2,435 related texts · 25 related myths · Page 5 of 51
It’s a story about courage, about challenging the status quo, and about showing the world that what they worship is nothing more than an illusion. The verse in question is, "draw, ...
Shemot Rabbah, a classic midrashic (rabbinic interpretive commentary) collection, explores the details of the Exodus narrative, painting a vivid picture of that pivotal moment. One...
The story starts with a seemingly simple commandment: "This is the statute of the paschal offering." Rabbi Shimon ben Ḥalafta paints a vivid picture: God, blessed be He, instructs ...
Shemot Rabbah turns to Why No Foreigner May Eat of the Passover Offering. The Midrash then dives into a comparison between the Exodus from Egypt and the future redemption. During t...
They saw echoes of that very struggle in the beautiful, often enigmatic, Song of Songs – Shir HaShirim in Hebrew. Specifically, they found a powerful metaphor in the verse, "For, b...
Take the verse from the Song of Songs, Shir HaShirim, "How fair are your feet in sandals [bane’alim]," with its slightly unusual plural form, "sandals" [ne’alim]. What could that p...
And the Lord said unto Moses: “stretch out thy hand toward the heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt” (Exod. 10:21). Scripture ...
Pharaoh, true to Moses's prediction, immediately reneged on his promise to let the Israelites go. What did Moses do? He didn't waste a second. He promptly announced the eighth plag...
Rabbi Yitzchak disagreed with Rabbi Yoshiyah's reading of (Exodus 13:3), "and chametz shall not be eaten." He argued that the passive phrasing was not needed to equate the feeder w...
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 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...
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). ...
(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...
The ancient Israelites grappled with that exact feeling after the Exodus from Egypt. And Midrash Tehillim (a collection of interpretations on the Book of Psalms) delves right into ...
We rush toward it on New Year's Eve, celebrate Cinderella's transformation, and tell spooky stories about what lurks in the darkness. But in Jewish tradition, midnight holds a uniq...
Those are tefillin, also known as phylacteries. They’re more than just ritual objects; they’re physical reminders of our connection to God, worn daily (except on Shabbat (the Sabba...
(Genesis 19:3) has one of the most charming details in all of Torah, and Targum Pseudo-Jonathan doubles down on it. "And he persuaded them earnestly, and they turned aside to be wi...
The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan does not let Rebekah's instruction pass as a simple culinary request. She tells Jacob, "Go now to the house of the flock, and take me from thence two fat...
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Exodus (Exodus 23:15) sets the pilgrimage: The feast of unleavened cakes thou shalt keep. Seven days thou art to eat unleavened bread, as I have instructe...
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Exodus (Exodus 23:18) gives the Pesach offering a particular constraint: Sons of Israel My people, while there is leaven in your houses you may not immola...
It's all tied to music. The Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar delves deep into the mystical significance of the Hebrew letters and the sounds they create, revealing layers of meani...
" Hold on, it’s not about baking gone wrong. In the Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar, a central text of Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism), yeast and leaven – or "se’or v’chametz" in Heb...
The Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar, a mystical expansion on the Zohar itself, gives us a glimpse into just that – a cosmic tapestry woven with the threads of our festivals. In T...
"And it came to pass when Pharaoh sent out the people" (Exodus 13:17). Rebbe Elimelech of Lizhensk reads the entire Exodus story as a map of the soul's struggle against the evil in...
(Exodus 12:1) "And the L–rd spoke to Moses and to Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying": I might think that both Aaron and Moses were being addressed; it is, therefore, written (Exod...
(Exodus 12:1) "saying": Go and say it to them immediately. These are the words of R. Yishmael. As it is written (Exodus 34:34) "And he went out and spoke to the children of Israel ...
The Torah commands regarding the Passover lamb: "On the tenth day of this month, they shall take" (Exodus 12:3). The Mekhilta zeroes in on one seemingly minor word in this verse, t...
The Torah commands the Israelites to eat the Passover lamb "in haste" (Exodus 12:11). But whose haste? The Mekhilta identifies a surprising ambiguity in this seemingly simple word ...
The Torah specifies in (Exodus 12:19) that the laws of Passover apply to both "the proselyte and the citizen of the land." The Mekhilta explains why this explicit mention of the co...
"and you shall not go out, a man from the door of his house: We are hereby taught that once permission has been given to "the destroyer" to destroy, he does not distinguish between...
The Mekhilta, the tannaitic midrash on Exodus, captures the moment when Pharaoh finally broke. After the tenth plague, the death of every firstborn in Egypt, Pharaoh summoned Moses...
The Mekhilta, the tannaitic midrash on Exodus, preserves a teaching from Rabbi Yossi HaGlili that explains why the Egyptians willingly handed over their treasures to the departing ...
R. Akiva says: "succoth" refers to the clouds of glory, as in (Isaiah 4:5) "And the L–rd will create on the entire base of Mount Zion and on all of its branchings a cloud by day an...
The Mekhilta, the tannaitic midrash on Exodus, records a debate among three sages about the size of the "great multitude" (erev rav) that accompanied the Israelites out of Egypt. T...
Two verses in the Torah appear to contradict each other about how long the Israelites were connected to Egypt. One verse states: "And the habitation of the children of Israel in th...
(Exodus 12:43) "And the L–rd said to Moses and Aaron": There are some sections (in the Torah) which are generic in the beginning and specific after, and some which are specific in ...
The Torah states: "in man and beast, he is Mine" (Exodus 13:2), declaring God's ownership of every first-born. The Mekhilta draws from this verse a principle of elegant symmetry: w...
(Exodus 13:5) speaks of the land "which He swore to your forefathers." The Mekhilta asks a direct question: where exactly in the Torah did God swear this oath to each of the patria...
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...
"among your sons shall you redeem": What is the intent of this? It is written (Numbers 18:16) "And redemption from one month", general. "according to the monetary valuation, five s...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael addresses a practical legal question arising from (Exodus 13:13): "Every human first-born among your sons shall you redeem." The commandment to redeem...
When the Torah says "tomorrow," does it mean the next day or some distant point in the future? The Mekhilta demonstrates that the word carries both meanings, depending on context. ...
(Exodus 13:17) "And it was, when G–d sent ("shalach") the people": "sending" in all places is accompaniment, viz. (Genesis 18:16) "And Abraham went with them to send them," (Ibid. ...
(Exodus 13:19) "And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him": This apprises us of the wisdom and saintliness of Moses. All of Israel were occupying themselves with the spoils (of E...
(Exodus 13:19) "For hashbea hishbia the children of Israel": He (Joseph) had made them (his brothers) swear ("hashbea") that they would beswear ("hishbia") their children. R. Natha...
(Exodus, Ibid. 21) "And the L–rd went before them by day": We are hereby taught that as one metes it out to others, so is it meted out to him. Abraham accompanied the ministering a...
Pharaoh was told "that the people had fled" (Exodus 14:5). But had Israel actually fled? The Torah itself states in (Numbers 33:3) that "on the morrow of the Pesach, the children o...
(Deuteronomy 12:6) says: "And you shall bring there your burnt-offerings and your sacrifices and the first-born of your herds and flocks." This seems to require bringing the first-...
