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The Mekhilta extends its catalogue of divine judgment by east wind to yet another generation: the builders of the Tower of Babel. The pattern grows stronger with each example — God...
God uses the east wind as an instrument of judgment, and the pattern repeats across the Hebrew Bible with striking consistency. In Egypt, it was the east wind that brought the plag...
And thus do you find that the Holy One Blessed be He is destined to exact punishment of the wicked in Gehinnom (the place of spiritual purification after death) with the east wind,...
When God split the Red Sea for the Israelites, the miracle did not stop at a single body of water. The Mekhilta asks a pointed question: what about the waters in pits, cavities, ca...
And whence do you derive (the same for) the upper and the lower waters and the depths? From (Psalms 77:17) "The waters saw You, O G–d; the waters saw You and quaked. The depths qua...
(Exodus 14:22) "And the children of Israel came in the midst of the sea on the dry land": R. Meir perceives it one way; R. Yehudah, another. R. Meir: When the tribes were standing ...
The Mekhilta offers a parable to explain a seeming contradiction in Jewish prayer practice. A king has two sons. He enters the younger son's room at night and says, "Wake me at sun...
Thus said the Holy One Blessed be He: What reward will accrue to the sons of Benjamin, who went down first into the sea? The reposing of the Shechinah in his portion (i.e., the Tem...
R. Yehudah perceives it thus: "And the children of Israel came in the midst of the sea": When the tribes were standing at the sea, each of them said: I will not go down first into ...
R. Tarfon and the elders were once sitting in the shade of the grove of Yavneh when this question was once asked before them: Why need it be written (Genesis 37:25) "and their came...
The Mekhilta preserves a rapid-fire debate about what exactly earned the tribe of Judah the right to kingship over Israel. The exchange is compressed and dramatic, as rabbinic dial...
The students asked their teacher: "Master, you tell us — in what merit did the tribe of Judah attain kingship over Israel?" Rabbi Tarfon gave an answer that has echoed through Jewi...
The Mekhilta reinforces Rabbi Tarfon's teaching about the tribe of Judah with a verse from Psalms. "When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from the people of a foreign t...
The Mekhilta draws attention to a pattern hidden in the Torah's language. The verse states, "And it was in the morning watch" (Exodus 14:24) — God looked down upon the Egyptian cam...
The "morning" of Jacob—(Ibid. 28:18) "and Jacob rose early in the morning, etc." The "morning" of Moses—Exodus 34:4) "and Moses rose early in the morning, etc." The "morning" of Jo...
The Holy One Blessed be He heals all who enter the world, viz. (Exodus 15:26) "for I am the L–rd who heals you", (Jeremiah 17:14) "Heal me, O L–rd, and I will be healed. Save me, a...
Rabbi Yehudah interprets the verse "And He removed their chariot wheels" (Exodus 14:25) as describing a scene far more spectacular than a simple mechanical failure. According to hi...
Rabbi Nechemiah painted a vivid picture of the chaos that engulfed the Egyptian army at the Red Sea. When God unleashed thunder from the heavens, the physical world below shattered...
When God brought judgment upon the Egyptians at the Red Sea, the natural order itself turned upside down. The Mekhilta captures this reversal in a single, devastating image: "In th...
As the walls of water began crashing down upon the Egyptian army, a debate erupted among the soldiers trapped in the seabed. The Torah records that "Egypt said: I shall flee from b...
Rabbi Yossi raises a startling possibility about the ten plagues. The destruction at the Red Sea, he argues, was not a separate event from the plagues in Egypt — it happened simult...
And (this obtains) not with Egypt alone, but with all who afflict Israel throughout the generations. As it is written (Psalms 78:66) "And He beat back His foes. Eternal disgrace di...
(Exodus 14:26) "And the L–rd said to Moses: Stretch forth your hand over the sea": It will not stand against you and it will not deviate from your command. "and the waters will tur...
And thus did Jeremiah the prophet say (Jeremiah 32:19) "Wondrous in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of man, to give each man according t...
