4,193 related texts · Page 69 of 88
The Mekhilta poses a question about the hierarchy of respect: how much honor should a person show to a friend? The answer comes from one of the most revealing moments between Moses...
The Mekhilta decodes every word of Moses' declaration before the battle with Amalek. "The top of the hill" is not just a geographic feature — it is a spiritual map. "Top" represent...
Issi b. Yehudah says: There are five ambiguous verses in the Torah: "se'eth," "arur," "machar," "meshukadim," and "vekam.": "se'eth"—(Genesis 4:7) "If you do well, you will be forg...
The Mekhilta draws a direct parallel between Moses' raised hands and another puzzling episode: the bronze serpent in the wilderness. When poisonous snakes attacked the Israelites, ...
"and his hands were steadfast until the sun set": We are hereby apprised that he was (occupied with prayer and) fasting (until sunset). These are the words of R. Yehoshua. R. Eliez...
During the battle against Amalek, Moses stood on a hilltop with his arms raised, channeling divine power to the Israelite warriors below. But holding your arms up for hours is grue...
Moses refused to accept the verdict. After God told him he could not enter the Promised Land as a king or as a commoner, he came back with yet another proposal — each one more desp...
Moses stood before God and made one final, desperate plea. The decree had been issued — Moses would not enter the Promised Land. But Moses, ever persistent in prayer, tried to nego...
Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai examined the verse in which God tells Moses he will not cross the Jordan, and he declared: this verse is not needed. The Torah already states the same thing...
After every other plea had been rejected, Moses turned to his nephew Elazar — the son of his brother Aaron — and threw himself at his feet. "Elazar, my brother's son," Moses said, ...
R. Chanina b. Akiva says: "More beloved" was the seeing of our father Abraham than that of Moses. For Abraham was not caused to exert himself whereas Moses was. What is stated of A...
When Moses stood on Mount Nebo and looked out over the Promised Land, God pointed to each region and revealed not just the terrain but the history that would unfold upon it. The Me...
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...
(Exodus 18:1) "And Yithro heard": What did he hear that caused him to come (and join Israel)? The war with Amalek, which is juxtaposed with this section. These are the words of R. ...
The Torah states that Yithro "took Tzipporah, Moses' wife, after she had been sent" (Exodus 18:2). The phrase "after she had been sent" is vague — sent where? By whom? Under what c...
When Pharaoh sent soldiers to hunt down Moses after the slaying of the Egyptian taskmaster, God intervened in a way no one expected. Rather than striking the pursuers dead or sendi...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael describes the extraordinary reception that Jethro received when he arrived at the Israelite camp in the wilderness. The verse states simply: "And Mose...
R. Pappis made a statement about Yithro's blessing that was, in his reading, deeply unflattering to Israel. When Yithro arrived at the Israelite camp and heard what God had done, h...
Yithro's declaration "Now I know that greater is the Lord than all the gods" (Exodus 18:11) is more remarkable than it first appears. The Mekhilta points out a critical detail: the...
Jethro watched his son-in-law Moses judging the entire nation of Israel alone, from morning until evening, and he gave him a piece of advice wrapped in a parable. "Look at that bea...
The Torah states that the Israelites "encamped in the desert" before receiving the Torah at Sinai. The Mekhilta seizes on this geographical detail and transforms it into one of the...
On the second day after the Israelites arrived at Sinai, Moses ascended the mountain to meet God (Exodus 19:3). The Mekhilta notes a crucial detail: God called out to Moses before ...
Moses came down from the mountain and "called to the elders of the people" (Exodus 19:7). The Mekhilta draws a lesson about leadership from this simple narrative detail: Moses did ...
Rabbi Yehudah explains a remarkable exchange between God and Moses at Sinai. God told Moses: I will speak something to you, and you will return an answer to Me, and then I will ack...
When Moses stood before Israel at Sinai and "took the book of the covenant and read it in the ears of the people" (Exodus 24:7), a question immediately arises: what exactly did he ...
