9,687 related texts · Page 96 of 202
And thus did Jeremiah the prophet say (Jeremiah 32:19) "Wondrous in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of man, to give each man according t...
An analogy: A dove, fleeing a hawk, enters a king's palace, whereupon the king opens the eastern window for her, whence she escapes. The hawk, following, the king closes all the wi...
(Exodus 14:28) "And the waters returned and covered the chariot, etc.": even that of Pharaoh. These are the words of R. Yehudah, it being written (Ibid. 15:4) "the chariots of Phar...
And the ministering angels were astounded (at Israel's survival), saying: "Idolators walking on the dry land in the midst of the sea!" And whence is it derived that the sea, too, w...
Rabbi Yossi HaGlili presents one of the most famous calculations in rabbinic literature. He asks: how do we know that the Egyptians were struck with ten plagues in Egypt and fifty ...
Rabbi Akiva posed a provocative question: where do we learn that each of the ten plagues that struck Egypt was actually five plagues in one? If this calculation is correct, the Egy...
The Mekhilta draws a parallel that cuts both ways. In the previous passage, the rabbis established that believing in Moses equals believing in God. Now they demonstrate the reverse...
Great is the faith wherein Israel believed in Him who spoke and brought the world into being; for in reward for Israel's belief in the L–rd, the Shechinah reposed upon them and the...
The Mekhilta makes a declaration that connects the Exodus to the future redemption of Israel. The exiles will be gathered in only as a reward for faith. Not for Torah study alone, ...
Moses devoted his life to three things, and each of them was called by his name. The Mekhilta examines the first: Torah. The prophet Malachi instructs Israel, "Remember the Torah o...
He devoted his life to the judges, and they were called by his name, viz. (Devarim 16:18) "Judges and officers shall you appoint for yourself in all of your gates." Now is justice ...
A king of flesh and blood enters a province, and all praise him as "strong"—when he is weak; as "rich"—when he is poor; as "wise"—when he is foolish; as "merciful"—when he is cruel...
"I shall sing to the Lord," for He is merciful. The Mekhilta turns from God's power and wisdom to the attribute that defines the Jewish understanding of the divine character more t...
Rebbi — Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi, the compiler of the Mishnah (the earliest code of rabbinic law) — offers an alternative reading that slightly adjusts the ages of the miraculous singe...
Rabbi Meir takes the tradition further than either Rabbi Yossi or Rebbi. Even fetuses in their mothers' wombs, he declares, opened their mouths and chanted song before God at the R...
The generation of the Flood was destroyed by the very thing they worshipped. The Mekhilta draws a chilling connection between their sin and their punishment through a play on Hebre...
The builders of the Tower of Babel were punished with the exact same thing they feared most. The Mekhilta highlights the devastating irony embedded in the biblical narrative. The m...
Absalom, the handsome prince who rebelled against his own father King David, was famous throughout Israel for one thing above all else: his magnificent hair. The Mekhilta preserves...
And thus Sancheriv—With what he vaunted himself, punishment was exacted of him, viz. (II Kings 19:23) "Through your envoys you have blasphemed the L–rd, etc.", and (Ibid. 24) "It i...
The Song of the Sea declares: "A horse and its rider He has cast into the sea" (Exodus 15:1). But this statement raises an immediate question. Was there really only one horse? The ...
The Mekhilta draws attention to a strange detail about the drowning of the Egyptian army at the Red Sea. When God cast "a horse and its rider" into the sea, something happened that...
"a horse and its rider": The Holy One Blessed be He brings horse and rider, stands them in judgment, and says to the horse: Why did you pursue My children? The horse: An Egyptian s...
Issi b. Yehudah says: It is written here "horse," unqualified (i.e., the punishments of the horse are not specified), and, elsewhere, "horse," qualified, viz. (Zechariah 12:4) "I w...
The Mekhilta preserves a beautiful declaration attributed to King David, addressed directly to God: "You are a trust, a help, and a support to all who enter the world — but to me m...
The Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael continues its portrait of the extraordinary dialogue between Israel and the Holy Spirit with another matched pair of verses. When Israel proclaims (De...
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...
The Mekhilta presents a beautiful declaration in which Israel — personified as a bride — proclaims her lineage before God with joyful pride: "I am a queen, the daughter of kings; a...
He revealed Himself to them as a rider, viz. (Ibid. 18:11) "And He mounted a cherub and flew, etc." He revealed Himself to them in mail and helmet, viz. (Isaiah 59:17) "He donned r...
The Mekhilta offers a vivid parable to distinguish God's warrior nature from every human warrior. Consider, it says, a warrior in a province who is fully equipped with every weapon...
The Mekhilta presents another parable contrasting human warriors with God, this time focusing on the problem of aging. A human warrior reaches the height of his power at forty year...
The Mekhilta presents yet another parable about human warriors, this time addressing the most dangerous flaw of all: uncontrolled rage. A warrior in a province, it says, may become...
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 Song of the Sea declares: "The depths covered them" (Exodus 15:5). The Mekhilta asks an obvious but brilliant question: are there really depths at the bottom of the sea? The Is...
(The water) covered the firmament over them and darkened the stars over them, viz. (Ezekiel 32:8) "All the lights of the heavens I will darken above you, and I will bring darkness ...
The Mekhilta asks another of its characteristically sharp questions about the Red Sea crossing. The verse says the Egyptians "descended into the metzulot" — the whirlpools or churn...
The Mekhilta offers a second reading of the phrase "as a stone" from the Song at the Sea. The Egyptians sank like stone because their hearts were hard as stone — unyielding, unmova...
The Mekhilta unpacks the declaration from (Exodus 15:6): "Your right hand, O Lord, is grand in power." The Hebrew phrase "nedari bakeach" is read as a compound — "na'eh" (comely) a...
And thus do you find with the men of the tower (of Bavel), that You gave them a grace period for repentance and they did not repent. As it is written (Ibid. 11:6) "Behold, they are...
The Mekhilta notices something extraordinary in the Song at the Sea: the phrase "Your right hand, O Lord" appears twice in (Exodus 15:6). Why the repetition? Because the right hand...
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:...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael presents a teaching about the direct connection between Israel's obedience and God's wrath, expressed through two contrasting verses that form a perfe...
And all who help Israel, help, as it were, the Holy One Blessed be He, viz. (Judges 5:23) "Curse Meroz, said the angel of the L–rd. Curse bitterly its dwellers. For they came not t...
When the (other) kingdoms are symbolized, they are symbolized as cedars, viz. (Ezekiel 31:3) "Behold, Ashur, a cedar in the Levanon," and (Amos 2:9) "And I destroyed the Emori from...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael offers a vivid image of what happened to the Egyptians at the bottom of the Red Sea. The Torah says "the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea...
"The foe said, etc.": How did Israel know what Pharaoh thought of them in Egypt? The Holy Spirit reposed upon them and they knew it. Pharaoh said: It really does not befit us to pu...
The Mekhilta preserves a disturbing alternative reading of Pharaoh's boast. "Others say: It is not written 'I will draw my sword,' but 'I will empty my sword.'" The shift from "dra...
Variantly: Who is like You among those whom others call "gods" and who are without substance, those of whom it is written (Psalms 115:5) "hey have a mouth but cannot speak, etc." B...
The Mekhilta draws a sharp contrast between human construction and divine creation. When a human being builds, the natural order is bottom-up. You lay the foundation first, then bu...
