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Rabbi Yonathan made a declaration that would strike most people as counterintuitive: "Beloved are afflictions." Suffering, he taught, is not a sign of divine abandonment. It is a s...
R. Shimon b. Yochai says: Beloved are afflictions, for three goodly gifts were given to Israel and are desired by the nations of the world, and they were given to them only through...
Rabbi Nechemiah made a bold claim: afflictions are beloved by God. Not merely tolerated, not merely permitted — beloved. And he backed this claim with a comparison to sacrificial o...
Rabbi Eliezer, one of the greatest sages of the Mishnaic period, fell gravely ill. Four distinguished elders came to visit him at his bedside: Rabbi Tarfon, Rabbi Yehoshua, Rabbi E...
The Torah prohibits "gods of silver and gods of gold" (Exodus 20:20). But what exactly do these phrases add to the prohibition against idolatry? After all, the commandment against ...
If the prohibition against "gods of gold" addresses making extra cherubs beyond the commanded two, what does the additional prohibition against "gods of silver" teach? After all, t...
The Torah permits the making of cherubim — golden winged figures — atop the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies (Exodus 25:18). These are not merely decorative. They are the ...
Rabbi Yishmael examined the Torah's commandment to build "an altar of earth" (Exodus 20:21) and derived from it a precise architectural requirement: the altar must be "fixed upon t...
Issi ben Akiva proposed a striking interpretation of the altar's construction: it was a copper altar filled with earth. This sounds like a simple engineering detail, but the Mekhil...
(Exodus 20:21) "And you shall slaughter thereon": alongside it (i.e., alongside the top). You say "alongside it, but perhaps it is to be understood literally, i.e., "upon it"? And ...
Rabbi Assi advanced a surprising claim: the slaughtering of sacrificial animals also took place on top of the altar, not merely beside it. This contradicted the common understandin...
R. Yossi b. R. Yehudah says: From half the altar northwards is regarded as north, and from half the altar southwards is regarded as south. And this tells me only that the north of ...
"And you shall slaughter therein your burnt-offerings and your peace-offerings." This tells me only of burnt-offerings and peace-offerings. Whence do I derive (the same for) all of...
The Torah states, "Wherever I shall mention My name, I will come to you and bless you" (Exodus 20:21). The Mekhilta interprets this verse with a startling specificity: "where I am ...
R. Eliezer b. Yaakov says: If you come to My house, I will come to your house. And if you do not come to My house, I will not come to your house. The place that My heart loves, the...
Rabbi Yishmael taught that the word "if" in the Torah generally means something is optional — except in three specific cases where "if" actually means "when," making the instructio...
"If you lend money to My people, the poor man with you" (Exodus 22:24). In Hebrew, the verse uses the word "im" — "if" — which normally introduces a conditional statement. If this ...
Similarly, "And if an altar of stones you make for Me." This is mandatory. You say it is mandatory, but perhaps it is optional. (This is not so,) for it is written (Devarim 27:6) "...
(Exodus 20:22) instructs: "Do not build them gazith." The Mekhilta explains that "gazith" means "gezuzoth" — hewn stones, specifically stones upon which iron tools have been used. ...
(Ibid.) "Do not build them hewn": In it (the altar) you may not build them hewn, but you may build them hewn in the sanctuary and in the holy of holies. For it would follow (otherw...
The Torah prohibits the use of iron tools on the altar: "For if you lift your sword upon it, you have profaned it" (Exodus 20:22). Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar explained the reason behi...
Rabban Yochanan ben Zakai says: it is said (Devarim 27:6) "Of whole (shleimoth) stones shall you build the altar of the L–rd"—stones which repose peace ("shalom"). Now does this no...
The Torah prohibits approaching the altar by steps: "And you shall not go up with steps to My altar, so that your nakedness not be revealed upon it" (Exodus 20:23). From this verse...
Rabbi Yishmael examined a verse about the priests serving at the altar and found a surprising teaching hidden inside what appeared to be a redundancy. The verse warns: "so that you...
