613 Laws: The Maimonides List

First thing first, most comprehensive lists of the 613 Laws are written by Rabbi’s. The intentions of those authors are unknown to us today. This has been an excuse for many as to why not to study the lists of Laws made available to us.

Hebrew Israelites are not followers of rabbinical oral law additions or Judaic religion therefore it is necessary to dissect the traditional written version of the commandments and determine what part is pure and based on actual scripture and what part has been tainted? We must do this with the actual name of the Messiah and the Law is no different.

Probably one of the most comprehensive lists is written by Rabbi Moses ben-Maimon and was published in the 1100’s. He was born in Spain in 1135. He was a well known and respected Jewish philosopher and Torah Scholar in the middle ages. He also became a physician and philosopher in Morocco and Egypt. He’s considered one of the most influential figures in medieval Jewish philosophy. His list of 613 Laws is considered one of the chief authoritative codifications of Jewish Law and ethics. Why?

He did a good job of categorizing all of the laws into 14 books and subcategories based on the principles of each Law. What’s wrong with it? He takes certain scriptures and gives it an Oral Law interpretation based on Jewish tradition. For example, Maimonides Law #91 “To sanctify the day with Kiddush and Havdallah (sanctify the Sabbath with the blessing of wine and a candle blessing that ends the Sabbath).” This law is based on Exodus 20:8 “Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.” It says nothing about Kiddush and Havdallah. Sure enough, people will create their own traditions for what they celebrate but those traditions are not laws and must remain separate. Maimonides does not do a good job of keeping tradition out of the purity of the Laws.

I have found numerous lists and they all have certain laws written completely differently and at times use completely different scripture references as well for the same Laws.

Clearly, breaking down the Laws will be a bit of a challenge. But if we can extract the scripture, we can know the Law. No more excuses for not knowing or obeying the Laws. We may have to dig through rabbinical tradition to get down to the pure law but it’s time to stop talking about the Law and start studying the Law. This is where our obedience begins.