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The Mekhilta, the tannaitic midrash on Exodus, explores a striking rhetorical pattern found throughout the Hebrew Bible: moments where a prophet says God "has spoken," and the rabb...
(Exodus 12:26) "And it shall be, when your sons say to you, etc.": At that time, Israel was receiving bad tidings, that the Torah was destined to be forgotten. Others say they were...
R. Nehorai says; Upon my oath, not one in five hundred went out. For it is written (Ezekiel 16:7) "Numerous as the spouts of the field did I make you" (in Egypt), and (Exodus 1:7) ...
We are hereby apprised that the captives rejoiced in all the decrees inflicted by Pharaoh upon Israel, (for which they were punished) in keeping with (Mishlei 17:5) "He who rejoice...
The Mekhilta, the tannaitic midrash on Exodus, captures the moment when Pharaoh finally broke. After the tenth plague — the death of every firstborn in Egypt — Pharaoh summoned Mos...
The Mekhilta, the tannaitic midrash on Exodus, examines a verse that seems to state the obvious: "And the children of Israel did as Moses had bid them" (Exodus 12:35). The rabbis a...
The Mekhilta, the tannaitic midrash on Exodus, records a teaching from Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov about how the Israelites knew exactly what to ask from the Egyptians — and how the E...
(Exodus 12:37) "And the children of Israel journeyed from Ramses to Succoth": From Ramses to Succoth was a distance of forty parasangs, and the voice of Moses traveled (the distanc...
R. Akiva says: "succoth" refers to the clouds of glory, as in (Isaiah 4:5) "And the L–rd will create on the entire base of Mount Zion and on all of its branchings a cloud by day an...
(Exodus 12:3)7) "six hundred thousand men": sixty ten thousands, as in (Song of Songs 3:7) "Behold, the couch of Shlomoh, (acronymically, 'He who spoke and brought the world into b...
The Torah records a striking detail about the Israelites' departure from Egypt: "and provisions, too, they could not make for themselves." The Mekhilta reads this not as a statemen...
Two verses in the Torah appear to contradict each other about how long the Israelites were connected to Egypt. One verse states: "And the habitation of the children of Israel in th...
God did not simply send Israel home from exile — He walked back with them. The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, a 3rd-century CE halakhic midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), make...
R. Eliezer says: On it they were redeemed; but they are destined to be redeemed only on Tishrei, as it is written (Psalms 81:4) "Blow the shofar (of redemption) on the month (of Ti...
(Ibid. 46) "Do not take from the house outside": outside of the group. But perhaps (the intent is) outside of the house? It is, therefore, written (Ibid. "of the flesh) outside"—ou...
The Torah commands: "The entire congregation of Israel shall offer it" (Exodus 12:47). The Mekhilta asks why this verse is necessary at all, given that the Torah already instructed...
The Torah declares: "And every uncircumcised one shall not eat of it." The Mekhilta asks a pointed question: why is this verse necessary at all? The Torah already stated "No strang...
The students of a great teacher reported that he expounded a striking principle using the words of the prophet Jeremiah: "Therefore, behold, days are coming, says the Lord, when it...
The sages say: "the days of your life"—in this world; "all the days of your life"—to include the days of the Messiah. Ben Zoma said to them: Israel is destined not to mention the e...
Rabbi Nathan noticed something striking in the Torah's language about the Exodus. The text uses two verbs — "who brought up" and "who brought" — when describing God's act of taking...
Where does the obligation to say grace after meals — Birkat HaMazon — come from? The Mekhilta traces it to a single verse: (Deuteronomy 8:10), "And you shall eat and you shall be s...
Rabbi Nathan offered a striking interpretation of the word bakosharoth from (Psalms 68:7), "He takes out the bound bakosharoth." Rather than reading it as a single word, he split i...
"This day you go out in the month of Aviv" (Exodus 13:3) — a verse that seems to state the obvious. Of course Israel left in the month of Aviv (spring). The Torah already told us t...
The Torah's prohibition against possessing chametz during Passover seems absolute. But the rabbis of the Mekhilta identified important exceptions based on two principles: domain an...
Canaan heard the news that Israel was coming to claim the Promised Land, and he did something no one expected. Instead of fighting, he stepped aside. He voluntarily made way for Go...
The Torah draws a direct line between the tenth plague and a permanent commandment: "And the Lord killed every first-born... therefore, I sacrifice to the Lord every male first-bor...
"by way of the land of the Philistines, for it was near": Near (i.e., "close") is the thing of which the Holy One Blessed be He spoke to Moses (Exodus 2:12): "When you take the peo...
Variantly: "for it was near": The Holy One Blessed be He did not bring them directly to Eretz Yisrael but by way of the desert, saying: If I bring them there now, immediately each ...
(Ibid.) "And chamushim did the children of Israel go up from the land of Egypt": "chamushim" indicates "armed," as in (Joshua 1:14) "Then you shall cross over chamushim" (in contex...
R. Nehorai says: I swear: Not one in five hundred went up. For it is written (Ezekiel 16:7) "(In Egypt) I made you as numerous as the plants of the field," and (Exodus 1:7) "And th...
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...
What is more, with (the casket of) Jacob there went up the servants of Pharaoh and the elders of his household, while with Joseph there went up the ark and the Shechinah and the Co...
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...
(Exodus 13:19) "For hashbea hishbia the children of Israel": He (Joseph) had made them (his brothers) swear ("hashbea") that they would beswear ("hishbia") their children. R. Natha...
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 ...
(Ibid. 20) "And they journeyed from Succoth and they encamped in Eitam." Just as Eitam is a place, so, Succoth. R. Akiva said "Succoth" refers to the clouds of glory, viz. (Isaiah ...
(Exodus 13:21) "And the L–rd went before them by day": Can this be said? Is it not written (Jeremiah 23:22) "'Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?' says the L–rd"? and (Isaiah ...
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 let a...
(Exodus 14:1-2) "And the L–rd said to Moses, saying: Speak to the children of Israel that they return and encamp": R. Shimon b. Yochai says: Wherever it is written "saying and tell...
The place where Israel camped before crossing the Red Sea bore a name loaded with meaning. The Mekhilta offers multiple interpretations of "Chiroth" — and each one tells a differen...
The children of Israel journeyed from Ramses to Succoth, and from Succoth to Eitam, and from Eitam to Pi Hachiroth. On the fifth day (of the week) they journeyed from Egypt, and th...
(Exodus 14:3) "And Pharaoh will say about the children of Israel: They are nevuchim in the land": "nevuchim" is "confounded," as in (Joel 1:18) "How the beasts groan! The herds of ...
When Israel stood at the edge of the Red Sea and saw the water raging before them, their first instinct was to flee into the desert. But God had sealed that escape route too. The M...
When Moses gave the order to turn back toward Egypt — seemingly marching straight into danger — the people obeyed without argument. The Mekhilta says: "And they did so." Three word...
Pharaoh was told "that the people had fled" (Exodus 14:5). But had Israel actually fled? The Torah itself states in (Numbers 33:3) that "on the morrow of the Pesach, the children o...
In the past, Pharaoh's servants said to him (Exodus 10:7) "How long will this one be a stumbling block to us?" and now (Ibid. 14:5) "What is this that we did in sending Israel away...
An analogy: A man sent to his servant: Go and bring me a fish from the marketplace. He goes and buys him a rotten fish, at which the master says to him: Either eat the fish, or rec...
"And the heart of Pharaoh was reversed" (Exodus 14:5). The Mekhilta reads this reversal not as a change of mind about letting Israel go, but as the collapse of an empire. When Isra...
