1,302 related texts · 51 related myths · Page 3 of 28
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 itsel...
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...
The Mekhilta records a debate about what tree God showed Moses at Marah to sweeten the bitter waters. The verse says simply "And the Lord showed him a tree". But which tree? The ra...
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...
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 the pu...
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?, (...
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...
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 quaked ...
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 ...
(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...
R. Eliezer says: Yithro heard the splitting of the sea and came (to join Israel). For the splitting of the sea was heard from one end of the world to the other, viz. (Joshua 5:1) "...
When Jethro heard "that the Lord had taken Israel out of Egypt," the Mekhilta draws a remarkable conclusion: the Exodus is not just one miracle among many. It is the miracle agains...
Rabbi Eliezer offers a breathtaking interpretation of (Song of Songs 2:14), reading each phrase as a reference to the events at the Red Sea. The verse reads: "Show me your face, le...
"I am the L–rd your G–d who took you out of the land of Egypt." What is the intent of this? Because He appeared at the Red Sea as a hero waging war, viz. (Exodus 15:3) "The L–rd is...
The opening verse of Deuteronomy lists a string of place names, "in the wilderness, in the Arabah, over against Suph, between Paran and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Di-zaha...
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 13:3) records the speech Moses gave on the morning after the Exodus. The Aramaic phrase from the house of the bondage of slaves stacks up two word...
The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 14:7) notices a strange detail in the chariot count. Pharaoh assembles six hundred choice chariots, plus all the chariots of his servants. But...
The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 14:9) pictures a scene the Hebrew leaves blank. While Pharaoh's chariots thunder toward them, what is Israel doing? The Targum says they are g...
The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 14:11) does not soften Israel's complaint. It sharpens it, and it names the complainers. They are not "the people." They are "the wicked gener...
The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 14:12) remembers an earlier argument. "Was not this the word that we spake to thee in Mizraim?" The Hebrews had told Moses in Egypt, back when...
The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 14:24) picks a very specific moment for the Egyptian catastrophe. It happened in the morning watch. And the Targum tells us why that hour matt...
The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 14:25) gives the Mizraee a final moment of clarity. Their chariot wheels are broken. Or in the Targum's alternate reading, made rough, gouged ...
The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 14:28) closes the account of the Egyptian army with a single unforgiving sentence. "The waves of the sea returned, and covered the chariots, a...
The Hebrew of the Song of the Sea says the waters "piled up." Targum Pseudo-Jonathan gives us a different picture entirely, more vivid and more strange: For by the Word from before...
The Song of the Sea reaches its highest note with a question: Who is like Thee among the exalted gods, O Lord, who is like Thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing won...
The Song of the Sea contains a strange prayer. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan renders it: Through the power of Thy mighty arm, let the terrors of death fall upon them, let them be silent a...
When the grumbling began in the wilderness of Sin, the Holy One responded not with rebuke but with a test. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 16:4) renders it: Behold, I will cause ...
The word manna itself, as Targum Pseudo-Jonathan tells it, was born from a question. The sons of Israel looked at the fine frost on the desert floor and said to one another Man Hu?...
Shemot Rabbah turns to The Warrior God. Think about the Exodus story. It’s not just a tale of liberation; it's a cosmic showdown. Remember the moment when the Egyptian magicians ha...
Vayikra Rabbah opens a hard teaching about giving and withholding kindness, and the stakes begin with the poor at the door. The first example? None other than Abraham. Abraham as a...
“May You pursue them in wrath and destroy them from under the heavens of the Lord” (Lamentations 3:66).“May You pursue them in wrath and destroy them” – Jeremiah said: “May you pur...
God told Israel three separate times: do not go back to Egypt. According to Esther Rabbah, they violated every single warning and paid for every single one. Rabbi Shimon ben Yohai ...
Midrash Tanchuma turns to The Quarrel Of The Sea And The Earth. Wait a minute. Did they drown, or were they swallowed? That seeming contradiction sparked a fascinating story, a sor...
(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...
(Exodus 14:21) "And Moses stretched his hand over the sea": and the sea resisted, whereupon Moses commanded it to split in the name of the Holy One Blessed be He; but it continued ...
The Holy One Blessed be He heals all who enter the world, viz. (Exodus 15:26) "for I am the L–rd who heals you", (Jeremiah 17:14) "Heal me, O L–rd, and I will be healed. Save me, a...
When Pharaoh decided to enslave the Israelites, he consulted three advisors. According to Sotah 11a, what happened to each of them perfectly matched the advice they gave. Balaam re...