God commanded the Israelites to "wash their garments" in preparation for receiving the Torah at Sinai (Exodus 19:10). The Mekhilta asks a follow-up question that the Torah itself d...
The Torah states that God descended onto Mount Sinai "before the eyes of all the people" (Exodus 19:11), and the Mekhilta draws a startling conclusion from those words: if even a s...
"And the sound of the shofar, very strong" (Exodus 19:16) — the Mekhilta connects this to a later verse (Exodus 19:19): "And the sound of the shofar grew exceedingly strong." Toget...
"And its smoke rose like the smoke of a lime kiln" (Exodus 19:18) — this is how the Torah describes Mount Sinai when God descended upon it. But the Mekhilta immediately senses a pr...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael records a remarkable teaching from Rabbi Yehudah about the relationship between God and Moses. When (Exodus 19:24) records God saying to Moses, "Go, d...
The Talmudic sage known simply as Rebbi — Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, the compiler of the Mishnah (the earliest code of rabbinic law) — raised a striking question about the greatness of M...
Variantly: "I am the L–rd your G–d": When the Holy One Blessed be He stood and said "I am the L–rd your G–d," the mountains shook and the hills quivered, and Tavor came from Be'er ...
Before giving the Torah to Israel, God first offered it to every other nation on earth. The Mekhilta records one of the most dramatic of these encounters — the moment God approache...
He came and revealed Himself to the sons of Ishmael and asked them: Will you accept the Torah? They: What is written in it? He: "You shall not steal." They: But this is the blessin...
R. Shimon b. Elazar said: If the sons of Noach could not abide by the seven mitzvot (commandments)h commanded them, how much more so (could they not abide) by all the mitzvoth of t...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael pauses on a single phrase from the Ten Commandments to ask a question about dignity. When God declared "who took you out from the land of Egypt," what...
Before God gave a single commandment at Sinai, He made a remarkable statement that the Mekhilta preserves as a kind of divine negotiation. "I am the Lord your God," He declared. Th...
The Mekhilta unpacks a subtle but powerful argument that God makes to Israel. The verse reads: "As the deeds of the land of Egypt in which you dwelt you shall not do" (Leviticus 18...
Rabbi Chanina ben Antignos offered one of the sharpest anti-idolatry arguments in the entire Mekhilta, and he did it with a single devastating observation about language. The Torah...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael examines the phrase "before My presence" in the prohibition against idolatry, asking what this seemingly redundant qualifier adds. The answer reveals ...
A certain philosopher asked R. Gamliel: It is written in your Torah "for the L–rd your G–d is a wrathful G–d." Now is there power in idolatry to arouse wrath (in G–d)? One here is ...
(Ibid.) "He visits the sins of the fathers upon the children (for the third and the fourth generations"): when they (the generations) are consecutive. How so? An evildoer, the son ...
R. Eliezer says; It is revealed and known to Him who spoke and brought the world into being that a man honors his mother more than he does his father because she cajoles him with w...
After the overwhelming experience of hearing God's voice at Sinai, the Israelites retreated. (Exodus 20:18) records: "And the people stood from afar." The Mekhilta specifies the di...
(Exodus 20:19) records God telling Moses: "Thus shall you say to the children of Israel." The Mekhilta seizes on the word "thus" — in Hebrew, "koh" — and derives a surprising rule:...
The Torah describes a remarkable scenario in the laws of servitude: a Hebrew servant whose term of service has ended, yet who declares, "I love my master" and chooses to remain. Th...
"And if a man sells his daughter" (Exodus 21:7) — the Torah permits a father to sell his daughter as a maidservant. The Mekhilta immediately asks: can a mother do the same? The ans...
The Torah verse "If another he take for him" (Exodus 21:10) is read by the Mekhilta as the source for a surprising obligation. From this verse, the Sages ruled that a father is obl...
