''Sefer ha-Chinuch'' ( he, ספר החינוך, "Book of Education") is a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

rabbinic text which systematically discusses the 613 commandments of the

Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...

. It was published anonymously in 13th-century

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History

The work's enumeration of the commandments ( he, mitzvot; sing. '' mitzvah'') is based upon

Maimonides Musa ibn Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (); la, Moses Maimonides and also referred to by the acronym Rambam ( he, רמב״ם), was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Tora ...

' system of counting as per his

Sefer Hamitzvot ''Sefer Hamitzvot'' ("Book of Commandments", Hebrew: ספר המצוות ) is a work by the 12th century rabbi, philosopher and physician Maimonides. While there are various other works titled similarly, the title "Sefer Hamitzvot" without a modi ...

; each is listed according to its appearance in the

weekly Torah portion It is a custom among religious Jewish communities for a weekly Torah portion to be read during Jewish prayer services on Monday, Thursday, and Saturday. The full name, ''Parashat HaShavua'' ( he, פָּרָשַׁת הַשָּׁבוּעַ), is p ...

and the work is structured correspondingly. The book separately discusses each of the 613 commandments, both from a legal and a moral perspective. For each, the Chinuch's discussion starts by linking the ''mitzvah'' to its Biblical source, and then addresses the philosophical underpinnings of the commandment (here, termed the "''shoresh''", or "root"). Following this, the ''Chinuch'' presents a brief overview of the ''

halakha ''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical commandm ...

'' (practical Jewish law) governing its observance - usually based on Maimonides' ''

Mishneh Torah The ''Mishneh Torah'' ( he, מִשְׁנֵה תּוֹרָה, , repetition of the Torah), also known as ''Sefer Yad ha-Hazaka'' ( he, ספר יד החזקה, , book of the strong hand, label=none), is a code of Rabbinic Jewish religious law ('' ...

'' - and closes with a summary as to the commandment's applicability. Because of this structure, the work remains popular to this day. The philosophic portions are widely quoted and taught, while the legal discussion provides the basis for much further study in ''

yeshivot A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish education, Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish p ...

''. The Minchat Chinuch by "Rabbeinu Yosef" ( Yosef Ben Moshe Babad, 1800–1874), Av Beit Din of

Ternopil Ternópil ( uk, Тернопіль, Ternopil' ; pl, Tarnopol; yi, טאַרנאָפּל, Tarnopl, or ; he, טארנופול (טַרְנוֹפּוֹל), Tarnopol; german: Tarnopol) is a city in the west of Ukraine. Administratively, Ternopi ...

, serves as a legal commentary. The sixteenth century author Gedaliah ibn Yaḥyah credited the Sefer ha-Chinuch to Rabbi Aharon HaLevi of

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

(1235-c. 1290), a

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...

ic scholar and halakhist; but others disagree, as the views of the Chinuch contradict opinions held by HaLevi in other works. This has led to the conclusion that the true author to Sefer HaChinuch was a different Reb Aharon Halevi, a student of the Rashba, rather than his colleague. Though there is a debate about who is the true author, it is agreed upon that the Sefer ha-Chinuch was written by a father to his son, upon reaching the age of Bar Mitzvah. In 1980, Professor Israel Ta-Shma of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem argued that the author of "Sefer ha-Chinuch" was in fact Aaron's brother, Pinchas ben Joseph ha-Levi, who had written the work.Israel Ta-Shma, "Mehabbero ha-'amitti shel Sefer ha-hinnukh," Kiryat Sefer 55 (1980): 787-90

References

External links

Hebrew Books: The Guarding of the Brit and the Guarding of the EyesJewish Encyclopedia: HinnukSefaria.org: Sefer HaChinuch
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sefer Ha-Chinuch Rabbinic legal texts and responsa 13th-century books Jewish medieval literature Works published anonymously Hebrew-language religious books Hebrew words and phrases in Jewish law

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links