1,132 related texts · Page 2 of 24
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 ...
We often imagine nature as this passive backdrop to the human drama, but Jewish tradition sometimes paints a very different picture. A picture where creation itself has a voice, a ...
That feeling, that connection, it's at the heart of this story from Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, Chapter 44. The Israelites are facing a fearsome foe: Amalek. Moses, wise and divinely c...
The sea splits, a nation escapes slavery... but according to some traditions, the heavenly hosts weren't exactly thrilled. to Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 238, a collection of rabbinic ...
When the Egyptians were drowning in the Red Sea, the ministering angels wanted to sing. God stopped them cold. According to Megillah 10b, He said: "My handiwork is drowning in the ...
There was an incident involving Miriam daughter of the baker, who was taken captive with her seven sons. The emperor took them and placed them behind seven partitions. He brought t...
Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the Torah says "the sea returned towards morning to its eithano" (Exodus 14:27). That final word — eithano — becomes the subject of...
(Exodus 15:1) "Az yashir Mosheh": Az ("then") sometimes signals the past and sometimes signals the future. The past: (Genesis 4:26) "Az men began", (Exodus 4:26) "Az she said", (Ex...
The Mekhilta pinpoints the exact moment when Israel first declared (Exodus 15:11): "Who is like You among the mighty, O Lord?" It was not during the plagues. It was not at the mome...
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...
After Israel's victory over Amalek at Rephidim, Moses built an altar and gave it a striking name. The verse records: "And Moses built an altar and he called its name 'the L-rd is m...
The Hebrew Bible says God "hardened Pharaoh's heart" and he pursued the Israelites (Exodus 14:8). Targum Onkelos translates this without softening or explaining. The hardening stan...
When the Israelites stood trapped between the sea ahead and Pharaoh's army behind, a single verse describes the moment the divine rescue began (Exodus 14:19): "And the angel of God...
The Song of the Sea declares: "A horse and its rider He has cast into the sea" (Exodus 15:1). But this statement raises an immediate question. Was there really only one horse? The ...
The Mekhilta draws a striking comparison between the experience of the prophet Jonah in the belly of the great fish and the fate of the Egyptian army at the Red Sea — and the Egypt...
When the Israelites grumbled in the wilderness about food, Moses and Aaron told them (Exodus 16:7): "And in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord." The Mekhilta de-Rabbi I...
It all begins with Marah. Remember the Israelites wandering in the desert after the Exodus? They’re thirsty, desperate, and finally, they find water! But… (Exodus 15:23) “they came...
Before God ever asked Israel to accept His kingship, He proved Himself through action. The Mekhilta lays out the sequence with deliberate precision, and the order matters. First, G...
The answer, of course, is manna. But the legends surrounding this heavenly food are even more astonishing than you might imagine. : feeding 600,000 people, plus their families, eve...
The Israelites certainly did, wandering in the desert after the Exodus. They had manna, that miraculous bread from heaven, but they yearned for meat. They grumbled, they complained...
It’s a very human thing. And according to Jewish tradition, it’s a mistake the Israelites made, with some rather painful consequences. Picture this: The Israelites are fresh out of...
The Egyptians who chased the Hebrews into the sea did not drown quietly. According to Josephus, the water came crashing back accompanied by storms, rain, thunder, lightning, and th...
Moses struck a rock and a river came pouring out. Not a trickle, not a seep—a full river, bursting from dry stone in the middle of the desert, clear and sweet enough to make an ent...
The Israelites in the desert definitely did. They craved meat, and boy, did they get it. But at what cost? The Torah tells us in Numbers (11:33) that “the flesh was still between t...
(Ibid. 20) "Then Miriam the prophetess took": Where do we find that Miriam was a prophetess? She said to her father (Amram): In the end, you will beget a son who will be the savior...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael drew a sharp distinction between two foods God gave the Israelites in the wilderness, and the difference had everything to do with how they were reque...
Moses and Aaron delivered a pointed warning to the Israelites who kept complaining about their food in the wilderness. The manna had been given with a "radiant countenance" because...
Rabbi Eliezer Hamodai calculated exactly how long the manna lasted after the death of Moses: seventy days. Not a rough estimate — a precise count, worked out from the calendar itse...
R. Yossi b. Chalafta says: "And Amalek came": He came with counsel. We are hereby apprised that he gathered all the nations together and said to them: Come and help me against Isra...
The Israelites knew that feeling all too well, not just physically, but spiritually too. Their journey through the desert wasn't just about finding oases; it was about finding conn...
Yeah, the Israelites knew that feeling all too well. We find ourselves in the Book of Exodus, chapter 17. The Israelites have escaped Egypt, they’ve crossed the Red Sea, and they’r...
But for the Israelites fleeing Egypt, this wasn't fiction – it was reality, or at least, that's how the legends tell it. The moment God saw His people struggling, caught between th...
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...
Four "harnessed" with joy: Abraham—(Genesis 22:3) "And Abraham rose early in the morning (for the binding of Isaac), and he saddled his ass." Now did he not have many servants?—(He...
The Torah describes Pharaoh's pursuit force with the word "shalishim" — a term the Mekhilta unpacks through three different interpretations, each revealing a different dimension of...
With the Egyptian army bearing down and the Red Sea blocking their path, the Israelites succumbed to terror. It was Moses who stepped forward and spoke the words that steadied an e...
And whence do you derive (the same for) the upper and the lower waters and the depths? From (Psalms 77:17) "The waters saw You, O G–d; the waters saw You and quaked. The depths qua...
The "morning" of Jacob—(Ibid. 28:18) "and Jacob rose early in the morning, etc." The "morning" of Moses—Exodus 34:4) "and Moses rose early in the morning, etc." The "morning" of Jo...
(Exodus 14:26) "And the L–rd said to Moses: Stretch forth your hand over the sea": It will not stand against you and it will not deviate from your command. "and the waters will tur...
(Exodus 14:28) "And the waters returned and covered the chariot, etc.": even that of Pharaoh. These are the words of R. Yehudah, it being written (Ibid. 15:4) "the chariots of Phar...
(Exodus 14:30) "and the L–rd saved Israel on that day": As a bird held in a man's hand, so that if he pressed its hand but a little he would choke it, as it is written (Psalms 124:...
The Torah records a transformation at the Red Sea: "And the people feared the Lord" (Exodus 14:31). The Mekhilta notes the significance of the word "feared." In the past, the Israe...
When the (other) kingdoms are symbolized, they are symbolized as cedars, viz. (Ezekiel 31:3) "Behold, Ashur, a cedar in the Levanon," and (Amos 2:9) "And I destroyed the Emori from...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael draws a sweeping conclusion from the verse "and you will know that the L-rd took you out of the land of Egypt" (Exodus 16:6). The teaching here is not...
Moses gave the Israelites a simple instruction in (Exodus 16:19): do not leave any manna over until morning. What happened next exposed a fault line running through the entire nati...
On the sixth day of the week, something unprecedented happened with the manna. (Exodus 16:22) records that the Israelites gathered a double portion, two omers instead of the usual ...
Moses told Aaron to take a "tzintzeneth" and fill it with manna to preserve for future generations (Exodus 16:33). But what exactly was a tzintzeneth? The word appears nowhere else...
R. Eliezer says: The L–rd swears by His throne of glory: If there comes a man of all the nations to be proselytized, he will be accepted; but Amalek and his household will not be a...
