1,517 passages in Rabbinic Midrash
Individual passages from Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, shown in source order. Page 31 of 32.
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 ...
(Exodus 13:6) declares, "And on the seventh day, a festival to the Lord." The Hebrew word for festival, chag, is related to chagigah, the special festival offering brought at the T...
"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), paymen...
"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 marria...
"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 a...
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 verse (Exodus 13:7) commands, "Matzoth shall be eaten the seven days, and chametz shall not be seen unto you." A straightforward reading suggests these two rules, eat matzah, a...
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...
The verse forbids two things: "and chametz shall not be seen unto you, and se'or shall not be seen unto you." Chametz is leavened dough fit to eat; se'or is the sourdough starter, ...
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...
The Torah's prohibition against possessing chametz during Passover seems absolute. But the rabbis of the Mekhilta identified important exceptions based on two principles: domain an...
Rabbi Yehudah, a leading voice among the sages of the Mekhilta, builds a legal teaching from the way the Torah singles out two particular forms of forbidden practice. Scripture sta...
The Torah prohibits chametz in two locations during Passover: in your houses and in your boundaries. But a careful reader might wonder whether these two prohibitions share the same...
(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 13:8) commands, "And you shall tell your son on that day." But when exactly is "that day"? The verse sits within a passage about the month of Nisan, so one might think the ...
This teaching from the Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael analyzes the law against idolatrous worship by separating two things the rabbis always seek in the Torah: the punishment and the ex...
(Exodus 13:8) includes the phrase "because of this", ba'avur zeh. The Mekhilta asks: what is the purpose of this phrase? The answer involves one of the most famous figures in the P...
(Exodus 13:9) speaks of the account of the Exodus serving "as a sign upon your hand." The Mekhilta derives from this verse a specific ruling about the construction of tefillin, the...
The Mekhilta confronts a dangerous misreading of Israel's history. "Others say," the text reports, that had the Israelites not joined the name of the Holy One Blessed be He togethe...
The Mekhilta works out the inner construction of tefillin, the leather phylacteries worn during prayer, and in particular how many compartments and parchments the head piece should...
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 ...
The Torah commands placing tefillin (leather phylacteries worn during prayer) "upon your hand." But where exactly on the hand? The Hebrew word yad can mean the entire arm from shou...
Rabbi Eliezer agreed that the tefillin (leather phylacteries worn during prayer) belong on the upper arm rather than the palm, but he arrived at the conclusion through entirely dif...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael records a direct question from Rabbi Yitzchak: where exactly does the tefillin go? The Torah commands "on your hand" (Exodus 13:16), which could be re...
The Torah says to place tefillin (leather phylacteries worn during prayer) "upon your hand". But which hand? The Mekhilta ruled that "hand," when used without further qualification...
The verse commands "and you shall tie them" and "and you shall write them" (Deuteronomy 6:8-9), and the Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael reads the two acts together to settle a practical ...
The verse (Exodus 13:9) states, "And it shall be to you as a sign upon your hand and as a memorial between your eyes." The Mekhilta derived from the sequence of this verse a precis...
The Torah instructs placing tefillin (leather phylacteries worn during prayer) "between your eyes." Taken literally, this would mean on the bridge of the nose or the forehead direc...
Rabbi Yehudah offered a distinctive argument for the placement of the head tefillin (leather phylacteries worn during prayer), drawing an unexpected connection between the laws of ...
"so that the Torah of the L-rd be in your mouth" (Exodus 13:9). The Mekhilta asks what this phrase adds, since the verse has already called tefillin (leather phylacteries worn duri...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael derives a striking equivalence from the verse "and as a remembrance between your eyes, so that the Torah of the L-rd be in your mouth" (Exodus 13:9). ...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael asks why the verse adds (Exodus 13:10) "And you shall keep this statute in its time." What is the intent of this clause? The concern arises from the e...
(Exodus 13:10) commands, "And you shall keep this statute at its appointed time." The word "statute", chukkah, could theoretically refer to any number of commandments. Perhaps it m...
(Exodus 13:10) states, "from day to day", miyamim yamimah. The Mekhilta asked why this phrase was necessary. After all, the previous verse already established that the account of t...
Variantly: What is the intent of "from day to day"? From "and it shall be to you as a sign," I might think, even on Sabbaths and festivals. And this would follow, viz. Since both m...
Rabbi Yitzchak raised a pointed question about the relationship between two sacred "signs" in Judaism: the Sabbath and tefillin (leather phylacteries worn during prayer). Both are ...
How often must a person inspect their tefillin (leather phylacteries worn during prayer) to make sure the scrolls inside are still intact? The Mekhilta derives the answer through a...
Canaan heard the news that Israel was coming to claim the Promised Land, and he did something no one expected. Instead of fighting, he stepped aside. He voluntarily made way for Go...
(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...
The Torah records a remarkable exchange in (Genesis 10:15): "And Canaan begot Tziddon, his first-born, and Cheth." Generations later, the sons of Cheth, the Hittites, encountered 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" (Exod...
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...
Three words anchor this argument from the Mekhilta, the tannaitic midrash on the book of Exodus attributed to the school of Rabbi Yishmael. The sages reading the laws of Tractate N...
