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The Torah states in (Exodus 20:22): "And when you make an altar of stones unto Me." The Mekhilta zeroes in on the Hebrew word "im" — which can mean either "when" or "if" — and asks...
(Exodus 22:26) "for it is his solitary covering": This is his cloak. "it is his garment for his skin"—this is his undergarment. "On what shall he lie?": to include his mat-skin. "a...
(Exodus 22:28) "Your fullness and your dema (terumah) you shall not delay": "Your fullness"—bikkurim (first-fruits, which are taken from fully ripened grain). "you shall not delay"...
(Exodus 22:30) "And men of holiness shall you be to me": R. Yishmael says: When you are holy, you are Mine. Issi b. Yehudah says: When the Holy One Blessed be He originates a mitzv...
(Exodus 23:3) commands: "Do not honor a poor man in his quarrel." The Mekhilta asks why this verse is needed when (Leviticus 19:15) already says: "You shall not favor a poor man an...
(Exodus 23:4) commands: "If you encounter the ox of your foe, or his donkey, straying, return shall you return it to him." The Mekhilta asks: does "encounter" mean literal physical...
(Exodus 23:5) addresses the obligation to help an enemy's animal that is struggling under its burden: "If you see the donkey of your enemy lying under its burden." The Mekhilta par...
(Exodus 23:7) says: "And a clean one and a righteous one you shall not kill." The Mekhilta applies this to a specific judicial scenario involving imprecise testimony. Suppose one w...
(Exodus 23:10) commands: "Six years shall you sow your land." Rabbi Eliezer taught that this verse reveals two different agricultural realities, depending on Israel's spiritual sta...
(Exodus 23:13) says: "And everything that I have spoken of to you, you shall observe." The Mekhilta asks what this general command adds to the specific Sabbath prohibition of (Exod...
(Exodus 23:14) commands: "Three festivals shall you celebrate for Me in the year." The Mekhilta asks why this verse is needed when (Exodus 23:17) already says "Three times shall ev...
The Jewish calendar is not purely lunar. It is lunisolar — adjusted periodically so that the festivals fall in their proper seasons. The Mekhilta traces this practice of calendar a...
(Exodus 23:16) refers to Shavuot (the Festival of Weeks)h as "the festival of the harvest, the first-fruits of your labor." The Mekhilta notes that this description appears within ...
(Exodus 23:18) "You shall not slaughter in the presence of chametz the blood of My sacrifice": You shall not slaughter the Pesach (Passover) offering while chametz is still present...
(Exodus 23:19) commands: "The first of the first-fruits of your land you shall bring to the house of the Lord your God." The Mekhilta asks what this verse adds to (Deuteronomy 26:2...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael records a sharp legal debate about the prohibition against cooking meat and milk together. The rabbis use a technique called kal va-chomer — reasoning...
Issi ben Guria demonstrated that eating meat cooked in milk is forbidden through a verbal comparison between two passages. The word "holiness" appears in (Deuteronomy 14:21), where...
(Exodus 31:15) says: "Six days will work be done." But another verse (Exodus 20:9) says: "Six days shall you work, and you shall do all of your work." One verse is passive — "work ...
What is the intent of (Exodus, Ibid. 150 "And the seventh day, a Sabbath of resting, holy to the L–rd"? From (Leviticus 23:4) "These are the festivals of the L–rd, callings of holi...
Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating collection of stories and elaborations on Biblical narratives, gives us a glimpse. In Chapter 42, we find a surprising dialogue between God an...
Rabbi Tachanah, quoted in Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer (chapter 46), gives us a fascinating glimpse behind the curtain. He says the tablets weren't some earthly creation, dug up from the...
And that's exactly what we're going to do today, diving into a really cool, albeit lesser-known, ancient text called Seder Olam Zutta. Now, Seder Olam Zutta—which literally transla...
The Seder Olam Zutta (סדר עולם זוטא), meaning "The Lesser Order of the World," is a historical chronicle believed to have been composed sometime after the completion of the better-...
It's not as well-known as its older sibling, Seder Olam Rabbah, but it offers us a peek into rabbinic understandings of history. In this particular section, the text lays out the l...
