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The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael offered a remarkable tradition about Joshua the son of Nun and his unique relationship with the manna. (Psalms 78:25) says "He sent them sustenance to...
The Torah describes how the Israelites gathered manna each morning in the wilderness with a doubled expression: "baboker, baboker," literally "morning, morning" (Exodus 16:21). The...
On the sixth day of the week, something unprecedented happened with the manna. (Exodus 16:22) records that the Israelites gathered a double portion, two omers instead of the usual ...
Because they were wont to go out in the morning (to gather the manna), they said to him: Moses, our teacher, shall we go out in the morning? Moses: "Eat it today." They: Since we d...
Rabbi Elazar Hamodai expanded the promise of Sabbath observance far beyond three festivals. Where Rabbi Yehoshua linked Shabbat (the Sabbath) to Pesach (Passover), Shavuot, and Suc...
(Exodus 16:26) "Six days shall you gather it, etc.": We are hereby apprised that the manna does not descend on Sabbath. Whence do we derive (the same for) a festival? From (the sup...
The Israelites called it manna. It fell from heaven every morning, and the Torah describes it with a comparison that immediately puzzles the Mekhilta's rabbis: "And it was like cor...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael preserves two interpretations of the manna's name, both attributed to tannaitic authorities, and both reveal how the rabbis found layers of meaning in...
When God commanded that a jar of manna be preserved, the instruction was specific (Exodus 16:33): "Put therein a full omer of manna and place it before the Lord as a keeping for yo...
Centuries after the Exodus, the prophet Jeremiah faced a stubborn problem. The people of Israel had stopped studying Torah, and their excuse was entirely practical: "How will we fe...
Rabbi Eliezer Hamodai calculated exactly how long the manna lasted after the death of Moses: seventy days. Not a rough estimate — a precise count, worked out from the calendar itse...
The Mekhilta identifies a remarkable pattern in the relationship between God and Moses: sometimes God "lowers" Himself while Moses "raises" himself, and other times the dynamic rev...
When God told Moses, "Pass over before the people" (Exodus 17:5), the instruction sounds like a simple command to walk ahead of the crowd. But the Mekhilta hears at least three dif...
The name "Merivah" comes from the Hebrew root "riv," meaning quarrel or dispute. But what exactly was Israel disputing? The Mekhilta presents two interpretations, and both are auda...
The verse is stark: "And Amalek came" (Exodus 17:8). No warning, no buildup — just the enemy arriving. But the Mekhilta insists the verse is "recondite," meaning it hides a deeper ...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael records a teaching by Rabbi Eliezer about the nature of Amalek's attack on Israel in the wilderness. His interpretation turns on a single word, reveal...
Others say: Let Amalek, the ingrate, come and exact payment of the ingrate people (Israel). Similarly, (II Chronicles 24:26) "And these are the men who rebelled against him (Yoash)...
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...
How seriously should a student revere a teacher? The Mekhilta answers with a statement that sounds almost blasphemous: the fear of one's teacher is to be equated with the fear of H...
Rabbi Eliezer Hamodai offered a different interpretation of why Moses told Joshua to "go out" and fight Amalek—and his version cuts deeper. According to Rabbi Eliezer, Moses challe...
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, ...
Rabbi Eliezer interpreted the mysterious rise and fall of Israel's fortunes during the battle with Amalek. When Moses raised his hands toward heaven, Israel grew strong. When he lo...
"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...
The verse says Moses' hands were "steadfast" during the battle against Amalek (Exodus 17:12). The Mekhilta reads that single word as a double testimony — each of Moses' two hands t...
Rabbi Eliezer Hamodai taught that Moses was one of four great tzaddik (a righteous person)im (the righteous) — righteous people — to whom God gave a subtle hint about the future. T...
Moses would not give up. Even after God had decreed that he would not lead Israel into the Promised Land, he stood his ground and kept negotiating, trying every possible angle to g...
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...
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...
The Mekhilta asks a triumphant question: how do we know that all of Moses' many requests — his desperate pleas to enter the Promised Land — were ultimately granted by the Holy One,...
The Mekhilta describes a stunning moment in which God showed Moses a panoramic vision of the future, including the mighty Samson, son of Manoach. The proof that Samson was included...
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...
The Mekhilta continues cataloguing everything God showed Moses from Mount Pisgah. The question this time: how do we know that God showed him even the graves of the forefathers? The...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael explores a tradition about what God revealed to Moses at the end of his life. Among the many visions granted to Moses before his death, the rabbis ask...
Before Moses died, God took him to the summit of Mount Nebo and showed him the entirety of the Promised Land — every region, every valley, every corner of the territory his people ...
Moses stood on the summit of Mount Nebo, and God showed him the entire Land of Israel. The Torah specifies that he saw "the valley of Jericho" (Deuteronomy 34:3). The Mekhilta find...
Jacob was one of the four righteous people whom God gave a hint about the future. But Jacob, the Mekhilta says, failed to take the hint — and the consequences reveal something prof...
Mordechai was the fourth of the righteous people given a divine hint — and like David, he recognized it immediately. The Mekhilta finds his hint in a single verse from the Book of ...
God declared in (Exodus 17:14): "For erase shall I erase the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven." The sages of the Mekhilta noticed something peculiar about this verse. Why do...
Rabbi Elazar Hamodai offered his own version of Moses' prayer during the battle with Amalek, and it carried an even more cosmic weight than Rabbi Yehoshua's teaching. Moses said be...
The Mekhilta reveals one of the most intimate teachings about the relationship between God and Israel: whenever a miracle is performed for the Jewish people, that miracle is not ju...
R. Eliezer says: The L–rd swears by His throne of glory: If there comes a man of all the nations to be proselytized, he will be accepted; but Amalek and his household will not be a...
Variantly: "from generation to generation": R. Yehoshua says: "from generation"—the life of this world: "to generation"—the life of the world to come. R. Eliezer Hamodai says: from...
R. Eliezer says: Yithro heard the splitting of the sea and came (to join Israel). For the splitting of the sea was heard from one end of the world to the other, viz. (Joshua 5:1) "...
The Mekhilta notices something peculiar about how the Torah identifies Yithro. In the beginning of the story, Moses is the one who boasts about the relationship. When Moses returns...
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...
