10,602 related texts · Page 191 of 221
One of Rabbi Yishmael's disciples raised a distinction between different categories of oxen. An ox that has become ritually impure (tamei) is still permitted for deriving benefit —...
"and the owner of the ox is absolved": R. Yehudah says: He is absolved by Heaven. For it would follow (otherwise), viz.: Since a mued is stoned and a tam is stoned, then if we have...
(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...
"And also the carcass shall they halve" — the Mekhilta derives practical rulings about how damages are calculated when one ox kills another. The rule depends on the relative values...
(Exodus 21:37) introduces the severe penalty for livestock theft: "If a man steal an ox or a lamb and slaughter it or sell it, he shall pay five oxen for the ox and four sheep for ...
Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai asked a beautiful question: why does the Torah require a five-fold payment for stealing an ox but only a four-fold payment for stealing a lamb? His answer...
The Mekhilta raises an objection to the theory that the four-and-five payment applies only to animals that are sacrificed on the altar. If that were the rule, then a blemished anim...
From the law of the burglar, the Mekhilta derives one of the most important principles in Jewish law: a doubt about whether a life is in danger overrides the Sabbath. The reasoning...
The Torah addresses the case of a thief who cannot repay what he stole. (Exodus 22:3) states: "If he lacks it, he is to be sold for his theft." The thief, unable to make restitutio...
"living, two shall he pay": and not (the value of) dead (animals). There are seven "thefts": "stealing men's minds" (i.e., deceiving them), importuning one's neighbor to be his gue...
The Mekhilta expands the concept of theft beyond physical property. They said about certain people: if they could "steal" the Higher Mind — God's mind itself — they would do so. Th...
(Exodus 22:4) "If a man ravage a field or a vineyard, and he send his beast, etc.": Why is this written? (Even) if it were not written, it would follow a fortiori, viz.: If a pit i...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael derives a precise set of liability rules from the verse "and he send his beast" (Exodus 22:4), establishing who is responsible when an animal causes d...
"If fire go out and it find thorns" (Exodus 22:5). A person lights a fire on his own property, and it escapes. It reaches a neighboring field and destroys crops, haystacks, or stan...
When fire spreads from one person's property and damages a neighbor's field, how far does liability extend? The Mekhilta records a three-way debate among the sages that reveals jus...
"and there be consumed sheaves": All things are included: a pile of reeds and beams, a mound of stones, and of pebbles for the processing of lime. "or the standing corn": trees als...
Four general rules were stated by R. Yishmael in the name of R. Meir in respect to damages. Wherever the mazik ("the damager") has permission (to be), but not the nizak ("the damag...
Rabbi Nathan expanded the scope of the deposit laws beyond their most obvious application. The Torah says that when someone deposits "money" with a neighbor for safekeeping, certai...
"and it be stolen from the house of the man": to exempt (from kefel) one who steals from the thief. But perhaps the meaning is "and it be stolen from the house of the man, he pays ...
"then the master of the house (i.e., the watcher) shall draw near to the judges": For an oath. You say, for an oath. But, perhaps for an oath or not for an oath? It follows (that i...
(Ibid. 7) "that he did not send his hand against his neighbor's deposit": for his need. You say, for his need. But perhaps for his need or not for his need (but for the animal's)? ...
The Mekhilta examines a precise legal scenario in the laws of property disputes. When one person claims "this is mine" and another says "it is not exactly this," the sages derived ...
"An ass or an ox or a lamb" — the Torah lists three specific animals in the context of deposit law. But the Mekhilta asks: what about all other domesticated animals? Are only these...
Rabbi Akiva challenged Rabbi Eliezer's reasoning. You are deriving what is possible from what is impossible, he argued. Natural death is always beyond human control — it is impossi...
"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 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...
"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...
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...
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,...
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 flesh in the field, treifah" — the Torah declares that an animal torn by a predator in the field is forbidden to eat. But the Mekhilta asks: does this apply only in the field,...
"to the dog shall you throw it": "to the dog"—as to the dog (i.e., anything like a dog.) You say this, but perhaps it is to be taken literally? It is, therefore, written (Ibid. 14:...
"Do not place your hand with an evildoer" (Exodus 23:1). The Torah issues this warning in the context of bearing false witness, but the Mekhilta unpacks it with a vivid courtroom s...
(Exodus 23:4) commands: "If you encounter the ox of your foe, or his donkey, straying, return shall you return it to him." The Mekhilta asks: does "encounter" mean literal physical...
"The ox of your foe" — who is the "foe" the Torah refers to? The Mekhilta records multiple interpretations. In one reading, the idolators of the nations are called "foes" of Israel...
The Mekhilta presents one of the most hopeful arguments in all of rabbinic literature, built on a simple logical structure called kal va-chomer — an argument from lesser to greater...
"And what they leave shall be eaten by the animals of the field" — the Torah establishes that shemitah produce left uneaten by humans may be consumed by wild animals. But the Mekhi...
The Torah commands that animals must rest on the Sabbath, just as humans do. But the Mekhilta raises a sharp question about what "rest" actually means for an animal. The answer rev...
"And there be refreshed the son of your maid-servant" — this verse about Sabbath rest mentions a "maid-servant's son." The Mekhilta identifies this as an uncircumcised Canaanite se...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael presents a step in a larger legal argument about why meat cooked in milk is forbidden to eat. The passage uses a technique called refutation — counter...
Rebbi — Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi — examines one of the most famous dietary laws in the Torah: "You shall not cook a kid in its mother's milk" (Exodus 23:19). This prohibition appears t...
(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...
What is the intent of (Exodus, Ibid. 150 "And the seventh day, a Sabbath of resting, holy to the L–rd"? From (Leviticus 23:4) "These are the festivals of the L–rd, callings of holi...
The Torah commands: "And the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath for their generations" (Exodus 31:16). The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael connects this ve...
Two verses in the Torah appear to contradict each other on the subject of work during the six days before Shabbat (the Sabbath). One verse says "Six days may work be done," using a...
