"I am," and "Thou shalt have no
other," which we heard from the Almighty Himself, together make up six
hundred and thirteen.
_Maccoth_, fol. 23, col. 2.
David, we are told, reduced these commandments here reckoned at
six hundred and thirteen, to eleven, and Isaiah still further to
six, and then afterward to two. "Thus saith the Eternal, Observe
justice and act righteously, for my salvation is near." Finally
came Habakkuk, and he reduced the number to one
all-comprehensive precept (chap. ii. 4), "The just shall live by
faith." (See _Maccoth_, fol. 24, col. 1.)
The precept concerning fringes is as weighty as all the other precepts
put together; for it is written, says Rashi (Num. xv. 39), "And remember
all the commandments of the Lord." Now the numerical value of the word
"fringes" is six hundred, and this with eight threads and five knots
makes six hundred and thirteen.
_Shevuoth_, fol. 29, col. 1.
"For behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem
and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread and the
whole stay of water, the mighty man and the man of war, the judge and
the prophet," etc. (Isa. iii. 1, 2). By "the stay" is meant men mighty
in the Scriptures, and by "the staff" men learned in the Mishna; such,
for instance, as Rabbi Yehudah ben Tima and his associates.
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