Title: Crafting the 613 Commandments
Description: Rabbinic tradition has it that 613 commandments were given to Moses on Mount Sinai, but it does not specify those included in the enumeration. Maimonides methodically and artfully crafts a list of 613 commandments in a work that serves as a prolegemenon to the Mishneh Torah, his monumental code of law. This book explores the surprising way Maimonides put this tradition to use and his possible rationale for using such a tradition. It also explores many of the philosophical and ethical ideas animating the composition of such a list. In the book's second half, Friedberg examines the manner by which Maimonides formulated positive commandments in the Mishneh Torah, leading him to suggest new dimensions in Maimonides' legal theory.
Subjects: Judaism: sacred texts, Maimonides, moses, 1135-1204, Commandments (judaism), Jewish philosophy, Medieval Philosophy, Judaism, Philosophy, medieval, Six hundred and thirteen Commandments