The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael draws a sweeping conclusion from the verse "and you will know that the L-rd took you out of the land of Egypt" (Exodus 16:6). The teaching here is not about any single miracle. It is about the Exodus itself as the ultimate measuring rod against which all of God's mighty acts are compared.
The rabbis understood this verse to mean that the Exodus from Egypt stands as the supreme demonstration of divine power, equal in weight to all the other miracles and mighty acts that the Holy One, Blessed be He, performed for Israel combined. Every plague, every wonder, every supernatural intervention that followed, including the splitting of the Red Sea, the revelation at Sinai, the manna from heaven, and the pillar of fire, all of these are measured "over and against" the foundational act of liberation from Egyptian bondage.
This is a remarkable claim. It means that the physical departure from Egypt, the moment when an enslaved people walked free, carries a theological weight that no subsequent event can diminish. The Exodus is not merely the first in a series of miracles. It is the miracle that gives all other miracles their meaning.
This principle echoes throughout Jewish liturgy and law. The Exodus is mentioned in the daily Shema, in the Kiddush (the sanctification blessing over wine) on Shabbat (the Sabbath), in the Passover Haggadah, and in countless prayers. The rabbis ruled that one must mention the Exodus from Egypt every single day, both morning and evening. The Mekhilta's teaching explains why: because the departure from Egypt is not just one event among many. It is the event that defines the entire relationship between God and Israel, the original act of redemption against which all future redemptions are measured.