Let's take a journey through one particular section of that royal lineage, as recounted in the Seder Olam Zutta, a shorter, later chronicle that builds upon the better-known Seder ...
And that's where today’s little gem from Sifrei Bamidbar (a legal commentary on the Book of Numbers) comes in. The verse we're focusing on is from Bamidbar (Numbers) 28:24: "As the...
The ancient sages understood that yearning, and they left us clues, breadcrumbs on a path. And according to Sifrei Devarim, an early rabbinic commentary on the Book of Deuteronomy,...
Turns out, keeping time – especially Jewish time – is a delicate dance. Let's talk about Aviv. You know, the month we now call Nissan, the month of Passover? (Deuteronomy 16:1) kic...
The verse we’re looking at is from Sifrei Devarim (130), a collection of legal interpretations on the Book of Deuteronomy. It’s a complex discussion, a real Talmudic back-and-forth...
The standard book of Exodus says an angel appeared to Moses in the burning bush. The Targum Jonathan, an ancient Aramaic translation composed in the land of Israel, names that ange...
When Moses and Aaron first confronted Pharaoh and demanded he release Israel, the Hebrew Bible records Pharaoh's defiant reply: "Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice?" (Ex...
The standard Exodus text says God promised one final plague against Egypt. The Targum Jonathan transforms this announcement into something far more personal and humiliating for Pha...
Chapter 1 From Adam to the Flood was 1656 years, and this is their enumeration: Adam 130, Seth 105, Enosh 90, Kenan 70, Mahalalel 65, Jared 162, Enoch 65, Methuselah 187, Lamech 18...
Chapter 2 Our forefather Jacob was 63 when he was blessed. Ishmael died at that time as is written, "Esau saw that Isaac had blessed...Jacob listened to his father...Esau saw [the ...
The judgment of the wicked in Gehinnom (the place of spiritual purification after death) lasts twelve months, as it says “And it shall be from new moon to new moon…” (Yeshayahu 66:...
The Seder Olam reveals a pattern hidden in the calendar of sacred history: the most important events in Israel's story all cluster around one date — the fifteenth of Nisan. It bega...
"And the Lord spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of the congregation, on the first day of the second month, in the second year..." (Numbers 1:1).1Guggen...
Chapter 9 They [the Israelites]--the entire congregation--came to the wilderness of Tzin in the first month, and the nation settled there, and Miriam died there and was buried ther...
Eli led Israel for forty years, and the day Eli died, he forsook his tabernacle, as it is said, “He rejected the tent of Joseph” (Psalm 78:67), and “He gave His strength into capti...
“And in the first year of Cyrus, the king of Persia, at the completion of the word of the Lord from the mouth of Jeremiah, the Lord aroused… So said Cyrus, the king of Persia… Who ...
Rabbi Yossi says, "A merit ends up being on a day of merit and a punishment ends up being on a day of punishment. For you will find to say that when the First Temple was destroyed,...
The Hebrew Bible says God told Moses, "Who gave man a mouth, or who makes a person dumb or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I—God?" (Exodus 4:11). Targum Onkelos translates this ve...
The Hebrew Bible says God will "pass through" Egypt on the night of the Passover (Exodus 12:12). Targum Onkelos changes this to God will "become revealed in" Egypt. God does not tr...
The Hebrew Bible says the people told Aaron: "Make us gods that will lead us, for this Moses, we do not know what happened to him" (Exodus 32:1). Targum Onkelos translates this wit...
"Haggadah (non-legal rabbinic narrative)": A collection of legends and tales that was available to the ancient scholars. Rashi, of blessed memory, cites it in Sanhedrin (31b): "I f...
"Zuta": "Zuta" is an Aramaic and Arabic word meaning "small" in contrast to "Raba" which means "large" or "great". There are Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary)ic compilatio...
The evil eye is a supposed power of bewitching or harming by spiteful looks, attributed to certain persons as a natural endowment. This belief was widespread among ancient civiliza...
When you go out to war and you see horse and chariot, a people more numerous than you (Deuteronomy 20:1): This is what is stated in the verse (Proverbs 21:31), "The horse is readie...
