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(Exodus 12:19) "Seven days se'or (leavening) shall not be found in your houses": This tells me only (that the transgression) against finding (it). Whence do I derive (the same for)...
(Ibid. 19) "In your houses": What is the intent of this? I might take (13:7) "in all of your boundaries," literally (i.e., even if the chametz is not yours); it is, therefore, writ...
(Ibid. 19) "For whoever eats leavening, that soul shall be cut off": What is the intent of this? From (Ibid. 15) "Whoever eats chametz shall be cut off," I would know only of chame...
The Torah specifies in (Exodus 12:19) that the laws of Passover apply to both "the proselyte and the citizen of the land." The Mekhilta explains why this explicit mention of the co...
The Torah states in (Exodus 12:20), "All leavening you shall not eat." The Mekhilta asks why this verse is needed at all — since the Torah has already forbidden chametz in an earli...
"In all of your habitations shall you eat matzoth": What is the intent of this? From (Devarim 14:23) "And you shall eat before the L–rd your G–d the tithe of your grain and wine an...
The Mekhilta records Rabbi Yishmael's ruling on which types of dough qualify for the matzah obligation on Passover — and the answer is far more restrictive than one might expect. T...
The sages offer a more lenient reading of "bread of affliction" than Rabbi Yishmael. Where Yishmael excluded enriched doughs from the Passover matzah obligation, the sages rule tha...
Rabbi Eliezer takes the most expansive position in this debate. Like the sages, he rules that a person fulfills the matzah obligation with all types of dough and with second-tithe ...
Rabbi Yossi raised a deceptively simple question about the Passover laws that reveals how carefully the rabbis read every word of the Torah. The commandment says, "Seven days shall...
R. Yoshiyah said to him: Why is this different from all of the "sayings" in the Torah, which were from Moses to say to Israel? Here, too, from Moses to say to Israel. Why, then, is...
"Draw forth and take for yourselves": "Draw forth"—he who possesses his own; "and take" (i.e., acquire)—he who does not possess his own. R. Yossi Haglili says (The meaning is:) "Dr...
"and slaughter the Pesach (Passover): It is a mitzvah to slaughter it as a Pesach offering. If he does not offer it as such, he transgresses the mitzvah. I might think that in the ...
The Torah instructs in (Exodus 12:22), "And you shall take a bunch of hyssop," referring to the bundle of hyssop used to apply the blood of the Paschal lamb to the doorposts in Egy...
The Torah describes the Israelites in Egypt dipping hyssop into blood "which is in the saf." The Mekhilta records Rabbi Yishmael's reading of this enigmatic word, and his interpret...
The Torah describes the blood ritual of the first Passover in Egypt: the Israelites were to apply the blood of the Paschal lamb to the lintel and the two doorposts of their homes. ...
The Mekhilta, the great halakhic midrash on the Book of Exodus compiled in the 2nd century CE, raises a deceptively simple question about the Passover blood ritual. The Torah comma...
"and you shall not go out, a man from the door of his house: We are hereby taught that once permission has been given to "the destroyer" to destroy, he does not distinguish between...
And thus do you find with the forefathers, that they deported themselves with circumspection (in this regard), viz.: (Genesis 22:3) "And Abraham arose early in the morning," (Ibid....
"and the L–rd will skip over the blood": Now does this not follow a fortiori, viz.: If of the blood (on the door) of the Pesach (Passover) of Egypt, the less "formidable," which ob...
The Mekhilta, the tannaitic midrash on Exodus dating to the 2nd century CE, zeroes in on a single phrase from the Passover laws to clarify exactly who was obligated to perform the ...
The Mekhilta, compiled around the 2nd century CE as a halakhic commentary on Exodus, addresses a critical question about when the Passover laws took effect. The verse states plainl...
The Mekhilta, the tannaitic midrash on Exodus, explores a striking rhetorical pattern found throughout the Hebrew Bible: moments where a prophet says God "has spoken," and the rabb...
The Mekhilta, the halakhic midrash on Exodus from the tannaitic period, continues its investigation of a recurring biblical formula: when Scripture says God "has spoken," where exa...
