12,014 related texts · Page 222 of 251
Rabbi Akiva found a hidden message in a single word from (Exodus 12:1) — the word "saying." When God spoke to Moses, the instruction included "saying," which Akiva interpreted as a...
And thus do you find with Baruch the soon of Neriah, who complained before the L–rd, (Ibid. 45:3) "You (Baruch) say: Woe unto me, the L–rd has added grief to my pain!" (You say:) W...
(Exodus 12:2) "The beginning of the months": We are hereby apprised that Nissan is the beginning for the months. And whence do we derive (the same for) the reign of kings? From (I ...
R. Nathan and R. Tzaddok say: Also for house rentals (i.e., If one says: I am renting it to you for this year, the understanding is until the beginning of Nissan.) But this does no...
(Exodus 12:2) "This month shall be to you": Adam did not count by it (but by Tishrei, as the first month). You say this, but perhaps (the meaning is) "to you," but not to a gentile...
Rabbi Yitzchak raised a sharp astronomical objection to a proposed method of calculating the calendar. If you followed a certain interpretation, he argued, the moon would already b...
"Speak to the whole congregation of Israel": The speaking was on Rosh Chodesh; the taking (of the lamb), on the tenth; and the slaughtering, on the fourteenth. You say this, but pe...
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 asks a practical question about Passover night in Egypt that reveals something extraordinary about how communal sacrifice works. The Torah commands, "The entire assemb...
"and I shall see the blood": R. Yishmael was wont to say: Isn't everything revealed to Him, viz. (Daniel 2:22) "He knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells with Him," and (P...
R. Yonathan says: "and I will skip over you." I will be compassionate to you, but not to the Egyptians. I might think that an Egyptian in a Jewish house would be rescued. It is, th...
The Mekhilta, the tannaitic midrash on Exodus, explores a striking rhetorical pattern found throughout the Hebrew Bible: moments where a prophet says God "has spoken," and the rabb...
And we are hereby apprised that the captives rejoiced in all the decrees inflicted by Pharaoh upon Israel, (for which they were punished) in keeping with (Mishlei 17:5) "He who rej...
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...
Where does the obligation to say grace after meals — Birkat HaMazon — come from? The Mekhilta traces it to a single verse: (Deuteronomy 8:10), "And you shall eat and you shall be s...
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 Torah's prohibition against possessing chametz during Passover seems absolute. But the rabbis of the Mekhilta identified important exceptions based on two principles: domain an...
(Ibid.) "And chamushim did the children of Israel go up from the land of Egypt": "chamushim" indicates "armed," as in (Joshua 1:14) "Then you shall cross over chamushim" (in contex...
To teach us that as one metes it out to others, so is it meted out to him. Miriam waited a short time for Moses, viz. (Ibid. 2:4) "And his sister stood from afar to know what would...
In what lies in the other ark it is written (Exodus 20) "I am the L–rd your G–d," and of Joseph it is written (Genesis 50:19) "Am I in the place of G–d?" In what lies in this ark i...
In the past, Pharaoh's servants said to him (Exodus 10:7) "How long will this one be a stumbling block to us?" and now (Ibid. 14:5) "What is this that we did in sending Israel away...
Now the nations will clang to us like a bell, saying: Now if these (Jews), who were under their thumb, they let go and they left, why should we send to Aram Naharayim and to Aram T...
The Mekhilta continues tracing the lineage of prayer through the patriarchs, turning to Isaac. The Torah says that "Isaac went out lasuach in the field" (Genesis 24:63) — and the M...
The Mekhilta completes its tracing of prayer through the three patriarchs by turning to Jacob. The Torah says that Jacob "vayifga in the place and he spent the night there, for the...
The Mekhilta cites Jacob's blessing to Joseph — "I have given you an additional portion over your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Emori with my sword and with my bow" (...
The Mekhilta draws yet another proof of prayer's supreme power from Jacob's blessing over the tribe of Judah. The Torah declares: "A lion's whelp is Judah" (Genesis 49:9). On the s...
The Mekhilta brings the confrontation between David and Goliath as the ultimate demonstration of prayer's superiority over physical weapons. David declared to the Philistine giant:...
Rabbi Eliezer HaModai preserved one of the most extraordinary statements God ever made about the people of Israel. When Moses cried out at the Red Sea, God responded: "Why do you c...
Others say: The faith that they had in Me suffices for Me to split the sea for them. They did not say to Moses: How can we go out to the desert without food? But they believed in M...
(Exodus 14:22) "And the children of Israel came in the midst of the sea on the dry land": R. Meir perceives it one way; R. Yehudah, another. R. Meir: When the tribes were standing ...
R. Yehudah perceives it thus: "And the children of Israel came in the midst of the sea": When the tribes were standing at the sea, each of them said: I will not go down first into ...
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...
Rabbi Yossi raises a startling possibility about the ten plagues. The destruction at the Red Sea, he argues, was not a separate event from the plagues in Egypt — it happened simult...
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 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:...
(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 eighth, that of Solomon, viz. (Psalms 30:1) "A psalm, a song of the inauguration of the Temple of David." Now did David built it? Did not Solomon build it? viz. (I Kings 6:14) ...
And whence do we find that he gave his life for Torah? In (Exodus 34:28) "And he was there with the L–rd (to receive the Torah) … Bread he did not eat, etc." And it is written (Dev...
R. Eliezer b. Tadai says; Moses would begin with his words, and Israel would respond (with theirs). Moses would begin: "I shall sing to the L–rd," and Israel would end with him and...
The Mekhilta identifies a devastating pattern in the story of Absalom, King David's rebellious son: the very thing he was proudest of became the instrument of his downfall. Scriptu...
The Mekhilta continues its exploration of the word "ve'anvehu" from (Exodus 15:2) by presenting two more rabbinic interpretations, each connecting the Song of the Sea to broader Je...
R. Akiva says: "I shall speak of His beauty"—of the praise of the Holy One Blessed be He, who spoke and brought the world into being. The peoples of the world ask Israel (Song of S...
An analogy: A king's son goes abroad—he goes after him and attends upon him. He goes to a different city—he goes after him and attends upon him. Thus with Israel. When they went do...
R. Shimon b. Elazar says: When Israel do the will of the L–rd, His name is exalted in the world, as it is written (Joshua 5:1) "And it was, when all the kings of the Emori heard, e...
There is a warrior in a province. As soon as the arrow leaves his hand he cannot retrieve it. Not so, the Holy One Blessed be He. When Israel do not do His will, a decree goes fort...
"The L–rd is a man of war": Is it possible to say this (i.e., to refer to Him as "a man")? Is it not written (of His transcendent majesty) (Jeremiah 23:24) "Do I not fill heaven an...
Does God sleep? The Mekhilta wrestles with this question through a startling paradox. When Israel does God's will, there is no sleep before Him. (Psalms 121:4) declares it plainly:...
It is not written "those who rise up against us," but "those who rise up against You," whereby we are apprised that all who rise up against Israel are rising up, as it were, agains...
