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"The oath of the Lord shall be between the two of them" — the Mekhilta focuses on the divine Name used in this verse. The oath is described as "the oath of the Lord" — using the Te...
(Exodus 22:10) states: "The oath of the Lord shall be between the two of them." The Mekhilta extracts four separate legal principles from this single phrase, each based on the word...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael examines a legal passage about a person entrusted with guarding a deposit. When a dispute arises about whether the guardian mishandled the property, t...
(Exodus 22:11) "And if it were stolen from him, he shall pay its owner": This speaks of a hired watcher, and the above (Ibid. 9-10), of a non-paid watcher. But perhaps the reverse ...
"And if stolen, it shall be stolen from him" — the Torah establishes that a paid guardian is liable when the entrusted animal is stolen. But the Mekhilta asks: what about loss? If ...
The Torah addresses the liability of a paid watchman with an apparently redundant phrase: "if stolen, it shall be stolen." The doubling of the word "stolen" in (Exodus 22:11) caugh...
(Exodus 22:12) discusses an animal that is "torn by a wild beast" while in a guardian's care: "If it were torn, let him bring ed." But what does "ed" mean? Two rabbis disagreed. Ra...
What kind of attack by a wild beast exempts the guardian from payment? The Mekhilta defines the standard: the attack must be by an animal that the guardian could not reasonably be ...
The Torah draws a sharp legal distinction between someone who watches your property and someone who borrows it. In (Exodus 22:13), the verse states: "And if a man borrow from his n...
"And it be broken or die" — the Torah lists two outcomes for a borrowed animal: it breaks (is injured by another animal) or it dies (of natural causes). But the Mekhilta asks: what...
The Torah establishes different levels of responsibility for different types of guardians. A hired watcher — someone paid to safeguard another person's property — bears liability i...
The Mekhilta raises one of the most characteristic questions in all of rabbinic literature: if a law can be logically deduced from another law, why does the Torah bother stating it...
The Mekhilta examines a specific scenario in the laws governing borrowed property. If an animal passes from the domain of a lender to that of a borrower, even for a single moment, ...
"If it were hired, it came by its hire" — the Torah introduces a fourth category of guardian: the hirer. Someone who rents an animal occupies a middle ground between the unpaid gua...
Would you say that? There is a crucial difference (between a paid and an unpaid watcher), viz.: Since a paid watcher both derives benefit and gives benefit, and a hirer derives ben...
(Exodus 22:15) introduces the law of seduction: "And if a man entice a virgin." The Mekhilta explains why this verse is needed when the law of the rapist is already stated in (Deut...
The Mekhilta draws a careful legal distinction between two cases that the Torah addresses separately: the ravished girl and the enticed girl. The difference between these two situa...
"Who is not betrothed" — the Torah specifies that the seduction law applies to a virgin who has not been betrothed. The Mekhilta records a disagreement about the scope of this excl...
If Rabbi Akiva is correct that even previously-betrothed women are covered by the seduction law, then why does the Torah bother specifying "who is not betrothed"? The phrase seems ...
"Mahor yimharenah — he shall pay her bride-price to himself as a wife" — the Mekhilta investigates the timing of the seducer's payment. In the rapist case (Deuteronomy 22:29), paym...
"Mahor yimharenah — to himself as a wife" — the Mekhilta reads this phrase as a limitation: the seducer may take the woman "as a wife that is permitted to him." This means the marr...
"Mahor yimharenah — to himself as a wife" — the Mekhilta asks whether the seducer can take the woman as his wife even if her father objects. Perhaps the Torah's language implies an...
The Torah explicitly states the father's rights regarding the seduced daughter. But what about a daughter who was raped rather than seduced? Does the father have the same power to ...
The Mekhilta strengthens the father's authority over a rapist's marriage through an a fortiori argument. With a seduced woman — where the seducer did not violate the father's will,...
The Torah addresses the case of a father who refuses to allow his daughter's betrothal. The verse uses the phrase "if her father refuse, refuse," repeating the word in a way that i...
