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(Exodus 22:1) introduces the law of the burglar: "If the thief be found breaking in." The Mekhilta clarifies what the homeowner's mental state must be. The verse describes a situat...
From the law of the burglar, the Mekhilta derives one of the most important principles in Jewish law: a doubt about whether a life is in danger overrides the Sabbath. The reasoning...
The Torah presents a puzzling phrase in (Exodus 22:2): "If the sun shone upon him." The context is a homeowner who kills a thief caught breaking in at night. During the night, the ...
Rabbi Yishmael addressed a possible misreading of the burglar law. The Torah seems to distinguish between day and night: (Exodus 22:1) discusses the thief "breaking in" (at night),...
Now what do we learn (about raping) from (murdering)? But it (the instance of murdering) apparently comes to teach (something about that of raping), and ends up "learning" (somethi...
(Exodus, Ibid.) "If he (the thief) has blood, pay shall he pay": R. Eliezer b. Yaakov says: If there were before him (the thief) pitchers of wine and pitchers of oil and he broke t...
The Torah addresses the case of a thief who cannot repay what he stole. (Exodus 22:3) states: "If he lacks it, he is to be sold for his theft." The thief, unable to make restitutio...
"Then he shall be sold for his theft" — the Torah prescribes that a thief who cannot pay the required restitution is sold into servitude to raise the funds. But the Mekhilta adds a...
(Exodus 22:3) says: "If found will be found in his hand." The phrase "in his hand" seems to mean the stolen object was physically held by the thief. But the Mekhilta interprets "in...
"living, two shall he pay": and not (the value of) dead (animals). There are seven "thefts": "stealing men's minds" (i.e., deceiving them), importuning one's neighbor to be his gue...
The Mekhilta expands the concept of theft beyond physical property. They said about certain people: if they could "steal" the Higher Mind — God's mind itself — they would do so. Th...
And thus do we find with our fathers, that when they stood on Mount Sinai, they sought to steal the Higher Mind, as it is written (Exodus 24:7) "Everything that the L–rd has spoken...
The Mekhilta lays out a precise hierarchy of liability for theft, distinguishing between different categories of stolen property and the corresponding penalties a thief must pay. T...
The laws of theft in the Torah are not one-size-fits-all. Different stolen objects carry different penalties, and the Mekhilta works through a particularly tricky case: what happen...
Beyond these is a kidnapper, who pays his life. R. Shimon b. Yochai says: It is written (Mishlei 29:24) "One who divides with a thief hates his soul. (He hears the adjuration to sw...
But if one steals away from his friend, (who asks to be paid for teaching him), and goes (and hides behind a fence) to learn Torah (i.e., to overhear the lesson that he is teaching...
(Exodus 22:4) "If a man ravage a field or a vineyard, and he send his beast, etc.": Why is this written? (Even) if it were not written, it would follow a fortiori, viz.: If a pit i...
The Mekhilta establishes a foundational principle of tort law in the Torah: a person is not liable for damage unless the harmful agent leaves their property and causes damage elsew...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael derives a precise set of liability rules from the verse "and he send his beast" (Exodus 22:4), establishing who is responsible when an animal causes d...
"And it eat in another's field" — Rabbi Nathan addressed a scenario where someone stacked grain in another person's field without permission. If the field owner's beast then came o...
(Exodus 22:5) "If fire go out and it find thorns … pay shall pay he that lights the fire": Why need this be written? It is derivable a fortiori, viz. If he is liable (if the fire p...
"If fire go out and it find thorns" (Exodus 22:5). A person lights a fire on his own property, and it escapes. It reaches a neighboring field and destroys crops, haystacks, or stan...
The Mekhilta establishes a foundational ruling in the laws of property damage caused by animals. The question is straightforward: when is an animal's owner liable for the destructi...
When fire spreads from one person's property and damages a neighbor's field, how far does liability extend? The Mekhilta records a three-way debate among the sages that reveals jus...
