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For the lovers of the spiritual and Gematrias. We can segment the number of Mitzvos in many different ways:

  • positive (248) vs negative (365),
  • Mitzvos specifically for men, women, or everyone
  • Temple-related Mitzvos vs others
  • Eretz-Israel-related Mitzvos vs universal
  • Interpersonal vs ritual (cultic)
  • Division by seasons or time periods (for example by month)
  • Personal vs public (like to appoint judges or erect a Temple)
  • And more

We know that 613 must be a magic number for God chose it, and I bet a lot could be learned from the partitioning of the Mitzvos by different aspects. I only know of two attempts: positive vs negative and by body organs (R' Eliezer Ascari - Sefer Haredim), but those numbers themselves are not significant.

IIRC, the Kabbala movement developed after Rambam's MT and I'd expect that many would try to find special meaning in those numbers.

Did anyone try different segmentations and explain the meaning of those numbers?

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  • judaism.stackexchange.com/q/106297/1739 no reasoning but other divisions
    – robev
    Aug 4, 2022 at 6:00
  • The positive vs. negative are significant. See the Gemara. Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan has something about 600 and 13.
    – N.T.
    Aug 4, 2022 at 8:54
  • The “Kabbalah Movement “? What is that? You mean like the teachings of the Gaonim, who preceded Rambam, all of whose teachings are Kabbalah? They have a different enumeration/segmentation and so does BaHag. What are you asking here? Your actual question appears to be the last sentence and it doesn’t seem to relate specifically to Jewish teaching.
    – Yaacov Deane
    Aug 4, 2022 at 11:12
  • @YaacovDeane, more of the geonim were Aristotilian than Qabbalistic. I mean, just look at Emunos veDei'os! The Behag counts the mitzvos differently than the Rambam, but does he offer categories like those in the question's bullet list?
    – Micha Berger
    Aug 5, 2022 at 15:46
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    @YaacovDeane, I keep my EvD next to Shaar haGilgulim.(R Chaim Vital), I consider it an exercise in Experimental Theology. The fact that the whole universe hasn't imploded into a black hole in my sefarim shrank proves something about eilu va'eilu.
    – Micha Berger
    Aug 22, 2022 at 16:25

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