The Rambam's Ninth Principle: Don’t count commandments, count things to do

The Torah commands us in four different areas, the Rambam says. These are: beliefs (to accept certain things about God, not to consider heretical ideas); character traits (to love our neighbor, not to bear a grudge); speech (to bentch after eating, not to speak lashon hara); and actions (to offer sacrifices, not to bow to idols). Separate items in each of these areas are to be counted as mitzvos regardless of how many times a command may appear in the Torah.

Sometimes the Torah may repeat a commandment for emphasis. This doesn’t make it two mitzvos; it’s one mitzvah, albeit repeated. To be sure, there are cases where Chazal (the Sages) differentiated between similar commandments in the Torah and they clarified that certain verses have different referents. In those cases, they may in fact be different mitzvos. However, such is not always the case. Where Chazal have not informed us otherwise, we must assume that a repetition of a mitzvah is for emphasis or to provide additional details to an already-known mitzvah. (See the Talmud in Pesachim 24a-b for a full discussion of this matter.) In any event, it is clear that sometimes mitzvos are repeated without being counted multiple times in Taryag.

The Rambam tells us that the commandment to rest on Shabbos appears twelve times in the Torah; clearly, resting on Shabbos is not twelve separate mitzvos! Likewise, the prohibition against eating blood occurs seven times, but it does not constitute seven mitzvos. The Talmud occasionally says that the repetition of such-and-such mitzvah is to make the act a violation of multiple prohibitions, but that does not mean to say that it should count multiple times among the 613.

In his analysis of the matter, the Rambam gives many more examples: tzitzis – five times, tefillin – eight times, not to mistreat a convert – 36 times! But he cites the Talmud in Baba Metzia (59b) that the reason this point is made so frequently is because God really, really doesn’t want us to mistreat converts. However, important though it is, not mistreating converts certainly doesn’t account for almost 6% of all mitzvos in the Torah!

Before closing, the Rambam informs us about the concept of lav she’bichlalos, a negative commandment that forbids multiple things. There are two types of lav she’bichlalos and each is counted as a single mitzvah. For example, Exodus 12:9 forbids eating the korban Pesach (Passover sacrifice) raw or cooked in water. This is one mitzvah: “don’t eat it raw or cooked in water.” (Similar to this are the prohibitions against bringing leaven or honey on the altar, marrying an Amonite or a Moabite, etc.)

The other kind of lav she’bichlalos is when one commandment prohibits several completely distinct actions. For example, Leviticus 19:26 contains the somewhat vague command not to eat “on blood.” This is understood by the Talmud (Sanhedrin 63a) to prohibit such diverse actions as not eating from an animal before it dies, not eating a sacrifice before its blood has been sprinkled on the altar, the court not eating on the day they execute a condemned criminal, and more. Each of these is separately prohibited by “do not eat on the blood,” which is still counted as a single mitzvah.

Bottom line, we see that not every commandment stated is counted as a separate mitzvah. Only each individual deed that is required (or prohibited) is counted, regardless of how many times that requirement (or prohibition) may be stated. Sometimes a repetition includes new aspects, but we only count those cases where Chazal have told us as much. On the other hand, a single statement can prohibit more than one thing, but it still counts as only one mitzvah.