Section 1 – The first to count the Taryag
1) Bahag – Ba’al Halachos Gedolos (identity disputed, 8th century Babylonia)
Life: Most say Halachos Gedolos was written by Rav Shimon
Kaira in the year 741 CE. Others say it was written by Rav Yehudai Gaon . Both lived in the 8th century.
Style: His list is really just an introduction to a work on halacha. He lists all of his mitzvos by name, originally without any punctuation. The names are usually just a quotation of
the verse they’re from. As such, it’s hard to determine when one mitzvah starts and when one stops. He doesn’t number them, and one could easily find a different number other than
613 mitzvos in his list. As such, later authorities struggled to divide up his list into 613. They often had to emend the text,
or interpret one mitzvah to be really multiple in one, or the
vice versa.
Unique Characteristics: Besides being the first to enumerate
the mitzvos, he doesn’t hesitate including DeRabbanans in the list. He divides the mitzvos into 7 categories, instead of the better-known division of 248 positive and 365 negative mitzvos. Instead he lists 71 “Onshim” (ordered from most severe to least severe), 277 negative mitzvos for the individual, 200 positive mitzvos for the individual, and 65
“Parshiyos”. This latter category is a mix of 48 positive and 17 negative mitzvos, understood to be incumbent upon the community instead of the individual.
Section 2 – The Azharos (Taryag composed into a poem)
2) Rav Sa’adiah Gaon (c. 892 – 942 CE, Babylonia), also my 38th great grandfather.
Life: He became the Gaon, or Rosh Yeshiva, of the Yeshiva in Sura, Babylonia, at the age of 36. He wrote a translation of the Torah into Arabic. His most famous work is most likely Emunos V’Deos, a philosophical work originally written in Arabic.
Unique Characteristics: He wrote two piyutim: one according
to the division of the Bahag (although with a different order),
and one organizing the mitzvos according the Ten Commandments. This latter piyut is referenced by Rashi.
The two versions differ in the exact listing of the Taryag. Both
are featured in Rav Sa’adiah Gaon’s Siddur. He doesn’t list
dozens of mitzvos which everyone else counted (for example:
Bal Tosif and Bal Tigra , Ahavas Hashem, Kiddush Hashem ).
3) Ata Hinchalta (identity disputed)
Life: Some say this piyut was written by Rav Eliyahu.HaZaken (see below). Others say it was written by Rabbeinu Shimon HaGadol (c. 950 – 1020 CE, France). Others even date this work to the times of Rav Sa’adiah Gaon, or even earlier.
Style: A poem written as an alphabetical acrostic, sometimes
going forwards, sometimes backwards. There isn’t a clear order to the mitzvos, and the main commentary on it expresses an inability to discern the order.
4) Rav Eliyahu HaZaken (c. 980 – 1060 CE, France)
Life: He was Rav Hai Gaon’s brother-in-law. He lived in
France and was a student of Rabbeinu Gershom. His Azharos are cited by Tosafos in a few places.
Style: It’s a poem written mostly as an alphabetical acrostic which goes forwards and backwards. Like the Bahag, he divided the mitzvos into unique categories. First the mitzvos aseh, then parshiyos, then onshim, then mitzvos lo sa’aseh.
5) Rav Shlomo ibn Gabirol (c. 1021 – 1070 CE)
Life: He was a very popular paytan or poet, and some of our Shabbos zemiros were written by him. Some say he composed the popular song “Anim Zemiros”, and others say he wrote “Adon Olam”. He was also a philosopher. By the age
of 25 he had written many poems and a few works on character development.
Style: Each stanza is written in the same way, with the first three parts sharing a rhyming scheme, with the last part always ending in –im. An example is below. Each stanza usually includes one or many mitzvos, depending on the
interpretation of the commentator.
Unique Characteristics: Unlike the other Azharos, he divides his piyut into 248 positive mitzvos and 365 negative mitzvos, like the Rambam would later do.
6) Rav Yitzchak ben Reuven Albargaloni (1043 – ? CE)
Life: Lived in the same generation as the Rif. Albargaloni just
means from Barcelona, or in Hebrew HaBartzaloni. He should
not be confused with Rav Yehuda HaBartzaloni (12th century). Both have been referred to as Ri HaBartzaloni. He was an ancestor to Ramban (see below). He was the one who translated Rav Hai Gaon’s important work on business halacha “HaMekach VeHamemkar” from Arabic into Hebrew.
