סמ"ג

Rabbi Moshe of Coucy, known by the name of his work as the Smag, was a rishon of northern France who completed Sefer Mitzvot Gadol in 5010/1250. The sefer sets out the foundations of the six hundred and thirteen mitzvot according to the Gemara and the poskim, divided into two parts — the two hundred and forty-eight positive mitzvot and the three hundred and sixty-five negative ones — each mitzvah treated separately and numbered within its part. Alongside the halachah it carries a great deal of mussar.

He writes in his introduction that after he had spoken in public on the keeping of mitzvot, many asked him to set down the foundations of the taryag mitzvot in writing; he refused more than once, and then saw a vision in a dream. He adds that he wrote the sefer to give a help to those who wish to fulfil the mitzvah of talmud Torah in its fullness. The Rambam is his central source, quoted on nearly every page, at times without his name alongside, and Rabbi Moshe added to each halachah its source in the words of Chazal; Sefer Yereim and Sefer HaTerumah are two further principal sources, and the words of Chazal and of other rishonim of France and Ashkenaz are brought throughout. Unlike the Rambam he sets out at length the differing readings and opinions, drawing on Rashi and the Baalei HaTosafot and generally preferring the practice of Ashkenaz.

The quoting of the Rambam in the Smag did much to make his works known in the lands of Ashkenaz. The Tur brings the Smag at times and the Beit Yosef brings him a great deal, ruling like him in the Shulchan Aruch in places. Many commentaries were written on it, among them the notes of Rabbi Isaac Stein and the commentaries of Rabbi Eliyahu Mizrachi and the Maharshal. The sefer was first printed in 5248/1488, and the oldest complete manuscript, from 1288, is held in the Braginsky Collection in Switzerland.