1,517 passagesc. 3rd century CEHebrew / AramaicCC-BY
Individual passages from Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, shown in source order. Page 1 of 32.
It involves the Shekhinah (the Divine Presence). The Shekhinah (שְׁכִינָה) is a Hebrew word often translated as "divine presence," the immanent aspect of God that dwells within the...
The opening of the laws of Passover begins (Exodus 12:1) "And the L-rd spoke to Moses and to Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying." The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, the school of Rabbi...
(Exodus 13:17) "And it was, when G–d sent ("shalach") the people": "sending" in all places is accompaniment, viz. (Genesis 18:16) "And Abraham went with them to send them," (Ibid. ...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael opens its commentary on the Song at the Sea by examining a single small word. The verse reads, in Hebrew transliteration, "Az yashir Moshe," rendered ...
The Mekhilta notices something unusual about the verse "And Moses made Israel journey from the Red Sea" (Exodus 15:22). Rabbi Yehoshua points out that this particular journey was i...
The verse is stark: "And Amalek came" (Exodus 17:8). No warning, no buildup, just the enemy arriving. But the Mekhilta insists the verse is "recondite," meaning it hides a deeper t...
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 conj...
(Exodus 22:24) begins: "Im you lend money to My people." The word "im" typically means "if", suggesting optionality. But Rabbi Yishmael taught that this is one of the rare cases wh...
The opening of Mekhilta Tractate Shabbata draws attention to the singular way God communicated with Moses. The verse states (Exodus 30:11): "And the Lord spoke to Moses." The Mekhi...
When God told Moses in (Exodus 7:1), "See, I have made you an overlord to Pharaoh," a question immediately arose in the minds of the ancient rabbis. The verse seems to single out M...
The Hebrew word "nacham" appears in the Exodus narrative, and the Mekhilta pauses to clarify its meaning. While "nacham" can mean "to comfort" or "to regret" in other contexts, her...
The Song at the Sea begins with a grammatical mystery. The Hebrew text of (Exodus 15:1) reads az yashir Mosheh, literally, "then Moses will sing," using the future tense. If the To...
R. Eliezer reads Israel's departure into the wilderness as an act of pure trust. They journeyed by word of the L-rd. In two or three other places Scripture says outright that the p...
Rabbi Elazar Hamodai reveals a chilling detail about Amalek's attack. The Israelites were protected by the Clouds of Glory, miraculous formations that surrounded the camp on all si...
R. Akiva, the great teacher of the Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael's wider world, asks what is added by the opening words "And these are the judgments" (Exodus 21:1). His concern is the ...
The Torah states in (Exodus 20:22): "And when you make an altar of stones unto Me." The Mekhilta zeroes in on the Hebrew word "im", which can mean either "when" or "if". And asks a...
(Exodus 31:13) commands: "But My Sabbaths shall you keep." The Mekhilta asks what this verse adds to (Exodus 20:10): "You shall not perform any labor." If labor is already prohibit...
The Torah speaks "to Moses and to Aaron", in that order. Moses first, Aaron second. A natural reading would assume this reflects a hierarchy: Moses is the greater, Aaron the lesser...
"by way of the land of the Philistines, for it was near": Near (i.e., "close") is the thing of which the Holy One Blessed be He spoke to Moses (Exodus 2:12): "When you take the peo...
Thus we find that they went back (the distance of) three journeys (at Moses' behest), viz. (Numbers 33:8-10) "And they journeyed from Pi Hachiroth … And they journeyed from Marah a...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael records a teaching by Rabbi Eliezer about the nature of Amalek's attack on Israel in the wilderness. His interpretation turns on a single word, reveal...
The Torah records that the Israelites left Egypt "in the first month" (Numbers 33:3). This establishes a clear date for the Exodus, the month of Nisan, the first month of the Jewis...
The Torah says, "When you lend money to My people" (Exodus 22:24), using the Hebrew word "im," which normally means "if." This would seem to make lending optional, a generous act y...