Rabbi Yossi Haglili confronted a problem in the Torah's legislation about seduction. The verse states that when a man seduces an unmarried woman, "money shall he pay" (Exodus 22:16...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael examines the phrase "according to the mohar of the virgins" and applies a distinctive rabbinic technique to determine the monetary amount it refers to...
The Torah declares in (Exodus 22:17): "A witch you shall not allow to live." The Mekhilta immediately clarifies the scope of this severe commandment. Despite the verse using the fe...
Rabbi Yishmael and Rabbi Yossi Haglili debated the method of executing a witch, as prescribed by (Exodus 22:17): "A witch you shall not allow to live." Rabbi Yishmael objected to a...
R. Yehudah says: It is written (Leviticus 20:27) "And a man or a woman, if there be in them an ov or a yidoni" (shall be stoned). Now "ov" and "yidoni" are types of witchcraft. Why...
(Exodus 22:18) "Whoever lies with a beast shall be put to death": What is the intent of this? It is written (Leviticus 20:15) "And a man who cohabits with a beast shall be put to d...
(Exodus 22:19) "One who sacrifices to idolatry shall be put to death": We have heard the punishment. Whence the exhortation? It is written (Exodus 20:5) "You shall not bow down to ...
"only to the L–rd alone": Because others say: If the Israelites had not joined the name of the Holy One Blessed be He, with that of idolatry (i.e., the golden calf), they would hav...
The Torah was given with its signs — its built-in warnings against idolatry. The Mekhilta explains why this matters. Israel might have reasoned as follows: we are commanded against...
(Exodus 22:20) commands: "And a stranger you shall not afflict and you shall not oppress him." The Mekhilta identifies two distinct prohibitions within this verse. "You shall not a...
Beloved are the strangers — the converts to Judaism. The Mekhilta emphasizes how many times the Torah exhorts Israel to treat them well. "And a stranger you shall not afflict" (Exo...
Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai posed a question that cuts to the heart of the relationship between God and the stranger. He placed two verses side by side and let the contrast speak for i...
Beloved are the strangers, for by every epithet that Israel is called, the strangers are called. Israelites are called "servants," as it is written (Leviticus 25:55) "For unto Me t...
"Covenant" is written of Israel, viz. (Genesis 17:13) "And My covenant (i.e., circumcision) shall be in your flesh." And it is also written of strangers, viz. (Isaiah 56:4) "and th...
Abraham called himself a stranger. (Genesis 23:4): "A stranger and a sojourner am I with you." David called himself a stranger. (Psalms 119:19): "I am a stranger in the land." And ...
Beloved are the converts, and the Mekhilta offers a stunning proof: God delayed Abraham's circumcision until the age of ninety-nine specifically to keep the door open for future co...
And thus do you find (the L–rd's esteem for the stranger-proselyte) in the four classes who respond before Him who spoke and brought the world into being, (Isaiah 44:5) "One shall ...
(Exodus 22:21) commands: "Every widow and orphan you shall not afflict." The Mekhilta immediately pushes beyond the literal categories. This verse mentions only widows and orphans....
Rabbi Yishmael and Rabbi Shimon were being led out to their execution. Rabbi Shimon turned to Rabbi Yishmael and said: "Rebbi, my heart is faint, for I do not know why I am going t...
And when R. Shimon and R. Yishmael were executed, R. Akiva said to his disciples: Prepare yourselves for calamity. For if good were destined to come in our generation, only R. Shim...
"For if cry out, shall he cry out to Me, hear will I hear his outcry" (Exodus 22:22). The Torah is speaking about the treatment of widows and orphans — the most vulnerable people i...
The Mekhilta constructs a powerful a fortiori argument about God's mercy. Within the framework of God's lesser measure — the measure of punishment — even a single individual who cr...
"And my wrath shall burn" — Rabbi Yishmael connected this phrase to a parallel verse in Deuteronomy through a gezeirah shavah, drawing devastating consequences for the affliction o...
