1,517 passages in Rabbinic Midrash
Individual passages from Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, shown in source order. Page 26 of 32.
"Or if it gore a son, or it gore a daughter" (Exodus 21:31). The Mekhilta asks why this clause about the goring ox is needed at all. An earlier verse, dealing with an ox known to b...
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...
(Exodus 21:32) addresses the case of an ox that gores a bondservant: "If the ox gore a man-servant or a maid-servant." The Mekhilta explains that bondservants were already included...
R. Yoshiyah raises a question of style that turns into a lesson in honor. Throughout the Torah, when God gives an instruction, the standard formula is that the word came from Moses...
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...
The Torah says the ox gored "a man-servant or a maid-servant." The Mekhilta asks: which kind of servant? This must refer to a Canaanite bondservant, not an Israelite one. The proof...
"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:) "...
(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 ...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael draws a sharp legal distinction out of the command "and slaughter the Pesach." The phrase teaches that there is a positive mitzvah to slaughter the an...
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...
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...
This Mekhilta passage concerns the laws of where sacrifices may be slaughtered in the Temple. R. Yossi son of R. Yehudah first sets a geographic rule keyed to the altar itself: the...
"and the ox shall be stoned": Why is this stated? (i.e., it was stated already.) For if it were not stated, I would say (otherwise), viz. Since he is put to death for killing his m...
This Mekhilta passage interprets the command "And you shall slaughter therein your burnt-offerings and your peace-offerings" (Exodus 20:21), spoken about the altar of earth. Read n...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael pauses over a verse that seems, at first glance, unnecessary. The Torah has already taught that a person is liable for damage done by his ox, an anima...
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 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...
"And if a man open a pit", the Torah addresses the liability of someone who uncovers or creates an open pit in a public area. But the Mekhilta notices that the verse mentions only ...
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 instruction...
The Torah discusses two ways a dangerous pit might come into existence: someone might open an existing pit that was previously covered, or someone might dig a brand-new one. In (Ex...
"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 ha...
The Mekhilta deRabbi Yishmael, in its civil-law tractate Nezikin, examines the Torah's case of the open pit, where a person who digs or uncovers a hazard becomes liable for an anim...
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 confronts a grammatical puzzle in the command, "And if an altar of stones you make for Me" (Exodus 20:22). The little word "if" usually signals a choice, suggesting th...
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...
(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. A...
"And he not cover it", the Torah addresses liability for an uncovered pit. The Mekhilta adds a crucial qualifier: "and he not cover it properly." This distinction between proper an...
"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...
"Do not build them hewn" (Exodus 20:22), said of the stones of the altar. The Mekhilta reads the prohibition narrowly. In the altar itself you may not build the stones hewn by iron...
The verse (Exodus 21:33) speaks of one who digs or uncovers a pit into which "there fall there an ox or an ass." The Mekhilta reads the wording with care to define the exact scope ...
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. 28:1...
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...
"And there fall there", the Torah describes an animal falling into an uncovered pit. The Mekhilta specifies: this must happen "in the normal mode of falling." The animal must fall ...
Rabban Yochanan ben Zakai builds a teaching about peace on a curious detail in the law of the altar. The Torah commands, "Of whole stones shall you build the altar of the Lord" (De...
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...
"Money shall he restore to its owner", when someone's animal falls into another person's uncovered pit and dies, the pit-digger must pay compensation. The Torah specifies "money." ...
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...
The passage from the Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, the tannaitic midrash on Exodus, clarifies how restitution is calculated when one man's ox kills another's. After ruling on payment,...
"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...
"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 obt...
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 DeRabbi Yishmael analyzes the law of the goring ox, beginning with the verse "And if the ox of a man butt" (Exodus 21:35). The first task is to define the scope of the...
(Exodus 21:35) says: "And if the ox of a man strike", the Mekhilta immediately draws a legal boundary. The phrase "of a man" excludes the ox of a minor. A child who owns an ox that...
"Then they shall sell the living ox", when one person's ox kills another person's ox, the Torah prescribes a specific remedy. But the Mekhilta specifies: this verse assumes the two...
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...
Rebbi, the title given to Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi, the compiler of the Mishnah (the earliest code of rabbinic law), examines a case in the Torah's laws of damages involving two oxen. ...
