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The Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael continues its portrait of the extraordinary dialogue between Israel and the Holy Spirit with another matched pair of verses. When Israel proclaims (De...
The Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael presents yet another exchange in the ongoing dialogue between Israel and the Holy Spirit. When Israel declares (Psalms 89:18), "For You are the glory ...
"This is my G–d and I will extol Him": R. Eliezer says: Whence is it derived that a maid-servant beheld at the Red Sea what was not beheld by Ezekiel and the other prophets, of who...
The Mekhilta takes a single Hebrew word from the Song of the Sea — "ve'anvehu" — and shows how three different rabbis derive three entirely different meanings from it, each reveali...
The Mekhilta continues its exploration of the word "ve'anvehu" from (Exodus 15:2) by presenting two more rabbinic interpretations, each connecting the Song of the Sea to broader Je...
R. Akiva says: "I shall speak of His beauty"—of the praise of the Holy One Blessed be He, who spoke and brought the world into being. The peoples of the world ask Israel (Song of S...
The Mekhilta preserves a striking exchange drawn from the Song of Songs, imagined as a conversation between the nations of the world and Israel about Israel's unique relationship w...
An analogy: A king's son goes abroad—he goes after him and attends upon him. He goes to a different city—he goes after him and attends upon him. Thus with Israel. When they went do...
viz. (Song of Songs 3: "I had almost passed them (Moses and Aaron) by, when I found Him whom my soul loved. I held onto Him and did not let go of Him until I had brought Him to the...
The Mekhilta presents a beautiful declaration in which Israel — personified as a bride — proclaims her lineage before God with joyful pride: "I am a queen, the daughter of kings; a...
R. Shimon b. Elazar says: When Israel do the will of the L–rd, His name is exalted in the world, as it is written (Joshua 5:1) "And it was, when all the kings of the Emori heard, e...
The Mekhilta presents a remarkable statement from the congregation of Israel, addressed directly to God, that explains exactly why they are singing at the Red Sea. "Lord of the wor...
"The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is His name" (Exodus 15:3). Rabbi Yehudah declares that this verse is extraordinarily rich — it illuminates truths that appear in many other pas...
He revealed Himself to them as a rider, viz. (Ibid. 18:11) "And He mounted a cherub and flew, etc." He revealed Himself to them in mail and helmet, viz. (Isaiah 59:17) "He donned r...
The Torah declares, "The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is His name" (Exodus 15:3). This verse, from the Song of the Sea, prompted the Mekhilta to address a potential misunderstand...
The Song of the Sea contains multiple divine titles and attributes, each one apparently conveying a distinct aspect of God's power. The Mekhilta asks a pointed question: if all of ...
"the L–rd is a man of war': What is the intent of this? Because He revealed Himself at the sea as a hero waging war—"The L–rd is a man of war"—and He revealed Himself at Sinai as a...
The Mekhilta offers a vivid parable to distinguish God's warrior nature from every human warrior. Consider, it says, a warrior in a province who is fully equipped with every weapon...
The Mekhilta presents another parable contrasting human warriors with God, this time focusing on the problem of aging. A human warrior reaches the height of his power at forty year...
The Mekhilta presents yet another parable about human warriors, this time addressing the most dangerous flaw of all: uncontrolled rage. A warrior in a province, it says, may become...
There is a warrior in a province. As soon as the arrow leaves his hand he cannot retrieve it. Not so, the Holy One Blessed be He. When Israel do not do His will, a decree goes fort...
The Mekhilta offers a parable about a mortal king going to war. When a king of flesh and blood prepares for battle, emissaries from neighboring lands come to him requesting sustena...
The Mekhilta presents another contrast between a mortal king at war and God. A king of flesh and blood, while engaged in battle, cannot supply all of his soldiers with what they ne...
"The L–rd is a man of war": Is it possible to say this (i.e., to refer to Him as "a man")? Is it not written (of His transcendent majesty) (Jeremiah 23:24) "Do I not fill heaven an...
