4,614 related texts · Page 66 of 97
The Shechinah (שכינה) is not a separate entity from God. It is the point where God's hidden infinity first becomes visible, the way sunlight becomes visible only after it leaves th...
Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, commenting on the Torah portion of Noach (Genesis 6:9), distinguishes between two types of righteous people, and the difference has cosmic conseq...
Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev opens his commentary on Parshat Va'era with a question about the nature of prophecy. God tells Moses, "I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jac...
"Yitro, the priest of Midian, heard all that God had done for Moses and His people Israel" (Exodus 18:1). What exactly did Yitro hear? Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev says he hea...
"You will prostrate yourselves from a distance" (Exodus 24:1). Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev reads this verse not as a physical instruction about how far to stand from Mount Si...
Moses' name does not appear in Parshat Tetzaveh. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev uses this conspicuous absence to explore a question about wisdom, unity, and the priestly garment...
"And these are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt" (Exodus 1:1). Rebbe Elimelech of Lizhensk opens his commentary on Parashat Shemot with a strange claim: a pers...
"And Moses went up to God" (Exodus 19:3). Rebbe Elimelech of Lizhensk, commenting on Parashat Yitro, draws a distinction between two kinds of righteous people—and explains why Mose...
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...
The Mekhilta makes a striking claim about the moral character of the Israelites in Egypt: they were not guilty of sexual immorality. The proof comes from an unexpected source — a v...
The Torah states in (Exodus 12:16) that "all labor shall not be done" on the festival days. The Mekhilta asks a pointed question: who exactly is covered by this prohibition? The an...
The Mekhilta, the halakhic midrash on Exodus from the 2nd century CE, examines one of the starkest either-or passages in the Prophets. Isaiah delivers God's ultimatum: "If you acqu...
The Mekhilta, the halakhic midrash on Exodus from the tannaitic period, examines a stunning prophecy from Isaiah about the final ingathering of exiles. Isaiah declares: "And they w...
The Torah states: "in man and beast, he is Mine" (Exodus 13:2), declaring God's ownership of every first-born. The Mekhilta draws from this verse a principle of elegant symmetry: w...
When the Torah says "tomorrow," does it mean the next day or some distant point in the future? The Mekhilta demonstrates that the word carries both meanings, depending on context. ...
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...
Joseph made his brothers swear a solemn oath, and the Mekhilta records the exact logic behind his request. He said to them: "My father went down to Egypt of his own free will, and ...
Rebbi — Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi — told a parable about the Roman emperor Antoninus that illuminates why God personally guided Israel through the wilderness. Antoninus was presiding at ...
And thus did the Holy One Blessed be He impress upon the nations of the world His love of Israel—He Himself walking before them, so that they (learn to) treat them honorably. And l...
Rabbi Eliezer ben Yehudah of Bortutha declared that God split the Red Sea in the merit of the twelve tribes of Israel. The tribal structure of the nation — not the faith of any sin...
Rabbi Nechemiah teaches a principle of extraordinary generosity. If a person takes upon himself even a single mitzvah in true faith, that person is worthy of having the Holy Spirit...
The Mekhilta teaches a principle of divine justice that echoes throughout the Hebrew Bible: the very thing a person boasts about becomes the instrument of their downfall. Sisra, th...
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...
The Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael draws a line from the Red Sea to another famous battlefield to demonstrate that God fights Israel's wars from heaven. The case in point: Sisera, the f...
The Mekhilta identifies another future-tense verb in the Song at the Sea. It is not written "You have sent forth Your wrath" — as if God's anger were already spent — but "You will ...
The redemption of Israel was not a private event. According to the Mekhilta, the entire natural world erupted in celebration. Not the heavens alone rejoiced — the mountains and all...
The Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael invokes a pair of verses from Psalms to reveal something startling about how God responds to the nations that rage against Israel: He laughs. The firs...
The Mekhilta applies the same logic to Moab that it applied to Edom. The verse says "the mighty ones of Moab were seized with trembling," and the rabbis ask the same question: why?...
(Ibid. 20) "Then Miriam the prophetess took": Where do we find that Miriam was a prophetess? She said to her father (Amram): In the end, you will beget a son who will be the savior...
The Mekhilta interprets the verse "There He made for them statute and judgment" by asking what these two terms — statute and judgment — actually refer to. The first opinion identif...
Rabbi Tarfon offered one of the most striking images in all of Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael. He said the manna descended from heaven on the very palms of God. The word "mechuspas" use...
(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 incense was terrifying. Israel had watched it kill Nadav and Avihu, the sons of Aaron, when they brought unauthorized fire before God (Leviticus 10:1). Two young priests, dead ...
They said: This ark is an instrument of punishment. It smote the men of Beth Shemesh, viz. (I Samuel 6:19) "And He smote the men of Beth Shemesh because they looked into the ark of...
Amalek's attack on Israel was not a matter of geography or convenience. Rabbi Yehudah teaches that Amalek actually bypassed five other nations to reach the Israelites. He had to cr...
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...
David was one of the four righteous people given a divine hint — and unlike Jacob and Moses, David recognized his and acted on it with confidence. The hint came disguised as a pair...
What was Yithro's role in Midian before he joined Moses and the people of Israel? The verse calls him "the Cohein of Midian" (Exodus 18:1), and two rabbis disagreed about what "Coh...
Rabbi Elazar Hamodai offers a striking interpretation of the word "statutes" as it appears in the Torah's legislation. Where one might expect this term to refer to ritual laws or c...
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 ...
R. Yishmael says: What is written at the beginning, viz. (Leviticus 25:1-3) "And the L–rd spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying … then the land shall rest a Sabbath to the L–rd. Si...
The Torah describes the revelation at Sinai as occurring "before the eyes of all the people" (Exodus 19:11). The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael takes this phrase and draws from it one o...
Concerning this it is stated in the Tradition (Song of Songs 2:14) "My Dove in the clefts of the rock … Show me Your face; let me hear Your voice. For Your voice is sweet and Your ...
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 offering the Torah to Israel, God first approached every other nation on earth. The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael explains that this was not because God expected them to accept....
The Mekhilta offers a parable that illuminates the logic behind the order of events at Sinai. A king of flesh and blood enters a new province. His servants immediately urge him: "M...
Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai reads the second commandment, "There shall not be unto you any other gods before My presence," as the conclusion of a divine dialogue that began long before...