"Do that your nakedness not be revealed upon it": Upon it (the altar) you may not take broad strides, but you may in the sanctuary and in the holy of holies. For it would follow (o...
Rabbi Yishmael noticed something crucial in the opening words of the Torah's civil law code (Exodus 21:1): "And these are the judgments." The key word is "and"—in Hebrew, the conju...
R. Akiva says: What is the intent of "And these are the judgments"? From (Leviticus 1:2) "Speak to the children of Israel and say to them," I would think, only once. Whence do I de...
Why do the laws of adjudication — civil justice — take precedence over all the other commandments in the Torah? Rabbi Shimon gave a deceptively simple answer: because adjudication ...
(Exodus 21:2) "If you buy a Hebrew man-servant": Scripture here speaks of one sold by beth-din (to pay for what he has stolen), in which instance he serves both the father and the ...
(Ibid.) "If you buy (lit.,) a servant Hebrew": Is Scripture speaking of a servant who is a Hebrew, or the servant of a Hebrew? And how am I to understand (Leviticus 25:46) "And you...
Why is it written? It is deliberately superfluous to signal a gezeirah shavah (i.e., "identity"), viz.: It is written here (in Exodus) "Hebrew," and there (in Devarim) "Hebrew." Ju...
R. Eliezer says: This (inclusion) is not needed. If a Jew serves, how much more so a proselyte!—But perhaps (I would say) If a Jew serves six years, a proselyte should serve twelve...
"Six years shall he serve": I might think (that he performs) both demeaning and non-demeaning service. It is, therefore, written (Leviticus 25:39) "Do not have him work the service...
"Six years shall he serve": I might think, both demeaning or non-demeaning service; it is, therefore, written (Ibid. 40) "as a hired laborer or a bound laborer." Just as you may no...
The Torah states that a Hebrew bondsman "shall go out free" on "the seventh" year. But the seventh year of what? The Mekhilta identified two possible readings and used a careful te...
When a Hebrew bondsman is released after six years, the Torah says "he shall go out to freedom." The Mekhilta asks: what does this phrase add? If the bondsman's term is over, he is...
(Exodus 21:3) introduces a condition for the Hebrew bondsman: "If alone he came, alone shall he go out." The Mekhilta uses this verse to determine whether a master is required or m...
Rabbi Akiva found a powerful protection for servants hidden in a verse that most readers would pass over quickly. The Torah says in (Exodus 21:3): "If alone he came, alone shall he...
For it is written (Ibid. 7) "And if a man sells his daughter as a maidservant, she shall not go out as the (Canaanite) bondsmen go out"—by (loss of) organ prominences, as the Canaa...
The Torah specifies that a Hebrew maidservant does not go free through the loss of "organ prominences" — external body parts like teeth or eyes that, if knocked out by the master, ...
Can it not be deduced a fortiori? viz.: If a Hebrew maidservant, who goes out with (the appearance of pubertal) signs, does not go out with (loss of) organ prominences, then a Hebr...
(Exodus 21:3) states: "If he were the husband of a woman, his wife shall go out with him." The Mekhilta asks: what kind of woman is this verse talking about? It must be a Jewish wo...
The Torah states regarding a Hebrew servant: "then his wife shall go out with him." Rabbi Yitzchak read this verse and asked a brilliantly simple question that exposed a deeper leg...
Whence do we derive (the same for) the food of his children? From (Leviticus 25:41) "And he shall go out from you (in the Jubilee year), he and his children with him." From "going ...
The Torah addresses the case of a Hebrew servant whose master gives him a wife during his term of service. In (Exodus 21:4), the verse begins with the word "If" — "If his master gi...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael addresses a legal question about the identity of a wife given to a Hebrew servant by his master. The Torah states that if a master gives his servant "...
The Torah states that if a master gives his Hebrew bondsman a Canaanite bondswoman "and she bears him sons or daughters," the woman and her children belong to the master (Exodus 21...
"the woman and her children": What is the intent of this? That her children are (slaves) as she is. This tells me only of a bondswoman, that her children are as she is. Whence do I...