"the L–rd is His name": It is with His name that He wars, and He has no need of any of these (military) appurtenances. And thus did David say (I Samuel 17:95) "You come to me with ...
(Exodus 15:4) "the chariots of Pharaoh and his host": "As one measures, so is it meted out to him." They (the Egyptians [i.e., Pharaoh]) said (Ibid. 5:2) "Who is the L–rd that I sh...
The Mekhilta offers a pointed reading of the phrase "The chariots of Pharaoh" from the Song of the Sea, connecting Pharaoh's destruction at the Red Sea directly to his earlier crim...
The Mekhilta draws a precise set of parallels between the Egyptian oppression of Israel and the punishment that God inflicted at the Red Sea, showing that every detail of the destr...
The Mekhilta continues its detailed mapping of the Egyptian punishments at the Red Sea, this time connecting the drowning to the specific suffering of slave labor. The Egyptians ha...
The Song of the Sea declares: "The depths covered them" (Exodus 15:5). The Mekhilta asks an obvious but brilliant question: are there really depths at the bottom of the sea? The Is...
(The water) covered the firmament over them and darkened the stars over them, viz. (Ezekiel 32:8) "All the lights of the heavens I will darken above you, and I will bring darkness ...
The Mekhilta draws a striking comparison between the experience of the prophet Jonah in the belly of the great fish and the fate of the Egyptian army at the Red Sea — and the Egypt...
The Mekhilta asks another of its characteristically sharp questions about the Red Sea crossing. The verse says the Egyptians "descended into the metzulot" — the whirlpools or churn...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael states a foundational principle of divine justice: "As one metes it out, so is it meted out to him." God's punishments are not random. They mirror the...
The Mekhilta offers a second reading of the phrase "as a stone" from the Song at the Sea. The Egyptians sank like stone because their hearts were hard as stone — unyielding, unmova...
The Mekhilta unpacks the declaration from (Exodus 15:6): "Your right hand, O Lord, is grand in power." The Hebrew phrase "nedari bakeach" is read as a compound — "na'eh" (comely) a...
And thus do you find with the men of the tower (of Bavel), that You gave them a grace period for repentance and they did not repent. As it is written (Ibid. 11:6) "Behold, they are...
And thus do you find with the men of Sodom, that You gave them a grace period for repentance and they did not repent. As it is written (Genesis 18:20-21) "And the L–rd said: The ou...
The Song at the Sea praises God not only for His power but for His patience. The Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael highlights a detail that the Israelites themselves recognized as they san...
The Mekhilta notices something extraordinary in the Song at the Sea: the phrase "Your right hand, O Lord" appears twice in (Exodus 15:6). Why the repetition? Because the right hand...
Does God sleep? The Mekhilta wrestles with this question through a startling paradox. When Israel does God's will, there is no sleep before Him. (Psalms 121:4) declares it plainly:...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael presents a teaching about the direct connection between Israel's obedience and God's wrath, expressed through two contrasting verses that form a perfe...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael presents a teaching that parallels and extends the previous one about divine wrath, now turning to the subject of divine warfare. The principle is the...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael draws attention to a single word in the Song at the Sea that transforms the entire verse from a description of the past into a prophecy of the future....
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael interprets one of the most powerful lines in the Song at the Sea: "And in the greatness of Your grandeur You break those who rise up against You" (Exo...
It is not written "those who rise up against us," but "those who rise up against You," whereby we are apprised that all who rise up against Israel are rising up, as it were, agains...
R. Yehudah says: It is not written "the pupil of the eye, but "the pupil of His eye"—the "eye" of the Holy One, as it were. Similarly, (Malachi 1:13) "And you say (of an offering) ...
And all who help Israel, help, as it were, the Holy One Blessed be He, viz. (Judges 5:23) "Curse Meroz, said the angel of the L–rd. Curse bitterly its dwellers. For they came not t...
