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HaShem tells Moshe (Shemot 24:12):

וְאֶתְּנָה לְךָ אֶת־לֻחֹת הָאֶבֶן וְהַתּוֹרָה וְהַמִּצְוָה אֲשֶׁר כָּתַבְתִּי לְהוֹרֹתָם -
And I will give thee the tables of stone, and the Torah and the Mitzvah which I have written, that thou may teach them."

From this verse I see three things being given to Moshe, which he should teach the people about. The first one being the Luchot HaBrit (the stone tablets of the covenant), second the Torah (G-ds life instruction) and third the Mitzvah which He has written.

So I have three questions:

  1. First: the Luchot HaBrit are known for the Aseret HaDewarim that were written upon them; I heard that Aseret could mean 'a lot' and refer to 'a large number' like the English 'a dozen' doesn't only means 12 like in '“I just bought a dozen eggs” or a lot like in "I need dozens of those"." So could these tablets have contained more then Ten Words / Ten Statements?

  2. Second, is the Torah being referred here to mean G-ds life instructions like the Chukot, Mishpatim, Eidot, Torot like a generic/collective term or do all of these stand on their own?

  3. And my last question: what exactly did G-d wrote what's being referred to as the Mitzvah?

(Is this referring to the command G-d gave at the start of the Mount Sinai experience: אִם-שָׁמוֹעַ תִּשְׁמְעוּ בְּקֹלִי, וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם, אֶת-בְּרִיתִי - When you will listen obey fully to my Voice, and keep My covenant.").

Please help me define these terms.

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  • A great question, but one word is missing, clarifying your assumption: "distinctive", as Luchos is not the Torah and Torah is not the Miyzvos. While I agree that the use of "and" implies those are different things, you should clearly stress it in the question. Preferably with sources. – Al Berko Jan 26 at 16:10
  • @AlBerko great comment feel free to add – Levi Jan 26 at 19:28
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In the Gemara Brochos 5a Rav Levi explains every word in the Passuk's to mean the entire written and oral Law were given at mount Sinai:

וא"ר לוי בר חמא אמר ר' שמעון בן לקיש מאי דכתיב (שמות כד, יב) ואתנה לך את לוחות האבן והתורה והמצוה אשר כתבתי להורותם לוחות אלו עשרת הדברות תורה זה מקרא והמצוה זו משנה אשר כתבתי אלו נביאים וכתובים להורותם זה גמרא מלמד שכולם נתנו למשה מסיני:
- The "Luchos of stone" are the 10 Statements
- The "Torah" is the written Torah,
- The "Mitzva" is the Mishna,
- The statement "which I wrote" is the Neviim and Kesuvim,
- The statement "To teach them" is the Gemora (Talmud),
We learn from here that all of the above was given to the Jewish people at Sinai.

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