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Israel looked at the staff of Moses and saw only devastation. It had brought ten plagues upon the Egyptians in Egypt — blood, frogs, lice, and all the rest. Then it brought ten mor...
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)...
Others say: "Refidim" is acronymic for "rifyon yadayim" ("weakness of hands"). Because the hands of Israel had weakened in Torah study, the foe came upon them, this transpiring onl...
After Joshua's defeat of Amalek at Rephidim, the Mekhilta records an interpretation that turns the battle into a fulfillment of one of the most chilling prophecies in Scripture. Th...
(Exodus 17:14) "And the L–rd said to Moses: Write this as a remembrance in the book and place it in the ears of Joshua": The early elders said: So is it with all the generations. 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...
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 ...
When Amalek attacked Israel in the wilderness, Moses did not simply organize a military response. He turned to God with an argument that struck at the heart of the divine project i...
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...
(Exodus 18:1) "And Yithro heard": What did he hear that caused him to come (and join Israel)? The war with Amalek, which is juxtaposed with this section. These are the words of R. ...
Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah made a bold claim about how deeply the Torah regards circumcision. The foreskin, he taught, is so repulsive in the eyes of God that Scripture uses "uncircu...
(Exodus 18:13) "And it was on the morrow that Moses sat to judge the people.": on the morrow of Yom Kippur (after Moses had descended with the second tablets.) "from morning to eve...
The Mekhilta dissects a single verse about Moses' judicial role to reveal two entirely different kinds of judgment. The verse states (Exodus 18:16): "When they have a matter to be ...
Yithro told Moses to select judges from among the people, but he specified five qualities they must possess (Exodus 18:21). R. Yehoshua explained what each qualification meant in p...
R. Elazar Hamodai offered his own interpretation of the five qualities required of judges, and his reading was both more vivid and more demanding than R. Yehoshua's. "And you shall...
R. Yossi says: It is written (Isaiah 45:19) "Not in secrecy did I speak, in a place of darkness, etc." In the very beginning, when I gave it, I did not give it in secret or in a da...
R. Eliezer, the son of R. Yossi Haglili was wont to say (Ibid. 147:19) "He relates His statutes to Jacob, His statutes and His judgments to Israel. He did not do so for any other n...
God made a striking declaration to the Israelites at Sinai: "You have seen what I did to Egypt" (Exodus 19:4). The Mekhilta emphasizes that God was not asking the people to accept ...
"and you shall be unto Me": possessed by Me and occupied with Torah and not with other things. "then you shall be unto Me a segulah" (a select treasure). Just as a man's segulah is...
"and Moses told": Now what did the L–rd say to Moses to say to Israel or what did Israel say to Moses to say to the L–rd? R. Yossi Haglili says: What is written, viz. (Ibid. 12) "A...
(Exodus 19:12) "And you shall 'bound' the people": I might think only at the east of the mountain, (where they were encamped). It is, therefore, written "roundabout." "saying": We ...
Rabbi Nathan presents this teaching from the Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael as a direct rebuttal to heretics who claim there are two divine powers. The argument is elegant in its simpli...
Before giving the Torah to Israel, God first offered it to every other nation on earth. The Mekhilta records one of the most dramatic of these encounters — the moment God approache...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael asks a deceptively simple question: what is the purpose of the commandment "You shall not bow down"? If the Torah already states in (Exodus 22:19) tha...
(Ibid.) "He visits the sins of the fathers upon the children (for the third and the fourth generations"): when they (the generations) are consecutive. How so? An evildoer, the son ...
You shall not take": What is the intent of this? (Leviticus 19:12) "You shall not swear falsely in My name" speaks only of swearing. Whence is it derived that it is also forbidden ...
Because of (the following) four things R. Mattia b. Charash went to R. Elazar b. Hakappar in Ludia. He said to him: My master, did you hear of the four divisions of atonement expou...
(Exodus, Ibid. 10) "And the seventh day is Sabbath to the L–rd your G–d. You shall not perform any labor." What is the intent of this? (Exodus 31:15) "Everyone who does labor on th...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael turns to the phrase "and your sojourner in your gates" from the Shabbat (the Sabbath) commandment and asks: which type of sojourner is meant? Jewish l...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael invites the reader to examine the rewards promised for three different commandments and to see a striking pattern. Each act of honor directed at the p...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael draws an illuminating comparison between the fear of parents and the observance of Shabbat (the Sabbath). The verse in (Leviticus 19:3) places them si...
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...
The Torah's treatment of adultery presents a puzzle that the Mekhilta refuses to ignore. In one verse, the commandment thunders from Sinai: "You shall not commit adultery." In anot...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael identifies a critical distinction in the commandment "You shall not steal." The eighth of the Ten Commandments is not about stealing property. It is a...
The ninth commandment — "You shall not testify against your neighbor false testimony" — is more than a prohibition. It is the foundation of an entire legal system built on the reli...
"You shall not covet your neighbor's house"—general. "and his man-servant, and his maid-servant, and his ox, and his ass—particular. general-particular (The rule is:) There exists ...
He showed him the four kingdoms that were destined to subjugate his children, viz. (Ibid. 12) "And when the sun was about to set, and a deep sleep fell upon Avram, and, behold, a g...
The Mekhilta makes a claim that strikes against every human instinct: a person should rejoice in suffering more than in prosperity. The reasoning is startling in its logic. Even if...
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 noticed something crucial in the opening words of the Torah's civil law code (Exodus 21:1): "And these are the judgments." The key word is "and"—in Hebrew, the conju...
R. Akiva says: What is the intent of "And these are the judgments"? From (Leviticus 1:2) "Speak to the children of Israel and say to them," I would think, only once. Whence do I de...
"Six years shall he serve" — from this simple statement, the Mekhilta derives a ruling about sick bondsmen. If a Hebrew bondsman fell ill and was unable to work for the entire six-...
"and he shall bring him near to the door or to the door-post": The door is being compared to the door-post, viz.: Just as a door-post stands in its place, so, the door must be stan...
The Torah states plainly: "He shall be put to death." But where? Under whose authority? Left unqualified, these words might mean that anyone could carry out the execution — a mob, ...
But still, let his blood be spilled from other limbs (and not through "the sword" [i.e., decapitation])! It is, therefore, written (in respect to eglah arufah [the "heifer of the b...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael cites a verse from (I Samuel 24:19) that contains one of the most intriguing phrases in all of Scripture: "As stated in the apothegm of the Primal One...
Issi ben Akiva raises a profound moral question about the scope of the prohibition against murder. Before the Torah was given at Sinai, he argues, humanity was already warned again...
"And if one strikes his father or his mother": a blow which causes a wound. You say a blow which causes a wound, but perhaps even a blow which does not cause a wound? Would you say...
