Mitzvot in Sefer HaChinukh

How to use this visualization

Drag the dimensions and categories to reorder them. You can also click the “alpha” or “size” links that appear next to the dimension name on mouseover, to order the categories by name or frequency. Click on any of the segments to see the specific commandments in each category,

More About the Sefer HaChinukh

Composed in Middle-Age Spain (c.1255 - c.1285 CE). The Sefer ha-Hinukh (Book of Education), is a work which systematically discusses the 613 commandments of the Torah. It was published anonymously in 13th century Spain. The work's enumeration of the commandments is based upon Maimonides' system of counting as per his Sefer Hamitvot; each is listed according to its appearance in the weekly Torah portion and the work is structured correspondingly. It separately discusses each of the 613 commandments, both from a legal and a moral perspective. For each, the discussion starts by linking the mizvah to its Biblical source, and then addresses the philosophical underpinnings of the commandment. Following this, it presents a brief overview of the halakha (practical Jewish law) governing its observance - usually based on Maimonides' Mishneh Torah - and closes with a summary as to the commandment's applicability. The sixteenth century author Gedaliah ibn Yaḥyah credited the Sefer ha-Hinukh to Rabbi Aharon HaLevi of Barcelona(1235-c. 1290), a Talmudic scholar and halakhist; but others disagree, as the views of the Hinukh contradict opinions held by HaLevi in other works. This has led to the conclusion that the true author to Sefer Ha-Hinukh was a different Rabbi 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-Hinukh was written by a father to his son, upon reaching the age of Bar Mizvah. Professor Israel Ta-Shma of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem argued that the author is in fact Aaron's brother, Pinchas ben Joseph ha-Levi.