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Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai offered his own parable to explain the same prophecy from Jeremiah — that a future redemption would overshadow the memory of the Exodus. His version is shar...
The verse (Exodus 13:3) states, "and chametz shall not be eaten." The passive phrasing — "shall not be eaten" rather than "you shall not eat" — caught the attention of Rabbi Yoshiy...
Rabbi Yitzchak disagreed with Rabbi Yoshiyah's reading of (Exodus 13:3), "and chametz shall not be eaten." He argued that the passive phrasing was not needed to equate the feeder w...
(Exodus 13:6) declares, "And on the seventh day, a festival to the Lord." The Hebrew word for festival, chag, is related to chagigah, the special festival offering brought at the T...
"so that the Torah of the L–rd be in your mouth": What is the intent of this? From "And it shall be to you as a sign," I would assume that women, too, are included (in the mitzvah ...
The Torah is specific about how to redeem the firstborn of a donkey: "And every firstling of an ass shall you redeem with a lamb" (Exodus 13:13). The Mekhilta takes this precision ...
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...
Joseph's dying request to his brothers included a subtle but legally significant phrase: "And you shall bring up my bones from here with you" (Genesis 50:25). The Mekhilta zeroes i...
(Ibid. 21) "And the L–rd went before them by day with a pillar of cloud": We find there to have been seven clouds: here, (Numbers 14:14) twice, (Ibid. 9:19), (Exodus 40:36), (Ibid....
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...
Rabbi Yossi HaGlili told a parable to explain one of the most staggering miscalculations in the history of Egypt. A man inherited a beth kor of land — a sizable property — and sold...
Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai offered his own version of the parable about Egypt's catastrophic miscalculation, and his telling amplified the scale of the blunder dramatically. A man inh...
(Ibid. 14:6) "and he took his people with him": He "took" them with words, saying to them. It is the way of kings to be leaders from the rear and to have their armies preceding the...
The Mekhilta reveals a darkly ironic scene at the shore of the Red Sea. Pharaoh caught up with the Israelites camped by the water, and the Torah says he "pressed ahead." But the Me...
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:...
Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai made a breathtaking claim: the sun and the moon themselves serve as eternal witnesses that God had already committed to splitting the sea for Israel long be...
Rabbi Avshalom the Elder told a parable to explain why God responded to Moses' extended prayer at the Red Sea with what seemed like impatience. The parable captures the tenderness ...
The sages offered a bold explanation for why God split the Red Sea for the Israelites. It was not primarily for Israel's sake. God acted for the sake of the divine Name itself. The...
The Mekhilta extends its catalogue of divine judgment by east wind to yet another generation: the builders of the Tower of Babel. The pattern grows stronger with each example — God...
God uses the east wind as an instrument of judgment, and the pattern repeats across the Hebrew Bible with striking consistency. In Egypt, it was the east wind that brought the plag...
Rabbi Akiva posed a provocative question: where do we learn that each of the ten plagues that struck Egypt was actually five plagues in one? If this calculation is correct, the Egy...
R. Eliezer b. Tadai says; Moses would begin with his words, and Israel would respond (with theirs). Moses would begin: "I shall sing to the L–rd," and Israel would end with him and...
Variantly: "for high on high": He exalts Himself over the exalted. With what the nations of the world exalt themselves before Him, He exacts punishment of them. In the generation o...
The generation of the Flood was destroyed by the very thing they worshipped. The Mekhilta draws a chilling connection between their sin and their punishment through a play on Hebre...
The builders of the Tower of Babel were punished with the exact same thing they feared most. The Mekhilta highlights the devastating irony embedded in the biblical narrative. The m...
The Mekhilta teaches a principle of divine justice that echoes throughout the Hebrew Bible: the very thing a person boasts about becomes the instrument of their downfall. Sisra, th...
The Mekhilta highlights Samson as another example of the principle that a person's punishment mirrors their sin. Whatever someone boasts about or indulges in becomes the exact inst...
The Mekhilta continues its catalog of arrogant rulers brought low by the very thing they boasted about, and few figures in the Hebrew Bible boast as spectacularly as Nebuchadnezzar...
The Mekhilta adds two more names to its list of nations whose arrogance led to their precise downfall: the great city of Tyre and its ruler Malchah (identified with the prince of T...
Antoninos, the Roman emperor who maintained a famous friendship with Rabbeinu Hakadosh (Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi, the compiler of the Mishnah (the earliest code of rabbinic law)), once...
Issi b. Yehudah says: It is written here "horse," unqualified (i.e., the punishments of the horse are not specified), and, elsewhere, "horse," qualified, viz. (Zechariah 12:4) "I w...
The Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael preserves a stunning image of dialogue between Israel and the Holy Spirit—a call and response that echoes through the ages. When Israel declares the S...
The Mekhilta preserves a striking exchange drawn from the Song of Songs, imagined as a conversation between the nations of the world and Israel about Israel's unique relationship w...
The Torah declares, "The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is His name" (Exodus 15:3). This verse, from the Song of the Sea, prompted the Mekhilta to address a potential misunderstand...
The Song of the Sea contains multiple divine titles and attributes, each one apparently conveying a distinct aspect of God's power. The Mekhilta asks a pointed question: if all of ...
"the L–rd is His name": It is with His name that He wars, and He has no need of any of these (military) appurtenances. And thus did David say (I Samuel 17:95) "You come to me with ...
The Mekhilta reads (Exodus 15:8) — "And with the breath of Your nostrils, the waters ne'ermu" — as another demonstration of God's measure-for-measure justice. The Hebrew word "ne'e...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael offers a vivid image of what happened to the Egyptians at the bottom of the Red Sea. The Torah says "the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea...
"The foe (Pharaoh) said": And he did not know what he was saying, viz. (Mishlei 16:1) "To a man are the musings of his heart, but to the L–rd is the meaning of the tongue." (He sai...
Re those who said: Let us kill them and take their money—"My hand shall impoverish them." With five things (i.e., utterances) did Pharaoh stand and blaspheme in the midst of the la...
The Mekhilta draws a sharp contrast between human construction and divine creation. When a human being builds, the natural order is bottom-up. You lay the foundation first, then bu...
The Mekhilta draws a vivid contrast between human construction and divine architecture. A human being builds a roof out of wood, earth, and stones, solid materials that resist grav...
The Mekhilta presents a second comparison between human artisans and the divine Creator — this time focusing on the problem of models. When a mortal craftsman is asked to make a fi...
The Mekhilta applies the same logic to Moab that it applied to Edom. The verse says "the mighty ones of Moab were seized with trembling," and the rabbis ask the same question: why?...
The Mekhilta presents two sharply different readings of the verse "And the people caviled against Moses, saying: What shall we drink?" Rabbi Yehoshua takes the generous view: the p...
The Mekhilta immediately balances its teaching about short prayers with a counter-example. On another occasion, a disciple led the prayer service before Rabbi Elazar and was extrem...
The Torah says that God tested Israel at Marah with the word "nisahu." But what does this word actually mean? Two rabbis offered completely different readings. Rabbi Yehoshua argue...
The Torah says in its description of life after the Exodus: "And you do what is just in His eyes" (Exodus 15:26). The Mekhilta identifies this as a reference to integrity in one's ...
