On Shavuot we received the Torah, which contains 613 commandments. The entire world had already been given seven of these commandments to observe, so we actually received 606 additional commandments. Ruth was the daughter of the king of Moab (Sotah 47a); when she converted to Judaism, she accepted upon herself 606 new commandments as the Jewish people did at Sinai. To emphasize the fact that we all received 606 new commandments on Shavuot [The Feast of Weeks/Pentecost], we read the story of Ruth, whose name has the numerical value of 606.
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Author: Moshe Bogomilsky
Keywords: 606, 606 Commandments, 613, 613 Commandments, How many commandments, Pentecost, Shavuot, Feast of Weeks
Bible reference(s): Ruth 1:15-17
Source: “Shavuot.”
Page indexed by: inWORD Bible Software.