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The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael records a teaching by Rabbi Yitzchak about the precise placement of tefillin, the leather boxes containing Torah passages that Jewish men bind to thei...
The Torah records a remarkable exchange in (Genesis 10:15): "And Canaan begot Tziddon, his first-born, and Cheth." Generations later, the sons of Cheth — the Hittites — encountered...
The Mekhilta preserves one of the most comprehensive lists of a father's obligations to his son in all of rabbinic literature. By Torah mandate, a man must do the following for his...
R. Yishmael says: In the merit of Jerusalem I will split the sea for them, as it is written (Isaiah 52:1) "Awake, awake, clothe yourself in splendor, O Zion. Don your robes of glor...
Rabbi Bana'ah taught that God split the Red Sea for the Israelites in the merit of their ancestor Abraham. The proof lies in a striking verbal parallel between two verses. When Abr...
Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah taught that God split the Red Sea for the Israelites in the merit of their forefather Abraham. His proof comes from a sweeping passage in (Psalms 105:42-43...
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...
The Mekhilta takes a single Hebrew word from the Song of the Sea — "ve'anvehu" — and shows how three different rabbis derive three entirely different meanings from it, each reveali...
"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 draws a sharp contrast between a human artisan and the divine Creator. When a mortal sculptor sets out to make a figure, he must build it piece by piece — starting fro...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, a tannaitic commentary on Exodus compiled around the 3rd century CE, offers a remarkable teaching about the relationship between a student and a teac...
When the Israelites ran out of food in the desert, they did not handle it well. (Exodus 16:2) records that "the entire congregation of the children of Israel caviled against Moses ...
When God sent quail to the Israelites in the wilderness, the Torah says "it covered the camp" (Exodus 16:13). The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael asked the obvious question: covered it t...
Quail fell from the sky in quantities that defy imagination. Rabbi Yoshiyah, quoted in the Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael (a 3rd-century CE halakhic midrash (rabbinic interpretive comme...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael tackled a precise question about the manna's daily lifecycle. (Exodus 16:21) states that "when the sun was hot, it melted." But what time of day does ...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael preserves a precise legal discussion about the boundaries of Shabbat (the Sabbath) observance, rooted in the verse "Let each man sit in his place" (Ex...
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...
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 phrase "until Dan" appears not only in Moses' vision but much earlier in the Torah, when Abraham "pursued them until Dan" (Genesis 14:14) during his rescue of his nephew Lot. T...
The Mekhilta teaches that there are people in the Torah whose very names were diminished — literally shrunk — because of their actions. The prime example is Efron the Hittite, the ...
The fifth commandment — "Honor your father and your mother" — comes with a promise attached: "so that your days be prolonged upon the earth" (Exodus 20:12). Most commandments in th...
(Exodus 20:15) describes an extraordinary moment at Sinai: "And all the people saw the sounds and the lightnings." The people did not merely hear the divine voice — they saw it. Ra...
Rabbi Yishmael read the commandment against idolatry with a scope that went far beyond golden calves and carved statues. When the Torah says "You shall not make unto Me gods of sil...
Rabbi Eliezer taught about the meaning of suffering by turning to the book of Proverbs. He cited the verse: "The chastisement of the Lord, my son, do not despise" (Proverbs 3:11). ...
Rabbi Yishmael examined the Torah's commandment to build "an altar of earth" (Exodus 20:21) and derived from it a precise architectural requirement: the altar must be "fixed upon t...
Rabbi Yishmael taught that the word "if" in the Torah generally means something is optional — except in three specific cases where "if" actually means "when," making the instructio...
Rabbi Yishmael examined a verse about the priests serving at the altar and found a surprising teaching hidden inside what appeared to be a redundancy. The verse warns: "so that you...
(Ibid.) "If you buy (lit.,) a servant Hebrew": Is Scripture speaking of a servant who is a Hebrew, or the servant of a Hebrew? And how am I to understand (Leviticus 25:46) "And you...
Why is it written? It is deliberately superfluous to signal a gezeirah shavah (i.e., "identity"), viz.: It is written here (in Exodus) "Hebrew," and there (in Devarim) "Hebrew." Ju...
Rabbi Akiva found a powerful protection for servants hidden in a verse that most readers would pass over quickly. The Torah says in (Exodus 21:3): "If alone he came, alone shall he...
"the woman and her children": What is the intent of this? That her children are (slaves) as she is. This tells me only of a bondswoman, that her children are as she is. Whence do I...
"And if a man sells": We are hereby apprised that he may sell her (as a maid-servant). And whence is it derived that he is permitted to betroth her?—If he can remove her from (the ...
"And if men quarrel" — this verse mentions men. But does the law of personal injury apply only to men? What about women who injure others or are injured? Rabbi Yishmael argued that...
This is one of three things in the Torah which R. Yishmael expounded metaphorically. Similarly, (Exodus 22:2) "If the sun shone upon him." Now is it upon him alone that the sun shi...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael draws a connection between two seemingly unrelated legal passages in the Torah, both involving the concept of metaphorical language in legal contexts....
The Torah says: "And if a man strike" — using the masculine form. The Mekhilta immediately asks the obvious question: does this law apply only to men? What about a woman who kills?...
Rabbi Yishmael taught a sobering principle about Canaanite bondservants: a Canaanite bondservant can never be redeemed by an outside party. The only path to freedom is the master's...
One of Rabbi Yishmael's disciples raised a distinction between different categories of oxen. An ox that has become ritually impure (tamei) is still permitted for deriving benefit —...
Rabbi Yishmael addressed a possible misreading of the burglar law. The Torah seems to distinguish between day and night: (Exodus 22:1) discusses the thief "breaking in" (at night),...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael derives a precise set of liability rules from the verse "and he send his beast" (Exodus 22:4), establishing who is responsible when an animal causes d...
Four general rules were stated by R. Yishmael in the name of R. Meir in respect to damages. Wherever the mazik ("the damager") has permission (to be), but not the nizak ("the damag...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael records a teaching by Rabbi Yishmael on the laws of bailment, drawn from (Exodus 22:6): "If a man give to his neighbor money or vessels to watch." Thi...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael records a teaching by Rabbi Yishmael on the laws governing an unpaid bailee who is entrusted with livestock. The verse states: "If a man give to his n...
Would you say that? There is a crucial difference (between a paid and an unpaid watcher), viz.: Since a paid watcher both derives benefit and gives benefit, and a hirer derives ben...
Rabbi Yossi Haglili confronted a problem in the Torah's legislation about seduction. The verse states that when a man seduces an unmarried woman, "money shall he pay" (Exodus 22:16...
Rabbi Yishmael and Rabbi Yossi Haglili debated the method of executing a witch, as prescribed by (Exodus 22:17): "A witch you shall not allow to live." Rabbi Yishmael objected to a...
Beloved are the converts, and the Mekhilta offers a stunning proof: God delayed Abraham's circumcision until the age of ninety-nine specifically to keep the door open for future co...
Rabbi Yishmael and Rabbi Shimon were being led out to their execution. Rabbi Shimon turned to Rabbi Yishmael and said: "Rebbi, my heart is faint, for I do not know why I am going t...
