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Moses stood before God and made one final, desperate plea. The decree had been issued — Moses would not enter the Promised Land. But Moses, ever persistent in prayer, tried to nego...
The Torah states that the Israelites "encamped in the desert" before receiving the Torah at Sinai. The Mekhilta seizes on this geographical detail and transforms it into one of the...
God tells Israel at Sinai, "And now, if you hearken to My voice" (Exodus 19:5). The Mekhilta highlights the word "now" — take it upon yourselves now, because all beginnings are dif...
When God offered the Torah to the Israelites at Mount Sinai, the entire nation responded with one of the most remarkable declarations in all of Scripture. As the Mekhilta explains,...
When Moses stood before Israel at Sinai and "took the book of the covenant and read it in the ears of the people" (Exodus 24:7), a question immediately arises: what exactly did he ...
God commanded the Israelites to "wash their garments" in preparation for receiving the Torah at Sinai (Exodus 19:10). The Mekhilta asks a follow-up question that the Torah itself d...
God told Moses to have the people ready "for the third day" (Exodus 19:11), and the Mekhilta identifies this as the sixth day of the month of Sivan — the day on which the Torah was...
The Torah states that God descended onto Mount Sinai "before the eyes of all the people" (Exodus 19:11), and the Mekhilta draws a startling conclusion from those words: if even a s...
When God descended upon Mount Sinai to give the Torah, the mountain erupted with phenomena that defied nature. The Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael pauses on the word "lightnings" in (Exo...
The Mekhilta extends its principle about biblical language by examining another verse: (Amos 3:8) says, "The lion has roared. Who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken. Who will n...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael presents a striking teaching about the value of a single human life. The text interprets the phrase "and there fall of them many" to mean that if even...
Before offering the Torah to Israel, God first approached every other nation on earth. The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael explains that this was not because God expected them to accept....
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...
Before God gave a single commandment at Sinai, He made a remarkable statement that the Mekhilta preserves as a kind of divine negotiation. "I am the Lord your God," He declared. Th...
"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 ...
(Exodus 20:17) says that God came to Sinai "in order to exert you." The Mekhilta reinterprets this: "exert" actually means "to make you great." God's arrival at Sinai was not meant...
Rebbi — Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi — grappled with a verse that seems to describe God physically descending to Mount Sinai. (Exodus 19:20): "And the Lord went down upon Mount Sinai upon ...
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...
When a Hebrew slave chooses to remain in servitude rather than go free at the end of his six-year term, the Torah prescribes a specific ritual: his master takes an awl and bores th...
The Torah verse "If another he take for him" (Exodus 21:10) is read by the Mekhilta as the source for a surprising obligation. From this verse, the Sages ruled that a father is obl...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael preserves a legal teaching from Rabbi Nathan that resolves an apparent contradiction in the Torah's laws about monetary obligations. On the one hand, ...
The Mekhilta records a sharp legal debate about how to determine the correct form of execution for a kidnapper. The Torah says a kidnapper must be put to death, using the phrase "m...
"And if one strikes his father and his mother": This tells me only of (one who strikes both) his father and his mother. Whence do I derive (liability for one who strikes) his fathe...
"And if one curses his father and his mother" — the Mekhilta notices that this verse uses "and," connecting father and mother together. Taken literally, this might mean the death p...
The Torah commands, "And if one curses his father and his mother" he is liable for a grave sin (Exodus 21:17). The Mekhilta noticed that the verse as written only clearly applies w...
What happens if your father is a judge? The Torah prohibits cursing judges: "Elohim you shall not curse" (Exodus 22:27). It also prohibits cursing leaders: "And a prince in your pe...
But perhaps the common element between them is that they are dignitaries, and it is their eminence that accounts for this, wherefore you are exhorted against cursing them—as oppose...
The Mekhilta addresses a precise scenario: what happens when a master knocks out two of his bondservant's teeth — or blinds both eyes — simultaneously, in a single blow? The ruling...
The Torah grants freedom to a bondservant whose master knocks out a tooth or blinds an eye. But does this apply only to adult bondservants? What about a minor — a child bondservant...
"And if an ox gore" — the Torah mentions only an ox. But what about other animals? If a donkey kicks someone, or a camel bites, do the same laws apply? The Mekhilta says yes, and d...
Rabbi Akiva found a striking legal principle hidden inside a single verse about a goring ox. The Torah states that when an ox kills a person after its owner was warned, "the ox sha...
"and there be consumed sheaves": All things are included: a pile of reeds and beams, a mound of stones, and of pebbles for the processing of lime. "or the standing corn": trees als...
"The oath of the Lord shall be between the two of them" — the Mekhilta focuses on the divine Name used in this verse. The oath is described as "the oath of the Lord" — using the Te...
The Torah says, "When you lend money to My people" (Exodus 22:24), using the Hebrew word "im," which normally means "if." This would seem to make lending optional, a generous act y...
From here they derived: One may speak one thing and be liable for four. (How so?) If the son of a prince curses his father, he is liable for "prince," "father," "judge," and "in yo...
Shimon ben Shetach once had a single scheming witness — a zomem, one proven to have conspired to give false testimony — executed. Yehudah ben Tabbai was horrified. He said to Shimo...
"The first-fruits of your land" — the Mekhilta uses this phrase to identify who is excluded from the obligation to bring first-fruits. The key word is "your" — your land. Only thos...
Rabbi Akiva offered his own proof that eating meat cooked in milk is forbidden, using a different a fortiori argument. His starting point was not the Passover offering but the thig...
The Mekhilta raises a fascinating question about the relationship between laws that existed before the giving of the Torah at Sinai and those that were introduced at Sinai itself. ...
The Mekhilta has established that eating meat cooked in milk is forbidden. But what about deriving other forms of benefit — selling the mixture, using it as animal feed, or extract...
Jewish tradition has a powerful image for that feeling, a bridge spanning the terrifying depths of Gehenna. Now, Gehenna – sometimes translated as Hell, but more accurately underst...
In Midrash Tehillim, a beautiful collection of interpretations on the Book of Psalms, we find this very sentiment expressed, almost like a prayer: "May the wickedness of the wicked...
Midrash Tehillim, a collection of rabbinic interpretations of the Book of Psalms, dives into the depths of human nature and divine justice. And Psalm 10, in particular, sparks some...
It revolves around Rabban Gamliel, a prominent Jewish leader, and Chalafah ben Kroya, a figure known for his piety. Rabban Gamliel goes to visit Chalafah and asks him for a blessin...
to one such perspective, found in Midrash Tehillim, a collection of interpretations on the Book of Psalms. Midrash Tehillim, specifically in its commentary on Psalm 37, tackles the...
Midrash Tehillim, a collection of homiletic interpretations of the Book of Psalms, uses just that image to illuminate the fate of the wicked. In Midrash Tehillim 68, we find a powe...
And trust me, the list is pretty surprising. The passage we're looking at today focuses on Psalm 80, specifically the verse "Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh." Now, these are...
Jewish tradition offers a comforting image of how God deals with our shortcomings. It's found within Midrash Tehillim, a collection of interpretive teachings on the Book of Psalms....
