The gemara seems to assume that accepting a shavua to keep the 613 mitzvos is exactly the same as accepting a shavua to keep the entire Torah. Is this really true? First, the Ramban at the beginning of sefer hamitzvos discusses the possibility that the #613 is a PR stunt but not necessarily accepted by all sources. Even if we are to assume that our gemara buys into the 613 idea as do all the Rishonim who list the mitzvos, aren't there still other "mitzvos" in the Torah that are not counted in the 613. There are many mitzvah concepts that would qualify as "ratzon ha'torah", even if not an absolute obligation, and by only accepting the 613 mitzvos we would seemingly not be accepting all the thousands of other points that the Torah want us to accept! How can 613 be the same as a shavua on the entire Torah?
7 comments:
the 613 number is the root for all mitzvos and as such encompass all of Torah.
There is a chazal that there are 600k letters in Torah corresponding to 600k jews. In truth we know that both counts aren't accurate as the Jews were 603k and change and the letters are more then 600k. This, BTW has halachic ramifications for Reshos Harabim!
in any case the answer is the same.
How can Yaakov say he kept 613 in Lavan's house, it is impossible for 1 person to do in the best of times with a bais hamikdash etc.
I believe the letters are less than 600,000 - see Reb Yaakov at the end of Zos Habracha for an explanation.
Doesn't the gemara in makkos somewhere also say that there are 613 mitzvos. It's amazing that there are so many disputes amongst the rishonim but so many agree to this chazal of 613 (they just argure what is included).
The yaakov medrash of keeping 613 needs axplanation. He couldn't have kept all 613, no one individual can and Yaakov was married to two sisters.
michael,
there is a gemara at the end of makos which is really the source for the 613 number - Torah is gematria 611 that were tziva lanu moshe, + 2 straight from Hashem = 613. The ramban challenges whether this is universally accepted. Although it may not have been in his day, in our day it certainly is. R' yossi was dealing with it from more of a machashava perspective k'darcho bakodesh, but i think even simply one can say that it is a way of making a reference to the entire torah.
I think your point with yaakov is a very good one, he may not have been obligated to keep the prohibition against 2 sisters (certainly outside eretz yisroel like the ramban's mehalech), but how can he claim that he kept everything?
really don't see the difficulty in Yaakov, the Gemara often says that if you, for example, learn the Halachos of Kurbanos its as if you brought them and similar.
The torah is a wisdom and the Mitzvos are a way for us to attach oneself to this wisdom. There are other ways to do so though and this is what Yaakov did.
The simplest answer as to why Yaakov married 2 sisters is because he did so with Ruach Hakodesh. If you think about it, this in itself is an attachment to this wisdom. Because if not for the Ruach Hakodesh he WOULDN'T, hence, in marrying them because of... he was in essence taking part of the wisdom.
Rabbi Lebowitz. Why did the gemara choose Tzitzis as the mitzvah that is equal to all of Torah. There are many other mitzvos that the gemara tells us are equal to all of torah, Tzedakah (Bava Basra daf 9), Milah (Nedarim 32), Shabbos (i Think in a yerushalmi), Talmud Torah (Mishna Peah) to name a few. So why choose specifically Tzitzis?
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