"and there be consumed sheaves": All things are included: a pile of reeds and beams, a mound of stones, and of pebbles for the processing of lime. "or the standing corn": trees als...
"Pay shall he pay, the lighter of the fire": Why is this written? From (22:4) "a man," I would know only of a man. Whence do I derive (the same for) a woman, a tumtum (one of indet...
Four general rules were stated by R. Yishmael in the name of R. Meir in respect to damages. Wherever the mazik ("the damager") has permission (to be), but not the nizak ("the damag...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael records a teaching by Rabbi Yishmael on the laws of bailment, drawn from (Exodus 22:6): "If a man give to his neighbor money or vessels to watch." Thi...
The Mekhilta draws a legal principle from a seemingly mundane phrase about safekeeping. When the Torah discusses items entrusted to a guardian, it mentions "money or vessels." A si...
Rabbi Nathan expanded the scope of the deposit laws beyond their most obvious application. The Torah says that when someone deposits "money" with a neighbor for safekeeping, certai...
"and it be stolen from the house of the man": to exempt (from kefel) one who steals from the thief. But perhaps the meaning is "and it be stolen from the house of the man, he pays ...
"if the thief is found, he pays double": A thief (one who steals by stealth) pays kefel, but not a robber (one who steals openly). Why did Scripture see fit to be more severe with ...
(Exodus 22:7) "If the thief not be found": What is the intent of this? From "If the thief is found, he shall pay double," I understand that if the thief is found and he has (what t...
When a dispute over property arises and the facts remain unclear, the Torah provides a striking instruction: "Then the master of the house shall draw near" (Exodus 22:7). But draw ...
"then the master of the house (i.e., the watcher) shall draw near to the judges": For an oath. You say, for an oath. But, perhaps for an oath or not for an oath? It follows (that i...
(Ibid. 7) "that he did not send his hand against his neighbor's deposit": for his need. You say, for his need. But perhaps for his need or not for his need (but for the animal's)? ...
"For every matter of offense"—general. "for an ox, for an ass, for a lamb, for a garment"—particular. General-particular (The rule is:) There is subsumed in the general only what o...
Variantly: "for an ox, for an ass": Why is this stated? Because it is written (earlier [6]) "If a man give to his neighbor money or vessels, etc." and (later 9]) "If a man give to ...
The Mekhilta examines a precise legal scenario in the laws of property disputes. When one person claims "this is mine" and another says "it is not exactly this," the sages derived ...
How many judges does it take to decide a monetary dispute in Jewish law? The Mekhilta traces the answer to a single passage in (Exodus 22:7-8), where the word "elohim" — meaning ju...
Rabbi Yonathan tackled a fundamental question in Jewish jurisprudence: how do we know that a beth din — a rabbinic court — must consist of three judges? The answer, he demonstrated...
Rebbi — Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi — analyzed the phrase "until elohim shall come the matter of both" (Exodus 22:8), which describes disputes brought before judges. The verse speaks of "...
"He shall pay double to his neighbor" — the Torah requires a thief who is caught to pay twice the value of what he stole. But Rabbi Shimon noticed a conflict with another verse. (L...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael records a teaching by Rabbi Yishmael on the laws governing an unpaid bailee who is entrusted with livestock. The verse states: "If a man give to his n...
"An ass or an ox or a lamb" — the Torah lists three specific animals in the context of deposit law. But the Mekhilta asks: what about all other domesticated animals? Are only these...
"And it die" — the Torah describes what happens when a deposited animal dies in the guardian's care. The Mekhilta specifies: "at the hands of Heaven." This means natural death — th...
Rabbi Akiva challenged Rabbi Eliezer's reasoning. You are deriving what is possible from what is impossible, he argued. Natural death is always beyond human control — it is impossi...
(Exodus 22:9) says "no one seeing" in the context of a guardian who claims an animal was stolen from his care. The Mekhilta explains: "no one seeing" means no witnesses were presen...
