Significance of 613
According to the Talmud (tractate Makkoth 23b), Deut. 33:04 is to be interpreted to mean that Moses transmitted the "Torah" from God to the Israelites: "Moses commanded us the Torah as an inheritance for the community of Jacob".
The Talmud notes that the Hebrew numerical value (gematria) of the word "Torah" is 611, and combining Moses's 611 commandments with the two received directly from God in Genesis, to "be fruitful and multiply" and male circumcision, adds up to 613. The Talmud attributes the number 613 to Rabbi Simlai, but other classical sages who hold this view include Rabbi Simeon ben Azzai (Sifre, Deuteronomy 76) and Rabbi Eleazar ben Yose the Galilean (Midrash Aggadah to Genesis 15:1). It is quoted in Midrash Shemot Rabbah 33:7, Bamidbar Rabbah 13:15–16; 18:21 and Talmud Yevamot 47b.
Many Jewish philosophical and mystical works (e.g. by Baal ha-Turim, the Maharal of Prague and leaders of Hasidic Judaism) find allusions and inspirational calculations relating to the number of commandments.
The tzitzit ("knotted fringes") of the tallit (" shawl") are connected to the 613 commandments by interpretation: principal Torah commentator Rashi bases the number of knots on a gematria: the word tzitzit (Hebrew: ציצת (Biblical), ציצית, in its Mishnaic spelling) has the value 600. Each tassel has eight threads (when doubled over) and five sets of knots, totalling 13. The sum of all numbers is 613. This reflects the concept that donning a garment with tzitzit reminds its wearer of all Torah commandments.
In gematria, the Hebrew: תרי"ג מצוות Mitzvos or Mitzvot is transliterated as Taryag mitzvot. TaRYaG is the gematria for the number "613".
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