5,704 texts · Page 44 of 119
The nations will clang to us like a bell, saying: Now if these (Jews), who were under their thumb, they let go and they left, why should we send to Aram Naharayim and to Aram Tzova...
What is written of the fourth kingdom (Aram)? (Ibid. 23) "This is what he said: The fourth beast: There will be a fourth kingdom upon the earth which will be different from all the...
Four "harnessed" with joy: Abraham—(Genesis 22:3) "And Abraham rose early in the morning (for the binding of Isaac), and he saddled his ass." Now did he not have many servants?—(He...
(Exodus 14:7) "And he took six hundred choice chariots": Whence came the horses required for the chariots? If you would say, from Egypt, is it not written (re the plague of pestile...
The Torah describes Pharaoh's pursuit force with the word "shalishim" — a term the Mekhilta unpacks through three different interpretations, each revealing a different dimension of...
Variantly: "and shalishim": Three (Egyptians) against every one (Israelite). Others say: three hundred against one. And how did Pharaoh know how many Israelites died in the three d...
"and the children of Israel went out with a high hand": Scripture hereby apprises us that when the Egyptians were pursuing Israel, they vilified and execrated and cursed, while Isr...
The Mekhilta offers a second interpretation of the phrase "and Pharaoh pressed ahead," this time focusing on the terrifying speed of the Egyptian pursuit. Pharaoh did not merely ch...
The Mekhilta adds a further proof that the Hebrew root "pegiyah" means prayer, citing the prophet Jeremiah: "Let them now pray (yifgu na) to the Lord of hosts, that the vessels whi...
The Mekhilta brings the confrontation between David and Goliath as the ultimate demonstration of prayer's superiority over physical weapons. David declared to the Philistine giant:...
What is written of Moses? (Numbers 20:14-16) "And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom … And our fathers went down to Egypt … and He hearkened to our voice." He (t...
(Exodus 14:11) "And they said to Moses: Is it for lack of graves in Egypt that you have taken us to die in the desert!" After they had placed "leavening in the dough" (i.e., after ...
At that time, Israel were like a dove fleeing the hawk and seeking refuge in the cleft of the rock, where the serpent hissed. If she enters within—the serpent; if she goes out—the ...
The Mekhilta identifies three separate places in the Torah where God explicitly commanded Israel never to return to Egypt. Three warnings — not one, not two, but three — each in a ...
Israel were four factions at the sea: One was for lunging into the sea; another, for returning to Egypt; another for warring against them; another, for crying out against them. Tho...
R. Meir says: "the L–rd will war for you": He will perform for you miracles and (acts of) strength, and you will stand still. Israel asked Moses our teacher: "What can we do?" He a...
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 Yehudah ben Betheirah offered a teaching that collapses the distance between God's promise and its fulfillment at the Red Sea. God told Moses: "I have already fulfilled My pr...
Rebbi says: Last night you said (i.e., you complained to Me) (Exodus 5:23) "And from the time I came to Pharaoh, etc." And now you stand and wax long in prayer? "Why do you cry out...
Rabbi Chanina ben Chachinai preserved one of the most intimate declarations God ever made about His relationship with Israel. When Moses cried out at the Red Sea, God responded: "H...
Rabbi Eliezer HaModai preserved one of the most extraordinary statements God ever made about the people of Israel. When Moses cried out at the Red Sea, God responded: "Why do you c...
Others say: The faith that they had in Me suffices for Me to split the sea for them. They did not say to Moses: How can we go out to the desert without food? But they believed in M...
R. Yossi Haglili says: When Israel entered the sea, Mount Moriah was uprooted from its place, with the altar of Israel built upon it, and its woodpile upon it, and Isaac bound upon...
"And you, raise your staff": Ten miracles were performed for Israel at the sea: The waters were split and became like a dome, viz. (Habakkuk 3:14) "You split (the sea) for his trib...
