Declaração das seiscentas treze encomendanças da nossa Santa Ley (Declaration of the 613 Commandments of Our Holy Law)

Don’t overshadow anyone. Know that you have an obligation to observe 613 commandments, because many of them you have to perform, but they can be done conjointly; so that when one commandment is fulfilled, two are upheld, in one single act, as appears in the compendium found at the end of this book. Furthermore, many commandments are especially directed toward the Priests, others for the Levites, regarding the Temple and sacrifices, and practices deriving therefrom. Others are especially for the king, for the Sanhedrin [Great Senate], and judges, and the individual Israelite is not commanded to do anything; and all this presupposes that the people of Israel are in their own land. But now that, because of our sins, we are in exile, there are still many other commandments, besides the aforementioned, that we cannot observe, such as the commandments related to sacrifices, first fruits, the Shemitta year [in which the land lies fallow], the Jubilee year, leprosy, impurity caused by death; for all these commandments, and others like them, cannot be observed in exile. However, we examine them carefully and imagine ourselves performing them; we would happily fulfill them, if we could, and are credited as though we had actually performed them. And just as there are so many dinim [laws] for slaughtering fowl or a four-legged animal, and with one well-accomplished act, the other laws are considered as conjointly fulfilled. Thus, there are many commandments whereby, in observing one of them well, others that are connected and dependent are considered fulfilled by the same act, or follow suit thence. As in the case of idolatry, in keeping the Sabbath, and in observing Passover, many commandments derive therefrom. Thus the sage, R. ḥananiah said, in order for the Jewish people to be meritorious, the Lord increased the number of laws and commandments that they had to fulfill. Thus the Lord compelled us to fulfill seemingly impossible commandments. [ . . . ]

Therefore, since I customarily meditate an hour each day, with the ḥakham R. Saul Levy Mortera, I proposed that we translate the 613 precepts of our Holy Law into the vernacular, so that those of us who came from Portugal and Spain, and, for our sins, do not know Hebrew, will be able to know thoroughly what they are; from which places in scripture they are taken; what is the substance of each law according to tradition and the declaration of our sages; what each one’s obligation is; which are the ones to be observed by the Priests and the Levites; which are to be followed by the king, the Sanhedrin, and the [common] people; which are observed today; and which only in the land of Israel during the time we held sway over it. [ . . . ]

The order of the commandments conforms to the style of our teacher, Moses of Egypt. The table, however, follows the order of the Torah portions, allowing one to see how many commandments are to be performed and how many are not to be performed in each Torah portion, what the total number is, and how one can read them and study them throughout the week so as to better observe them. Those who cannot attain more than this will gain merit if they study the commentators of the weekly Torah portion. Also, during Passover and Shavuot, the festival of the giving of the law, they can, by means of this book, perform the 613 commandments repeatedly, as is Jewish practice.

And because one declares himself [Jewish] by performing these commandments, the punishment one suffers for transgressing them seems to me to be warning people that of all the precepts, the Lord commanded us first, saying, “You shall do such and such a thing or you shall not do such and such a thing.” And then, in another section, He declares what the penalty shall be for transgressing such a commandment. Thus, a person who deviates from the precepts is blameworthy, i.e., he has sinned by doing what God forbade him to do, or by not doing what God commanded him to do. And furthermore, he must be penalized, that is to say, he must receive the punishment that such a sin deserves. Now, to rectify the guilt (by that I mean the act of having sinned), one must show contrition and repentance, and recite the vidui [confession], which says: “I have sinned, I have distorted, I have rebelled, and I have committed such and such a sin, and I intend not to transgress said commandment again.”