3,813 related texts · Page 72 of 80
Yithro's plan for restructuring Israel's judicial system was built on precise mathematics. He told Moses to appoint "officers of thousands, officers of hundreds, officers of fiftie...
The verse states (Exodus 18:22): "Every great thing shall they bring to you." But what does "great" mean in this context? The Mekhilta identifies two possible readings and uses a l...
One might think that he went but did not do so. It is, therefore, written (Judges 1:16) "And the children of Keni, the father-in-law of Moses, went up from the city of date-palms,"...
The Torah records that the Israelites "journeyed from Refidim and came to the desert of Sinai" (Exodus 19:2). But the Mekhilta notices a problem. The previous verse already stated ...
The Israelites arrived at the desert of Sinai carrying baggage far heavier than anything on their backs. They carried the weight of recent rebellion. The Mekhilta draws a striking ...
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...
Rebbi (Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi) offers a different reading of the events at Sinai, one that elevates Moses's stature even further. He argues that we would only need to "acknowledge th...
When God prepared to give the Torah at Sinai, Moses served as the intermediary, carrying messages between heaven and the people camped at the foot of the mountain. But according to...
And the sages say twelve monuments for each tribe. He built an altar, sacrificed thereon a burnt-offering and peace-offerings, took of the blood of the burnt-offering in two recept...
God told Moses to have the people ready "for the third day" (Exodus 19:11), and the Mekhilta identifies this as the sixth day of the month of Sivan — the day on which the Torah was...
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...
Moses told the people, "Be ready in three days" (Exodus 19:15), instructing them to separate from their wives in preparation for receiving the Torah. But the Mekhilta notices a pro...
Rebbi (Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi) offers a different solution to the question of how Moses derived the requirement for marital separation before receiving the Torah. Rather than relying...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael draws a legal ruling from God's command to the Israelites before the revelation at Sinai: "Do not draw near to a woman" (Exodus 19:15). Moses delivere...
"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...
Rabbi Akiva challenged Rabbi Eliezer with a question about what happened when God spoke the commandments at Sinai. Moses spoke and God answered — but what does that mean? Rabbi Eli...
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...
"saying": They responded to an affirmative (i.e., "You shall, etc.") in the affirmative ("Yes") and to a negative, in the negative. R. Akiva says: to an affirmative in the affirmat...
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 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...
(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 ...
Rebbi — Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi — grappled with a verse that seems to describe God physically descending to Mount Sinai. (Exodus 19:20): "And the Lord went down upon Mount Sinai upon ...
(Exodus 31:13) commands: "But My Sabbaths shall you keep." The Mekhilta asks what this verse adds to (Exodus 20:10): "You shall not perform any labor." If labor is already prohibit...
And it would follow (that labors for the sanctuary would override the Sabbath, viz.:) If the sacrificial service, which comes only from the enablers, (i.e., the vessels, etc.) over...
Moses certainly did. In the book of Exodus (33:18-23), we find Moses pleading with God, "Oh, let me behold Your presence!" It's a raw, human moment. Can you imagine the courage, th...
It’s a question that’s haunted mystics and theologians for centuries. And while Jewish tradition generally holds that no one can see God and live, there are whispers and echoes in ...
We often think of God as all-knowing, all-powerful, the ultimate authority... but what if I told you there's a tradition that suggests God, too, is a student? It's a fascinating id...
They’ve journeyed far, and now, they're about to experience something beyond comprehension. Exodus 19 tells us that on the third day, as morning broke, the atmosphere crackled with...
But what if I told you that, according to Jewish tradition, there is a way, a glimpse, perhaps, of the Divine Presence – the Shekhinah (the Divine Presence)? The Shekhinah, a Hebre...
The story centers around Rabbah bar Bar Hannah, a figure known for his… let’s just say, colorful travel stories. One day, as recounted in Bava Batra 74a, a Bedouin approached Rabba...
Where was the Torah before it was given to Moses? Have you ever wondered about that? It's a question that dives right into the heart of Jewish mythology. Because if the Torah is so...
We often think of it as a moment of pure revelation, of divine gift-giving. But some ancient stories paint a picture far more…intense. A picture of near annihilation and miraculous...
Remember the scene: Moses, up on Mount Sinai, receiving the very word of God, etched onto stone tablets. And then… disaster. The Israelites, impatient and faithless, melt down thei...
The tradition teaches that there aren't just one, but two Torahs: the Torah Shebichtav, the Written Torah (the five books of Moses we all know), and the Torah Sheba’al Peh, the Ora...
We've fasted, we've prayed, we've poured out our hearts. And then… one final, powerful blast of the shofar. But why? It's more than just a signal that the fast is over and bagels a...
Did you know that some traditions claim Jacob, father of the twelve tribes of Israel, never actually died? It sounds impossible, doesn't it? He was embalmed, buried… but the story ...
But then, as the story goes, GOD intervened. MOSES stretched out his hand, and the sea parted. A path opened up, dry land appeared, and the Israelites began to cross. But what was ...
You're not alone. But have you ever wondered why that wall, of all the Temple, still stands? There are many explanations, of course, both historical and theological. But Jewish tra...
Our tradition grapples with this question in fascinating, sometimes unsettling ways. Take the story of Cain, the firstborn son of Adam and Eve. We all know he murdered his brother ...
There's a story in the Torah, a rather unsettling one, about two brothers, Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, and it's been echoing through Jewish tradition for millennia. We find...
And their grumbling had some pretty fiery consequences. We find ourselves in the book of Numbers (Bamidbar in Hebrew, meaning "in the wilderness") chapter 21. The Israelites are tr...
It's more than just a historical event; it’s a foundational myth, packed with layers of meaning. But what if I told you the pain, the suffering, the sheer brutality of the Egyptian...
It’s one of those enduring mysteries that captures the imagination. They were carried away, prisoners in their own land, and exiled beyond the mysterious river Sambatyon. But what ...
Jewish tradition has some pretty vivid ideas about that, especially when it comes to the resurrection of the dead. It’s not just a "poof" and everyone’s back. It's a process, a cos...
A world where sorrow turns to song, and ruins give way to radiant hope. What does that world look like? For many Jewish traditions, the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem is cen...
And, believe it or not, the Book of Psalms, or Tehillim in Hebrew, tackles this very idea! Our journey begins with Midrash Tehillim, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the...
The ancient sages understood that feeling intimately. And they found a way to express it, a way to connect with the pain of a nation. Midrash Tehillim, a collection of interpretati...
