עברית

The Taryag Mitzvos התרי"ג מצות

An online interface to explore and compare the listings of the 613 commandments.

https://thetaryag.com

Overview

Jewish tradition teaches us (for example, see Makkos 23b) that there are 613 commandments in the Torah (the Five Books of Moses), known as the Taryag Mitzvos. A cursory glance at the Torah will yield many more than 613 commandments. Therefore, there must be some sort of criteria to determine what makes the list of Taryag Mitzvos. However, the Jewish Sages never specified which commandments written in the Torah made the list. The Rishonim (the Medieval Rabbinic scholars) argued about the listing of the commandments, and it seems that all these opinions were never collected in an organized way. The purpose of this project is to present most of the opinions in a visually pleasing manner. The mitzvos can be viewed, explored, and sorted, according to how each opinion lists them.

In addition to being able to view each opinion's listing, there's the ability to compare two lists at once, seeing where they agree, and where they differ.

Finally, because of the differing opinions as to what makes the list, there ends up being more than 613 unique mitzvos. The entire accumulated list can be viewed, and each mitzvah (command) displays who counts it in their list. A link is provided to quickly navigate to that individual's list, to see how they formulate it.

The goal is to have the entire project eventually be bilingual. Everything is in Hebrew by default, but the language can be changed to English. Data that hasn't yet been translated will remain displayed in Hebrew.

Most of the textual data for this project came from Sefaria (for more details, see below). We are extremely grateful for their dedication to Jewish texts, making them freely available online for all.

TODO

The following is a non-exhaustive list of what still needs to be completed:

• Include a visual listing of the following opinions on the Taryag Mitzvos: Semak, Sefer Charedim, Rav Saadiah Gaon, Sefer Yereim, Ri Albargaloni, Ata Hinchalta, Rav Eliyahu HaZaken, and perhaps Sefer HaMitzvos HaKatzar by the Chofetz Chaim.
• The ability to sort the mitzvos according to the Aseres HaDibros. The plan is to implement this for the listings of Rav Saadiah Gaon, as he already categorized them this way (although the two lists aren't exactly the same, which will create challenges), Semag (Ma'amar HaSeichel sorts his listing this way), and perhaps Ramban (who sorts some of the mitzvos this way). Also worth investigating is Keser Torah by Rav Dovid Vital.
• Make the website mobile friendly.
• Fix some efficiency bugs as the website is sometimes slow, and some other visual bugs.
• Add an efficient search bar.

Help support us

There's a lot of work still left to do, and unfortunately we can't do it so quickly without funding. If you would like to help support us to accomplish our goals, please be in touch via email: [email protected]. Sponsorship opportunities are also available. We look forward to hearing from you.

Technologies Used

• Slim (PHP framework for a RESTful database access)
• sqlite (to compile the .sql files into a read-only database)
• webpack using Node.js (to compile the .js and .css files)
• Backbone.js (to create UI elements from the database)
• jQuery

Setup

1. Pull the project from git
2. Install Slim, which creates a folder called vendor
3. Navigate to the db/scripts/ folder. Using sqlite, run the command .read db.sql, and then .backup ../db.db
4. If the node_modules folder is missing, run the command npm install
5. If npm install doesn't work, try the command npm config set legacy-peer-deps true
6. Run the command npm run build, which creates an index.php file in the home directory, and builds dist/bundle[hash].js

Sources

The textual data for the website's database came from a variety of sources, and other resources were used to organize the information appropriately. The following is a listing of the various sources for the project:

• All Mitzvos: We used the Chinuch's titles as a basis, and the rest we came up with on our own.
• Verses: We typed the Hebrew verses ourselves. For the English verses, we used Sefaria's Metsudah Chumash translation.
• Rambam: We used Sefaria's text of Sefer HaMitzvos and Introduction to Sefer Madah.
• Ramban: We used Sefaria's text of Hasagos HaRamban on Sefer HaMitzvos. We used Derech Mitzvosecha § 1 to determine the Ramban's exact listing, as well as the latter's own summary at the end of Sefer HaMitzvos.
• Chinuch: We used Sefaria's text of Sefer HaChinuch. We categorized his mitzvos ourselves using his own text. For the older numbering system, we used an older version as a reference.
• Semag: We used Sefaria's text of Sefer Mitzvos Gadol. We used the Mei Kama edition [1] [2] to determine which mitzvos of the Rambam the Semag was referencing. We also used Derech Mitsvosecha § 1 and § 2 as a reference.
• Bahag: We used the Machon Yerushalayim edition of Halachos Gedolos for the text and division of the mitzvos. Their division was determined by Rav Avraham Shimon Traube, whose text, division, and notes can also be viewed here.