Moses maimonides, jewish philosopher, jurist, and physician, the foremost intellectual figure of medieval judaism. And that these principles summarized what he viewed as the required beliefs of judaism: The following is a brief listing of the 613 commandments (mitzvot), as recorded and classified by maimonides in the 12th century.
Maimonides was the greatest codifier and philosopher in jewish history. This listing is taken from his classic compendium of jewish law, the mishneh torah, which contains 14 primary books or sections. The great codifier of torah law and jewish philosophy, rabbi moshe ben maimon ( maimonides also known as the rambam ), compiled what he refers to as the shloshah asar ikkarim, the thirteen fundamental principles of the jewish faith, as derived from the torah.
The jewish people accepted these principles as the clear and unambiguous belief of judaism. “613 commandments were said to moses, 365 negative commandments, like the days of the year, and 248 positive commandments, corresponding to a person’s limbs.” In his commentary on the mishnah (tractate sanhedrin, chapter 10), maimonides formulates his 13 principles of faith; He wrote both in arabic and hebrew on a wide range of subjects from logic to medicine to jewish law.
He is renowned for his works “mishneh torah” and “the guide for the perplexed,” which have had a lasting impact on jewish scholarship and rationalist theology. Also known as rambam (rabenu moshe ben maimon), maimonides studied the entirety of sacred jewish literature and codified the principles of judaism.