Torah’s Punitive System

The 613 Mitzvot of the Torah are divided into positive and negative commandments. There are 365 negative commandments, known as לא תעשה, “do not do,” and 248 positive commandments, known as עשה.

The system is set up where punishments are given only for the violation of the negative commandment. The only time a punishment is issued for the non-fulfillment of an עשה, is not performing circumcision, and not offering the Korban Pesach.

The 365 negative Mitzvot contain 207 instances where the penalty is lashes. There are several Mitzvot that are left to Hashem to deal with. There are others that give a monetary fine as punishment.

There is a concept in Jewish Law that says, לאו הבא מכלל עשה, עשה. This refers to a case where the negative commandment is learned by way of the positive. An example comes from the law that says that a sacrifice cannot be offered unless the animal was eight days old. This is a positive Mitzva to offer a sacrifice when the animal is at least eight days old. The negative Mitzva derived from this is that it is forbidden to offer an animal less than eight days old.

The system of Torah laws are very detailed. Upon studying them, one realizes that they are Divine and come directly from G-d.