Style: An alphabetical acrostic where each stanza has four
lines where the first three start with the same letter. All four lines share the same rhyming scheme, and the last line is a verse in Tanach. Like Rav Eliyahu HaZaken (see above), first he lists 200 positive mitzvos, 65 parshiyos, 71 onshim, then 277 negative mitzvos.
7) Sefer Yereim – Rav Eliezer MiMitz (1140 – 1237 CE)
Life: He was one of the Ba’alei HaTosafos, often quoted by
Tosafos and other Ashkenazi poskim. He was a student of
Rabbeinu Tam, and the teacher of the Ra’avya and the Rokeach.
Style: Although not one of the Azharos, he based his sefer on
the list of the Halachos Gedolos, with many differences. It is
unclear if he had a different version of Halachos Gedolos, if
this was how he interpreted its vague listing, or he simply
disagreed in certain instances. There are only 464 sections in
the work, although the author says he grouped together similar mitzvos. In each mitzvah he spells out all of his rulings related to that mitzvah. As such, it’s an often-quoted halacha sefer.
Section 3 – The Rambam and those who followed him
8) Rambam – Rav Moshe ben Maimon (c. 1135 – 1204 CE)
Life: Also known as Maimonides. He is arguably the most famous Jewish philosopher of all time, and one of the most influential Torah scholars of his time. He was born in Spain, and eventually came to live in Egypt. He was the first to
structurally organize and codify all of the laws scattered throughout the Talmud into clear, delineated topics and sections. He also codified laws that aren’t presently relevant but will be when the Temple is rebuilt. This was all put in his work Mishneh Torah. Besides his Sefer HaMitzvos, he wrote a commentary on the entire Mishnah, and the philosophical
work Moreh Nevuchim, or Guide to the Perplexed. All three of
these works were originally written in Arabic, and later
translated by others into Hebrew. He famously became the Sultan of Egypt’s personal doctor in his later years.
Unique Characteristics: He prefaces his list with 14 “Shorashim”, which are the rules he created and followed to determine which mitzvos made it into his list. If you read any verse in Chumash and follow his rules, you’ll apparently know if it counts as a mitzvah or not. Every mitzvah he lists, he tells you the verse it came from, a source in Chazal that it’s a mitzvah (if one exists), and where in the gemarra one can
learn more about it. He standardized listing the mitzvos as a list of 248 positive mitzvos and 365 negative mitzvos.
9) Ramban – Rav Moshe ben Nachman (1194 – 1270 CE)
Life: Spent most of his life in Spain. Renowned Jewish scholar, mystic, and doctor. He wrote a commentary on the Torah, Talmud, Rif, and Responsa. He also wrote on many topics.
Style: He doesn’t explicitly write his list anywhere. Rather, he
comments on the Rambam’s Sefer HaMitzvos and let’s you know when he disagrees. Silence often implies concurrence.
After the Rambam’s list the Ramban tells you the 25 mitzvos
that he feels the Rambam “forgot”. However, this list isn’t enough, as reading the whole sefer yields a much greater disagreement between these two giants . At the very end of his commentary the Ramban summarizes every mitzvah he disagrees with, and it’s up to you to figure out how he fills in the gaps.
10) Sefer HaChinuch (identity disputed)
Life: Many assume this work was written by Rav Aharon HaLevi of Barcelona (1235 – c. 1290 CE). However, this.assumption has been disproven, as the author frequently disagrees explicitly with known rulings of Rav Aharon HaLevi.
A convincing argument has been made that the author is really Rav Aharon’s brother, Rav Pinchas HaLevi. Either way, we know for a fact the author was a Levi from Barcelona. He seemingly was a student of the Rashba, as he frequently agrees with the latter’s rulings.
Style: His list is exclusively based on the list of the Rambam.
However, he reordered the list according to the weekly parashat. He writes that this way his son (for whom he wrote the book) will know what mitzvos appear in each parashat.