The Mekhilta of Rabbi Yishmael records a discussion that arose as the great sages walked together on the road. R. Yishmael, R. Elazar ben Azaryah, and R. Akiva were in front, with ...
Which came first, heaven or earth? The Torah seems to give contradictory answers. In (Genesis 1:1), the verse reads: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Heave...
Variantly: "for it was near": The Holy One Blessed be He did not bring them directly to Eretz Yisrael but by way of the desert, saying: If I bring them there now, immediately each ...
Variantly: "Moses and the children of Israel": We are hereby apprised that Moses chanted the song opposite all of Israel (i.e., that his voice was over and against those of all of ...
R. Eliezer says: They journeyed by the word, for thus do we find in two or three places. What, then, is the intent of "And Moses made Israel journey?" He did so against their will,...
Commenting on (Exodus 17:8) "And Amalek came and fought with Israel in Refidim," Rabbi Yossi ben Chalafta reads the single word "came" as charged with strategy. Amalek did not arri...
All this, until they entered Eretz Yisrael. Whence do I derive the same for (the period) after they entered Eretz Yisrael? From (I Kings 6:1) "In the four hundred and eightieth yea...
The Torah lists the patriarchs in a specific order: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In (Exodus 3:6), God introduces Himself to Moses at the burning bush as "the God of your father, the ...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael examines why God led Israel out of Egypt by a roundabout desert route rather than the short coastal road through Philistine territory. The verse expla...
The eighth, that of Solomon, viz. (Psalms 30:1) "A psalm, a song of the inauguration of the Temple of David." Now did David built it? Did not Solomon build it? viz. (I Kings 6:14) ...
Rabbi Yehudah ben Ilai makes a disturbing claim in the Mekhilta: idolatry crossed the Red Sea with Israel. The very nation that had just witnessed God's greatest miracle, the split...
Amalek's attack on Israel was not a matter of geography or convenience. Rabbi Yehudah teaches that Amalek actually bypassed five other nations to reach the Israelites. He had to cr...
(Exodus 13:18) "And G–d led the people circuitously by way of the desert to the Red Sea": in order to perform miracles and mighty acts with the manna and the quail and the well. R....
Moses devoted his life to three things, and each of them was called by his name. The Mekhilta examines the first: Torah. The prophet Malachi instructs Israel, "Remember the Torah o...
(Exodus 15:22) "And they went out to the desert of Shur": This is the desert of Kazav. They said about the desert of Kazav that it was nine hundred parasangs by nine hundred parasa...
Others say: Let Amalek, the ingrate, come and exact payment of the ingrate people (Israel). Similarly, (II Chronicles 24:26) "And these are the men who rebelled against him (Yoash)...
Once R. Yochanan ben Zakkai went up to Maon Yehudah and saw a young girl picking grains of barley out from beneath the dung of a horse. Struck by the sight, he asked the bystanders...
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 cr...
The Mekhilta reads the divine words "My people" in the law of lending (Exodus 22:24) as establishing an ordered ladder of obligation, ranking who has the first claim on a lender's ...
This Mekhilta passage parses the word "chamushim" in the verse "And chamushim did the children of Israel go up from the land of Egypt" (Exodus 13:18). The sages offer several readi...
Whence do we find that he gave his life for Torah? In (Exodus 34:28) "And he was there with the L–rd (to receive the Torah) … Bread he did not eat, etc." And it is written (Devarim...
Rabbi Akiva shares a story he heard directly from Rabbeinu Hakadosh. Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi, the compiler of the Mishnah (the earliest code of rabbinic law). The tale concerns a man ...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael cites a devastating passage from (II Chronicles 24:25) to illustrate the consequences of shedding innocent blood. The verse describes the downfall of ...
The Torah opens its civil laws with "If you buy a Hebrew man-servant" (Exodus 21:2). The Mekhilta asks precisely which kind of servant this verse describes, since the Torah elsewhe...
The Torah's prohibition against charging interest is one of the most distinctive features of biblical economic law. The Mekhilta examines the verse "Do not impose interest upon him...