The Mekhilta, the tannaitic midrash on Exodus compiled in the 2nd century CE, traces another instance of the Bible's "as He spoke" formula — a device the rabbis use to link later p...
The Mekhilta reveals a breathtaking symmetry in the covenant between God and Israel. The verse in Deuteronomy says, "And the Lord has affirmed this day to make you His chosen peopl...
The Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael draws attention to a striking pattern woven through Scripture: when the prophets speak, they echo words that God already uttered long before. The chai...
The Mekhilta, the tannaitic commentary on Exodus, arrives at one of the most dramatic prophetic verses in all of Scripture: "The glory of the Lord shall appear, and all flesh will ...
The Mekhilta, the halakhic midrash on Exodus from the 2nd century CE, examines one of the starkest either-or passages in the Prophets. Isaiah delivers God's ultimatum: "If you acqu...
The Mekhilta, the tannaitic midrash on Exodus, examines a soaring promise from the prophet Isaiah: "Then you will rejoice in the Lord, and I will 'ride' you on the heights of the e...
The prophet Ezekiel delivered an oracle of terrifying certainty: "Behold, it has come; it has arrived, says the Lord God. This is the day of which I spoke" (Ezekiel 39:8). But when...
The prophet Micah painted one of the most beloved images in all of Jewish prophecy: "And each man will sit under his grapevine and under his fig tree, and none shall make them afra...
The Mekhilta, the tannaitic midrash on Exodus, turns to one of the most severe prophecies in the Hebrew Bible: the destruction of Esau's descendants. The prophet Obadiah declares: ...
The Mekhilta traces one of the most elegant patterns in the Torah — a divine promise that spans decades before its fulfillment. The verse states (Genesis 21:1): "And the Lord did f...
The Mekhilta traces a prophetic thread that spans nearly the entire Hebrew Bible, connecting a drunken curse in Genesis to a divine promise in the book of Joel. When the prophet Jo...
The Mekhilta, the tannaitic commentary on Exodus, addresses a verse with massive implications for the Exodus narrative. Moses tells Israel in Deuteronomy: "And the Lord said to you...
The prophet Joel declared, "And all who call in the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Joel 3:5), a sweeping promise of deliverance for anyone who invokes God's name. But the Mekhil...
The Mekhilta, the halakhic midrash on Exodus from the tannaitic period, examines a stunning prophecy from Isaiah about the final ingathering of exiles. Isaiah declares: "And they w...
When God instructed Israel about the Passover observance, He included a forward-looking phrase: "And it shall be, when you come to the land that the Lord will give you, as He has s...
(Exodus 12:26) "And it shall be, when your sons say to you, etc.": At that time, Israel was receiving bad tidings, that the Torah was destined to be forgotten. Others say they were...
R. Nehorai says; Upon my oath, not one in five hundred went out. For it is written (Ezekiel 16:7) "Numerous as the spouts of the field did I make you" (in Egypt), and (Exodus 1:7) ...
(Ibid. 12:27) "Then you shall say that it is a Paschal sacrifice to the L–rd.": R. Yossi Haglili said: The Jews would have deserved to die in Egypt (if not for the merit of the Pas...
The Mekhilta, the tannaitic midrash on Exodus, offers a remarkable insight into the nature of obedience. The Torah says of the Israelites: "and they did" — referring to the Passove...
"And it was in the middle of the night" (Exodus 12:29). The tenth plague — the slaying of the firstborn — struck at midnight. But the Mekhilta, the tannaitic midrash on Exodus, rai...
The Mekhilta, the tannaitic midrash on Exodus, discovers a hidden connection between two events separated by centuries — the plague of the firstborn in Egypt and Abraham's nighttim...
The Mekhilta, the tannaitic midrash on Exodus, addresses a question that cuts to the heart of the Passover story: who actually killed the firstborn of Egypt? The verse states simpl...
The Mekhilta, the tannaitic midrash on Exodus, probes the geographic scope of the tenth plague with meticulous care. The verse states: "And the Lord smote every firstborn in the la...
"from the first-born of Pharaoh sitting on his throne": Scripture hereby apprises us that Pharaoh (himself) was a first-born, (the throne passing in succession to the first-born). ...
