughter	Lev. 18:10
144	Not to have relations with your daughter	Lev. 18:10
145	Not to have relations with your daughter's daughter	Lev. 18:10
146	Not to have relations with a woman and her daughter	Lev. 18:17
147	Not to have relations with a woman and her son's daughter	Lev. 18:17
148	Not to have relations with a woman and her daughter's daughter	Lev. 18:17
149	Not to have relations with your father's sister	Lev. 18:12
150	Not to have relations with your mother's sister	Lev. 18:13
151	Not to have relations with your father's brother's wife	Lev. 18:14
152	Not to have relations with your son's wife	Lev. 18:15
153	Not to have relations with your brother's wife	Lev. 18:16
154	Not to have relations with your wife's sister	Lev. 18:18
155	A man must not have relations with a beast	Lev. 18:23
156	A woman must not have relations with a beast	Lev. 18:23
157	Not to have homosexual relations	Lev. 18:22
158	Not to have homosexual relations with your father	Lev. 18:7
159	Not to have homosexual relations with your father's brother	Lev. 18:14
160	Not to have relations with a married woman	Lev. 18:20
161	Not to have relations with a menstrually impure woman	Lev. 18:19
162	Not to marry non-Jews	Deut. 7:3
163	Not to let Moabite and Ammonite males marry into the Jewish people	Deut. 23:4
164	Don't keep a third generation Egyptian convert from marrying into the Jewish people	Deut. 23:8-9
165	Not to refrain from marrying a third generation Edomite convert	Deut. 23:8-9
166	Not to let a mamzer marry into the Jewish people	Deut. 23:3
167	Not to let a eunuch marry into the Jewish people	Deut. 23:2
168	Not to castrate any male (including animals)	Lev. 22:24
169	The High Priest must not marry a widow	Lev. 21:14
170	The High Priest must not have relations with a widow even outside of marriage	Lev. 21:15
171	The High Priest must marry a virgin maiden	Lev. 21:13
172	A Kohen must not marry a divorcee	Lev. 21:7
173	A Kohen must not marry a zonah (a woman who had forbidden relations)	Lev. 21:7
174	A priest must not marry a chalalah (party to or product of 169-172)	Lev. 21:7
175	Not to make pleasurable contact with any forbidden woman	Lev. 18:6