2,086 related texts · Page 16 of 44
It’s a question that’s haunted mystics for centuries. And in the ancient wisdom of the Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah, a profound answer emerges. Think of it like this: Imagine a series o...
Jewish mystical tradition, particularly the Kabbalah, wrestles with this very idea. It delves into the nature of light, darkness, and how we perceive the Divine. The text we're exp...
The passage speaks of the "will of ascension" of the King – that is, God – at a time described as “lamp of darkness.” Before anything existed, there was only the potential for ever...
The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a profound and mystical text, whispers secrets about cleansing and purity, about elevating the mundane to the sacred. It all starts with a si...
It describes a time when God, so to speak, is "in the darkness," enclothed in tohu and bohu – "chaos and void," and ḥoshekh and tehom – "darkness and abyss." Imagine the universe b...
The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a central text of Kabbalah, offers a breathtaking image. It begins with a single word: yasis. The text doesn't elaborate much on the word its...
"And Jacob settled in the land where his father dwelled" (Genesis 37:1). Rebbe Elimelech of Lizhensk opens his commentary on Parashat Vayeshev not with Joseph's coat or his brother...
How many lambs were needed for the first Passover? The Mekhilta tackles this question with characteristic precision. One might initially think that a single lamb would suffice for ...
What if a household was too small to eat an entire Passover lamb? The Torah addresses this in (Exodus 12:4): "Then he and his neighbor next to his house shall take it." Rabbi Akiva...
Rabbi Yossi Haglili employed one of the most powerful tools in rabbinic reasoning — the kal vachomer, the argument from lesser to greater — to settle a question about the Pesach (P...
Rabbi Yishmael confronted a puzzle in (Deuteronomy 16:2), which says: "And you shall slaughter the Passover to your God — sheep and cattle." But the Passover offering is supposed t...
Scripture specified it (the fourteenth day) as mandatory. It is not the second assumption, then, that is to be accepted, but the first. "And it shall be to you for a keeping": Scri...
R. Yonathan said to him: But we still have not heard! R. Yoshiyah: It is written (Ibid. 28:2) "Command the children of Israel and say to them: My offering, My bread … shall you obs...
The Mekhilta notices a detail in the Passover laws that most readers skip right past. The Torah says the blood should go on the doorframes "of the houses in which they eat it" (Exo...
"on this night": I might think, the entire night; it is, therefore, written (Ibid. 10) "You shall not leave over anything of it until morning, and what is left over of it until mor...
And whence is it derived that in the absence of matzoh and maror one fulfills his obligation with the Pesach (Passover)? From "shall they eat it" (in any event). I might think that...
"uvashel": "bashel" (here refers to flesh that was) roasted (before, the understanding being that it is forbidden to cook it even if it had been roasted previously), as in (Devarim...
The Mekhilta catches a redundancy in the Torah's Passover instructions that most readers would never notice — and from that redundancy, it extracts a legal ruling about where God's...
The Torah states that "all labor shall not be done" on the festival days of Passover. The Mekhilta reads this straightforwardly — it tells us that labor is forbidden on the first a...
"And you shall guard this day": What is the intent of this? Is it not already written (16) "all labor shall not be done in them"? This tells me only of labor per se. Whence do I de...
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...
And 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....
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, the tannaitic midrash on Exodus, extends its devastating logic about the plague of the firstborn to the animal kingdom. The verse states that God struck "every firstb...
The Mekhilta, the tannaitic midrash on Exodus, preserves a question from Rabbi Nathan that captures the emotional texture of the Exodus. The Torah describes the Israelites carrying...
"and you shall circumcise him; then shall he eat of it": his master. We are hereby apprised that (non-) circumcision of his servants prevents him from eating the Pesach (Passover) ...
Having established that the Pesach (Passover) sacrifice could be eaten "in two places" by a single group, Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai was asked the obvious follow-up question: how exac...
(Ibid. 46) "Do not take from the house outside": outside of the group. But perhaps (the intent is) outside of the house? It is, therefore, written (Ibid. "of the flesh) outside"—ou...
The Torah commands regarding the Passover sacrifice: "you shall not take out of the house." But take what out of the house? The Mekhilta clarifies that Scripture is speaking specif...
The prohibition against breaking the bones of the Pesach (Passover) sacrifice includes two seemingly small words that carry enormous legal weight: "in it." The Mekhilta zeroes in o...
Rabbi Yonathan addressed a legal puzzle hidden inside the Passover laws. The Torah says "let all of his males be circumcised, and then he shall draw near to offer it." A straightfo...
Rabbi Nathan found a specific legal scenario embedded in the verse "let all of his males be circumcised." The phrase excludes a particular case from preventing a master's participa...
The Torah declares: "And every uncircumcised one shall not eat of it." The Mekhilta asks a pointed question: why is this verse necessary at all? The Torah already stated "No strang...
The Torah records God's instruction: "And they shall make for Me a sanctuary, and I will dwell among them" (Exodus 25:8). The Mekhilta once again poses its characteristic question:...
The students of a great teacher reported that he expounded a striking principle using the words of the prophet Jeremiah: "Therefore, behold, days are coming, says the Lord, when it...
"and chametz shall not be seen unto you, and se'or shall not be seen unto you": chametz is likened to se'or, and se'or to chametz. Just as the one may not be seen, so, the other. J...
"so that the Torah of the L–rd be in your mouth": What is the intent of this? From "And it shall be to you as a sign," I would assume that women, too, are included (in the mitzvah ...
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 ...
The Torah draws a direct line between the tenth plague and a permanent commandment: "And the Lord killed every first-born... therefore, I sacrifice to the Lord every male first-bor...
And the children of Israel journeyed from Ramses to Succoth, and from Succoth to Eitam, and from Eitam to Pi Hachiroth. On the fifth day (of the week) they journeyed from Egypt, an...
Variantly: "and shalishim": Three (Egyptians) against every one (Israelite). Others say: three hundred against one. And how did Pharaoh know how many Israelites died in the three d...
Variantly: "Moses and the children of Israel": We are hereby apprised that Moses chanted the song opposite all of Israel (i.e., that his voice was over and against those of all of ...
The Song of the Sea declares: "The Lord is my strength and my song" (Exodus 15:2). The Mekhilta explores what "my strength" actually means, and discovers that this single phrase ca...
(Exodus 15:9) "The foe said: I shall pursue, etc.": This appertains (chronologically) to the beginning of the parshah. Why is it written here? For "there is no before and after in ...
The Mekhilta interprets the verse "You have led forth in lovingkindness" (Exodus 15:13) as a startling admission: Israel had no merit of their own when they were redeemed from Egyp...
Variantly: "on the fifteenth day of the second month": Why is "day" mentioned? To know on which day the Torah was given to Israel. (Rosh Chodesh of the) Nissan on which Israel left...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael preserves two interpretations of the manna's name, both attributed to tannaitic authorities, and both reveal how the rabbis found layers of meaning in...
When the Torah says that Israel "encamped in Refidim" (Exodus 17:1), the Mekhilta hears more than a place name. The rabbis break the word apart: "rafu yadam" — "their hands weakene...
