Sefer haHinnuch: The Book of [Mitzvah] Education / By Talmudic tradition, there are 613 mitzvoth in the Torah: 248 positive precepts, commanding us what we are to do, and 365 negative precepts - what we must not do. Yet what exactly are the 613 mitzvoth? Only later in time did scholars Only later in time did the scholars make their detailed listings. The clearest work we have on the subject is the famed Sefer beMitzvoth (the Book of Precepts) by Rambam (Maimonides). And this gave rise, in a way, bto the Sefer baHinnuch. In 13th-century Spain, a certain scholar, un-identified till recently, decided to arrange the 613 mitzvoth, as Rambam wrote of them, in a novel way. For each sidrah (weekly portion of the Written Torah read Sabbath morning in the prayer service) he would write about the mitzvoth which the Torah commands in that particular portion. Why would he want to do this? In his Preface our author gives his reason - quite certainty the most unusual and most charnming reason why a classic work of Torah literature was ever written in olden time: Hewished to provide interesting reading matter for his young son and the boy's friends - so that on a Sabbath afternoon, instead of giving way to boredom, they should ask, What mitzvoth does the Torah give us in today's sidrah? - and the answer would be there, at hand, in his Sefer baHinnuch. Thus, in the order of the sidroth, our author takes up each mitzvoth. From Rambam's Sefer baMitzvoth he gives it sourc in Scripture and describes its content and substance. That done, he gives a reason or purpose (generally original with him) for every precept: Why did the Torah command it? What may we gain by obeying it? guided mainly by Rambam's Mishneh Torah, our author then lists laws and details of the precept - points for further study in Talmud and Midrash. Finally he tells us to whom the particular mitzvah applies, and just where and when it is in effect.