When the Israelites stood trapped between the sea ahead and Pharaoh's army behind, a single verse describes the moment the divine rescue began (Exodus 14:19): "And the angel of God...
R. Nathan asked R. Shimon b. Yochai: In all places you find "the angel of the L–rd ("yod-keh-vav-keh")—(Genesis 16:7) "and an angel of the L–rd found her"—(Ibid. 9) "and the angel ...
(Exodus 14:20) "And it (the cloud) came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel, and it was cloud and darkness"—cloud for Israel and darkness for Egypt; Israel in the ligh...
(Exodus 14:20) "And one did not come near another the entire night": Scripture hereby apprises us that a standing Egyptian could not sit down, and a sitting one could not stand up....
(Exodus 14:21) "And Moses stretched his hand over the sea": and the sea resisted—whereupon Moses commanded it to split in the name of the Holy One Blessed be He; but it continued t...
Whence do you derive (the same for) the upper and the lower waters and the depths? From (Psalms 77:17) "The waters saw You, O G–d; the waters saw You and quaked. The depths quaked ...
(Exodus 14:22) "And the children of Israel came in the midst of the sea on the dry land": R. Meir perceives it one way; R. Yehudah, another. R. Meir: When the tribes were standing ...
Thus said the Holy One Blessed be He: What reward will accrue to the sons of Benjamin, who went down first into the sea? The reposing of the Shechinah in his portion (i.e., the Tem...
R. Yehudah perceives it thus: "And the children of Israel came in the midst of the sea": When the tribes were standing at the sea, each of them said: I will not go down first into ...
The Mekhilta reinforces Rabbi Tarfon's teaching about the tribe of Judah with a verse from Psalms. "When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from the people of a foreign t...
Rabbi Yehudah interprets the verse "And He removed their chariot wheels" (Exodus 14:25) as describing a scene far more spectacular than a simple mechanical failure. According to hi...
As the walls of water began crashing down upon the Egyptian army, a debate erupted among the soldiers trapped in the seabed. The Torah records that "Egypt said: I shall flee from b...
Rabbi Yossi raises a startling possibility about the ten plagues. The destruction at the Red Sea, he argues, was not a separate event from the plagues in Egypt — it happened simult...
(this obtains) not with Egypt alone, but with all who afflict Israel throughout the generations. As it is written (Psalms 78:66) "And He beat back His foes. Eternal disgrace did He...
(Exodus 14:26) "And the L–rd said to Moses: Stretch forth your hand over the sea": It will not stand against you and it will not deviate from your command. "and the waters will tur...
Thus did Jeremiah the prophet say (Jeremiah 32:19) "Wondrous in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of man, to give each man according to hi...
Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the Torah says "the sea returned towards morning to its eithano" (Exodus 14:27). That final word — eithano — becomes the subject of...
An analogy: A dove, fleeing a hawk, enters a king's palace, whereupon the king opens the eastern window for her, whence she escapes. The hawk, following, the king closes all the wi...
The ministering angels were astounded (at Israel's survival), saying: "Idolators walking on the dry land in the midst of the sea!" And whence is it derived that the sea, too, was f...
Pappus expounded (Song of Songs 1:9) "to a mare in the chariots of Pharaoh, etc.": Pharaoh rode on a stallion—the Holy One Blessed be He revealed Himself, as it were, on a stallion...
(Exodus 14:30) "and the L–rd saved Israel on that day": As a bird held in a man's hand, so that if he pressed its hand but a little he would choke it, as it is written (Psalms 124:...
(Exodus 14:30) "And Israel saw Egypt dead on the shore of the sea": For four reasons: That they not say: Just as we came up on this side, so they came up on another side (and will ...
The Torah states that Israel saw the Egyptians "dead on the shore of the sea" (Exodus 14:30). The Mekhilta asks a blunt question: were they actually dead? The answer is more distur...
Rabbi Yossi HaGlili presents one of the most famous calculations in rabbinic literature. He asks: how do we know that the Egyptians were struck with ten plagues in Egypt and fifty ...
