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Rabban Yochanan ben Zakai says: it is said (Devarim 27:6) "Of whole (shleimoth) stones shall you build the altar of the L–rd"—stones which repose peace ("shalom"). Now does this no...
The Torah prohibits approaching the altar by steps: "And you shall not go up with steps to My altar, so that your nakedness not be revealed upon it" (Exodus 20:23). From this verse...
Rabbi Yishmael examined a verse about the priests serving at the altar and found a surprising teaching hidden inside what appeared to be a redundancy. The verse warns: "so that you...
"Do that your nakedness not be revealed upon it": Upon it (the altar) you may not take broad strides, but you may in the sanctuary and in the holy of holies. For it would follow (o...
Where exactly on the ear is the bondsman pierced? The Mekhilta records a dispute between two authorities. Rabbi Yehudah said the piercing goes through the lobe — the soft, fleshy p...
The Torah's command in (Exodus 21:14), "From My very altar shall you take him to die," addresses a chilling scenario: a priest, a Kohen (a priest), who has committed murder. The Me...
Scripture hereby teaching us that murder (i.e., one's having murdered) overrides the sacrificial service. For it would follow (otherwise), viz.: If the Sabbath, which is overridden...
The Torah contains a dramatic command about a murderer who has taken refuge at the altar: "From My very altar shall you take him to die" (Exodus 21:14). Even the holiest place in t...
R. Akiva says: "tachath ('in place of') the ox; "tachath the sheep"—to exclude (from "four and five" payment an animal [as opposed to a beast]). For it would follow (otherwise), vi...
The Mekhilta raises an objection to the theory that the four-and-five payment applies only to animals that are sacrificed on the altar. If that were the rule, then a blemished anim...
Rabbi Nathan expanded the scope of the deposit laws beyond their most obvious application. The Torah says that when someone deposits "money" with a neighbor for safekeeping, certai...
"He shall pay double to his neighbor" — the Torah requires a thief who is caught to pay twice the value of what he stole. But Rabbi Shimon noticed a conflict with another verse. (L...
(Exodus 22:19) "One who sacrifices to idolatry shall be put to death": We have heard the punishment. Whence the exhortation? It is written (Exodus 20:5) "You shall not bow down to ...
"only to the L–rd alone": Because others say: If the Israelites had not joined the name of the Holy One Blessed be He, with that of idolatry (i.e., the golden calf), they would hav...
"Covenant" is written of Israel, viz. (Genesis 17:13) "And My covenant (i.e., circumcision) shall be in your flesh." And it is also written of strangers, viz. (Isaiah 56:4) "and th...
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...
(Deuteronomy 12:6) says: "And you shall bring there your burnt-offerings and your sacrifices and the first-born of your herds and flocks." This seems to require bringing the first-...
The Mekhilta addresses a practical problem. First-born animals that are consecrated cannot be nursed by their consecrated mothers, because the mother's milk has sacred status. But ...
"They shall not appear before Me empty-handed" — the Torah requires that the pilgrims who come to the Temple on the three festivals must bring something. But what? The Mekhilta say...
The Mekhilta cites (Psalms 50:7-8) to illustrate God's unique relationship with Israel: "Hear, My people, and I will speak; Israel, and I will exhort you. I am God, your God. I wil...
(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...
The Torah commands regarding the Passover sacrifice that "there shall not remain the fat of My festival offering until morning." The Mekhilta takes this verse and extracts from it ...
Variantly: whether non-consecrated or consecrated (animals). Rebbi says: Because it is written (in the same context as meat and milk) "the first of the fruits of your land," I migh...
"It is a sign forever" — the Mekhilta derives from this phrase that the Sabbath will never be lost from Israel. No matter what happens — exile, persecution, assimilation pressures ...
(Exodus 35:1) "And Moses assembled, etc." What is the intent of this section? From (Ibid. 25:8) "and they shall make for Me a sanctuary," I might think both on a weekday and on the...
It would follow (that labors for the sanctuary would override the Sabbath, viz.:) If the sacrificial service, which comes only from the enablers, (i.e., the vessels, etc.) override...
(Exodus 35:2) says: "And on the seventh day it shall be holy for you." The Mekhilta explains why this clarification was needed. Israel might have reasoned as follows: the daily off...
Variantly: "You may not light a fire in all of your dwellings": From (Leviticus 6:6) "A perpetual fire shall burn on the altar," I might think, both on the weekdays and on the Sabb...
The prophet Isaiah did. And his vision, described in the Book of Isaiah (6:1-8), has shaped Jewish understandings of God, heaven, and the very nature of holiness for millennia. Ima...
Jewish tradition is rich with visions of the future, of the Olam Ha-Ba, the World to Come. And some of those visions are, well, breathtaking. Imagine this: a day when the very thro...
We often think of God as formless, beyond human comprehension, but our tradition is full of rich, imaginative descriptions. And one of the most striking is the image of God wearing...
Jewish tradition has a powerful and beautiful answer: the Ruah ha-Kodesh, the Holy Spirit. According to tradition, before the Throne of Glory, before angels, before even the stars ...
Jewish tradition, especially in the mystical and rabbinic realms, actually gives us some fascinating imagery about this. It suggests that God didn't just speak the world into exist...
The story I want to share with you comes from the Talmud and it’s about Rabbi Ishmael ben Elisha, the High Priest, and a truly extraordinary encounter. Imagine this: Rabbi Ishmael ...
We pray to God. But…does God pray? And if so, to whom? The mystics have wrestled with these questions for centuries, and the answer, perhaps unsurprisingly, is layered and fascinat...
We often think of prayer as something we do, a way to connect with the Divine. But Jewish tradition sometimes paints a different picture, one where God, in a sense, prays too. How ...
We, with our messy emotions and tear-streaked faces, tend to project a lot onto the Divine. But Jewish tradition actually gives us some incredibly vivid, even surreal, images of Go...
Jewish tradition dares to imagine a God who weeps. And perhaps nowhere is that more powerfully depicted than in the legends surrounding the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. ...
The destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem – twice – is one of the most profound traumas in Jewish history. It’s not just about losing a building; it’s about losing a connection, a...
There was a time, a very dark time, when God Himself considered doing just that. Imagine the scene: The Temple in Jerusalem lies in ruins. The people of Israel are in exile, weepin...
Jewish tradition offers a powerful, heart-wrenching image: Mother Zion. The image of Mother Zion comes from a deep well of sorrow and longing, born from the exiles and devastations...
Jewish tradition has a powerful way of describing this feeling: the wandering of the Shekhinah (the Divine Presence). The Shekhinah, often translated as "divine presence," is under...
This is the story we're diving into today: the mourning over the Shekhinah, the divine feminine presence, after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. It’s a powerful myth, on...
It's a powerful, heartbreaking moment in our history. But what if I told you that in their darkest hour, God chose to share their pain, to literally go into exile with them? There'...
There is a way, a glimpse, perhaps, of the Divine Presence – the Shekhinah (the Divine Presence)? The Shekhinah, a Hebrew word often translated as "dwelling" or "presence," represe...
In Jewish tradition, we have a name for that Divine Presence: the Shekhinah (the Divine Presence). And there's a place where the veil between worlds is said to be especially thin: ...
One of the most beautiful ideas is that God created the heavens by wrapping Himself in a prayer shawl – a tallit – of pure light. Imagine that for a moment: a tallit, but instead o...
Before the sun, the moon, the stars... What illuminated the very first moments of creation? Jewish tradition tells us that the first thing God created wasn't a physical object, but...