When Yithro, the father-in-law of Moses, heard about everything that had happened at the Red Sea, he made a remarkable declaration: "Now I know that greater is the Lord than all th...
Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the Torah says "the sea returned towards morning to its eithano" (Exodus 14:27). That final word — eithano — becomes the subject of...
An analogy: A dove, fleeing a hawk, enters a king's palace, whereupon the king opens the eastern window for her, whence she escapes. The hawk, following, the king closes all the wi...
(Exodus 14:28) "And the waters returned and covered the chariot, etc.": even that of Pharaoh. These are the words of R. Yehudah, it being written (Ibid. 15:4) "the chariots of Phar...
And the ministering angels were astounded (at Israel's survival), saying: "Idolators walking on the dry land in the midst of the sea!" And whence is it derived that the sea, too, w...
Pappus expounded (Song of Songs 1:9) "to a mare in the chariots of Pharaoh, etc.": Pharaoh rode on a stallion—the Holy One Blessed be He revealed Himself, as it were, on a stallion...
Pappus expounded a verse from Job: "And He is one, and who can turn Him back? Whatever He desires, He does" (Job 23:13). His interpretation was straightforward — God is the sole ju...
Pappus and Rabbi Akiva clashed again, this time over one of the most enigmatic verses in Genesis. After Adam ate from the Tree of Knowledge, God said: "Behold, the man has become l...
R. Pappus expounded (Psalms 106:20) "And they exchanged their glory for the image of an ox that feeds on grass": I might think, for the "ox" on high (i.e., Taurus); it is, therefor...
(Exodus 14:30) "and the L–rd saved Israel on that day": As a bird held in a man's hand, so that if he pressed its hand but a little he would choke it, as it is written (Psalms 124:...
(Exodus 14:30) "And Israel saw Egypt dead on the shore of the sea": For four reasons: That they not say: Just as we came up on this side, so they came up on another side (and will ...
The Torah states that Israel saw the Egyptians "dead on the shore of the sea" (Exodus 14:30). The Mekhilta asks a blunt question: were they actually dead? The answer is more distur...
Rabbi Yossi HaGlili presents one of the most famous calculations in rabbinic literature. He asks: how do we know that the Egyptians were struck with ten plagues in Egypt and fifty ...
Rabbi Akiva posed a provocative question: where do we learn that each of the ten plagues that struck Egypt was actually five plagues in one? If this calculation is correct, the Egy...
The Torah records a transformation at the Red Sea: "And the people feared the Lord" (Exodus 14:31). The Mekhilta notes the significance of the word "feared." In the past, the Israe...
The Mekhilta draws a parallel that cuts both ways. In the previous passage, the rabbis established that believing in Moses equals believing in God. Now they demonstrate the reverse...
Great is the faith wherein Israel believed in Him who spoke and brought the world into being; for in reward for Israel's belief in the L–rd, the Shechinah reposed upon them and the...
Rabbi Nechemiah teaches a principle of extraordinary generosity. If a person takes upon himself even a single mitzvah in true faith, that person is worthy of having the Holy Spirit...
The Mekhilta weaves together several verses to demonstrate that God guards the faithful and remembers the faithfulness of the ancestors. The opening verse sets the theme: "The Lord...
(Psalms 92:2-5) "It is good to praise the L–rd and so sing to Your exalted name. To proclaim in the morning Your lovingkindness, and Your faithfulness in the nights. With a ten-str...
King Jehoshaphat marched his army into the desert of Tekoa and won a battle with nothing but faith. The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, a 3rd-century CE halakhic midrash (rabbinic inter...
The Mekhilta makes a declaration that connects the Exodus to the future redemption of Israel. The exiles will be gathered in only as a reward for faith. Not for Torah study alone, ...
(Exodus 15:1) "Az yashir Mosheh": Az ("then") sometimes signals the past and sometimes signals the future. The past: (Genesis 4:26) "Az men began", (Exodus 4:26) "Az she said", (Ex...
The Song at the Sea begins with a grammatical mystery. The Hebrew text of (Exodus 15:1) reads az yashir Mosheh—literally, "then Moses will sing," using the future tense. If the Tor...
