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When asked exacly how many commandments are in the Torah, most Jews will answer 613, based on Jewish tradition (the number 613 is sometimes called "taryag" (תריג), an abbreviation for the letters Tav (400) + Resh (200) + Yod (10) + Gimmel (3) = 613). Despite several attempts made over the centuries, however, there has never been a definitive list of these commandments, and of those who tried to compile such, no two agree...
Some say the number 613 comes from a fanciful midrash that teaches that the number was chosen by God from adding 365 days in a year (corresponding to the 365 negative commandments) with the 248 "parts" of the body (corresponding to the positive commandments), implying that each day we should use our body to serve God.
Regardless of the exact count, however, the Talmud followed the Apostle Paul by understanding all the Torah's commandments to be derived from the Ten Declarations (i.e., Ten Commandments) uttered by God at Sinai, the most basic of which is the very First Declaration, namely, "I AM the LORD your God (אָנכִי יְהוָה אֱלהֶיךָ) who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery" (Exod. 20:2). This foundational declaration was later restated by the prophet Habbakuk as: וְצַדִּיק בֶּאֱמוּנָתוֹ יִחְיֶה / "The righteous person will live by faith in God" (Hab. 2:4; Gal. 3:11; Heb. 10:38). In other words, all of the commandments of God come down to our sacred duty to believe the truth of God's love: אָנכִי יְהוָה אֱלהֶיךָ.
Hebrew Lesson
Habakkuk 2:4 Hebrew reading:
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Note: I stated that the sages of the Talmud "followed" the Apostle Paul's line of thinking on this subject since Paul wrote centuries before the Talmud was compiled... And incidentally, the New Covenant Scriptures are not without the imperatives of "Torah," of course, with some people counting over 1,000 distinct commandments in its pages...
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