Halakhah su Levitico 23:40

And this is similar to what Maimonides of blessed memory explained in the introduction to his commentary on the Mishna, that regarding the Ethrog and Lulov we have a tradition from Sinai that they are what is referred to in the verse in the Torah "The fruit of goodly trees and branches of palm trees" (Leviticus 23:40), but, they (the authors of the Mishna) wanted to show carefully how it is derived from the Torah, because all of the Halachot are included in the Torah and therefore in any event, that if an Halachah is not found explicitly in the Torah, it is incumbent that it be derived from the (accepted) modes of derivation from the Torah, see there.

Sometimes there will be a command which is one commandment, but it has many parts - such as the commandment of lulav, which has four species. Behold that we do not say that (Leviticus 23:40), "the fruit of goodly trees," is a separate commandment; "the boughs of thick trees," are a separate commandment; and "willows of the brook," are a separate commandment. For they are all parts of the [one] commandment - since He commanded to combine them. And after they are combined, the commandment is to take all of them into the hand on the designated day. And by the exact same comparison, it is inappropriate to count His saying about purifying someone with tsaraat - that it is with (Leviticus 14:4-5) two living birds, cedar wood, hyssop, fabric dyed scarlet, living water and a ceramic vessel - as six commandments. Rather purifying someone with tsaraat is one commandment in all of its description, and all of these requirements and others - meaning, shaving. For all of these are parts of the commandment that we have been commanded - being the purification of someone with tsaraat - and that is that it be done in the prescribed way. And the exact same comparison applies to that which He commanded us to do regarding recognition of someone with tsaraat - while he is impure - so that he is kept away from. And that is His saying, "his clothes shall be rent, his head shall be left bare, and he shall cover over his upper lip, etc." (Leviticus 13:45). And none of these acts are a separate commandment, but it is rather their combination that is the commandment - and that is that we are commanded to bring about recognition of someone with tsaraat, such that someone who sees him stay away from him; and that his recognition be with this and that. This is like that which we have been commanded to rejoice in front of the Lord on the first day of Sukkot - and its explanation was that the joy be in the taking of this and that (the four species of the lulav).

It is clear that there are commandments that are obligated for a set amount of time: Some are attached - that is that one is obligated to do that commandment one day after another, like the sukkah and the lulav. And others are done on certain days, like the sacrifices. As an example, we would say that the additional sacrifice of Rosh Chodesh (offered once a month) is one commandment; and likewise the additional offering of each and every holiday of the five holidays - even though they are obligated on several adjacent days. For just like He said, "and you shall rejoice before the Lord, your God, seven days" (Leviticus 23:40) - He also said, "seven days shall you bring a fire offering" (Leviticus 23:36). Just like the commandment of lulav is singular, so too is the commandment of the additional sacrifice of Passover singular. And likewise with the additional sacrifice of each and every time period. And according to this, it is clear that the holiday (chagigah) offering is also one commandment, even though it is obligated at three [different] times; and so too the sacrifice of appearance and the sacrifice of joy. And this is something that no one erred about, nor would they consider something different. But they made a great disgraceful mistake about something that relates to this. And that is that they counted all of the additional sacrifices as one commandment - the additional offering of Shabbat, the additional sacrifice of Rosh Chodesh and the additional sacrifice of the holidays. But according to this way of counting, they would have been obligated to count the rest of every holiday as one commandment; yet they did not do this. Of course, it is not appropriate to attack them for any of this; since they did not make any type of order in their count, but rather 'ascended to the heavens and descended to the depths.' But the obvious truth is what we told you - that each and every additional sacrifice is a separate commandment, just like each rest is a separate commandment. And that is the true and straightforward arrangement [about counting].