Each mitzvah is listed with a title, the verse, a general description of the mitzvah, the “shoresh” of the mitzvah (see next section), a summary of its relevant halachos, and details of its obligation.
Unique Characteristics: What makes Sefer HaChinuch so
unique and enjoyed by many is that he shares what he believes is the reason behind each mitzvah, which he calls the “shoresh” of the mitzvah. He also at the end of each
mitzvah tells you who is obligated in it, when, and where. He also lists the punishment for neglecting the mitzvah.
11) Semag – Sefer Mitzvos Gadol – Rav Moshe of Kotzi (13th
century)
Life: He was one of the Ba’alei HaTosafos and was born in France. He was a student of Rabbi Yehudah HaChossid. He writes in the introduction to the work that he consistently received visions in his dreams commanding him to write a two-volume work on the Taryag Mitzvos. He eventually
complied.
Style: His sefer is a work of halacha. He goes through each
mitzvah and lists all the halachos related to that mitzvah. Very
often he quotes the language of the gemarra and the Rambam, although as one of the Ba’alei HaTosafos he also brings the rulings of the Ashkenazi Rishonim. At the beginning of the work he lists all the Taryag Mitzvos, basically making an index for the rest of the work. His list is mostly
based on the Rambam’s, differing only in 20 mitzvos.
12) Semak – Sefer Mitzvos Katan – Rav Yitzchak of Korvil (13th century)
Life: He was one of the Ba’alei HaTosafos, born in France. He
was the teacher of Rabbeinu Peretz.
Style: His work was meant to be an abridged version of the Semag. Things which are often long and complicated in the original are presented in a short, terse form. He does list some mitzvos that don’t appear in the Semag. Like its
predecessor, it’s primarily a work on halacha, categorized by mitzvos. Instead of listing and discussing all of the 613 mitzvos, he only brings those that apply in the exile (294 mitzvos in total).
Unique Characteristics: The work is divided into seven sections or “pillars” (the original name is הגולה עמודי שבעה, the seven pillars of the exile). This was so a person could study a section each day and complete the book every week.
13) Zohar HaRakiah – Rav Shimon ben Tzemach (1361 – 1444 CE)
Life: He lived in Algeria. Besides being a major halachic decisor, he was a Mathematician, Philosopher, and Doctor.
Style: He wrote his work as a “commentary” to Rav Shlomo
ibn Gabirol’s Azharos (see above). However, it’s not really a commentary, but merely uses the latter’s listing as a springboard to discuss his own listing of the mitzvos. He mostly follows the Rambam and Ramban, so he rejects most of what Rashbag counts.
Unique Characteristics: Being one of the later Rishonim, he had access to all of the works that came before him. He uses every opportunity he can to bring the disputes of the Rambam and the Ramban, and to discuss the logic and merits of each.
He will often take sides, or come up with his own opinion. In
this work he was the first to suggest that when the Rambam
says derashos are MiDerabanan, he meant they’re Biblical but were extracted by the Rabbis.
14) Sefer Charedim – Rav Elazar Azikri (1533 – 1600 CE)
Life: He was born and lived in Tzfat. He was a contemporary
of Rav Yosef Caro, the Arizal and Rav Shlomo Alkabetz. He was the author of the popular shabbos zemer Yedid Nefesh .
Style: He only writes mitzvos that apply today yet includes mitzvos MiDivrei Kabbalah and MiDivrei Soferim.
Unique Characteristics: He divided the mitzvos into the body parts, so one can always know which mitzvos can be fulfilled with which part of the body. Being one of the last to count the mitzvos, he had the knowledge of all the opinions which preceded him. He lists all the mitzvos which everyone or most agree to in a general way, and will list lone opinions by name. Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel (known as “Maharal”, 1520–
1609 and my 25th great grandfather) wrote:
To decide halakhic questions from the codes without knowing the source of the ruling was not the intent of these authors.
Had they known that their works would lead to the abandonment of Talmud, they would not have written them. It is better for one to decide on the basis of the Talmud even though he might err, for a scholar must depend solely on his
understanding. As such, he is beloved of G-d, and preferable
to the one who rules from a code but does not know the reason for the ruling; such a one walks like a blind person.
