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The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael tackled a precise question about the manna's daily lifecycle. (Exodus 16:21) states that "when the sun was hot, it melted." But what time of day does ...
The Israelites called it manna. It fell from heaven every morning, and the Torah describes it with a comparison that immediately puzzles the Mekhilta's rabbis: "And it was like cor...
When God commanded that a jar of manna be preserved, the instruction was specific (Exodus 16:33): "Put therein a full omer of manna and place it before the Lord as a keeping for yo...
Rabbi Yossi ben Zimra noticed a single word in the Torah that most readers skip right past — and from it, he derived an astonishing claim about the staff of Moses. When God instruc...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael records a teaching by Rabbi Eliezer about the nature of Amalek's attack on Israel in the wilderness. His interpretation turns on a single word, reveal...
When Moses shattered the two tablets of the covenant at the foot of Mount Sinai, something extraordinary happened to the sacred letters engraved upon them. According to the Mekhilt...
Before the battle against Amalek, Moses made a declaration: "Tomorrow I shall stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand" (Exodus 17:9). But what did he mean by "tom...
Rabbi Eliezer claimed that a single Hebrew word in the Torah contained an entire military history encoded as an acronym. The word is "vayachalosh," which appears in the account of ...
When Moses recounted his frustrated plea to enter the Promised Land, he told the Israelites: "And the Lord was wroth with me because of you" (Deuteronomy 3:26). The Hebrew word "bi...
The Mekhilta describes a stunning moment in which God showed Moses a panoramic vision of the future, including the mighty Samson, son of Manoach. The proof that Samson was included...
When Moses stood on Mount Nebo and looked out over the Promised Land, God pointed to each region and revealed not just the terrain but the history that would unfold upon it. The Me...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael explores a tradition about what God revealed to Moses at the end of his life. Among the many visions granted to Moses before his death, the rabbis ask...
Before Moses died, God took him to the summit of Mount Nebo and showed him the entirety of the Promised Land — every region, every valley, every corner of the territory his people ...
The Torah's commandment to erase the memory of Amalek reaches to the farthest limit of destruction. The Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael explains the phrase (Exodus 17:14) "from under the...
Rabbi Elazar Hamodai taught that God did not merely command the destruction of Amalek—He swore it. And the oath was no ordinary vow. God swore by His throne of glory, the highest a...
(Exodus 18:1) "And Yithro heard": What did he hear that caused him to come (and join Israel)? The war with Amalek, which is juxtaposed with this section. These are the words of R. ...
When the Torah says that Yithro "rejoiced over all the good" that God had done for Israel (Exodus 18:9), the rabbis asked a natural question: which specific good was Yithro rejoici...
R. Elazar Hamodai offered a different explanation for what made Yithro rejoice. It was not the manna, he argued, but the miraculous well — the portable spring of water that travele...
Rabbi Elazar Hamodai offers a striking interpretation of the word "statutes" as it appears in the Torah's legislation. Where one might expect this term to refer to ritual laws or c...
Jethro watched his son-in-law Moses judging the entire nation of Israel alone, from morning until evening, and he gave him a piece of advice wrapped in a parable. "Look at that bea...
Yithro's advice to Moses came in a sequence of precise instructions, each one carrying deeper meaning than its plain sense. "Now, hearken to my voice" (Exodus 18:19) — and the Mekh...
R. Elazar Hamodai interpreted the verse "And you shall apprise them of the statutes and the laws" (Exodus 18:20) as a comprehensive guide to righteous living. Each phrase in the ve...
Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, watched Moses judging the people alone from morning until evening and proposed a radical restructuring of the judicial system. He recommended ap...
One might think that he went but did not do so. It is, therefore, written (Judges 1:16) "And the children of Keni, the father-in-law of Moses, went up from the city of date-palms,"...
(And thus we find, when R. Yochanan b. Zakkai died, that his wisdom was lost with him.) They went and settled with Yaavetz, it being written of them (I Chronicles 2:55) "the dwelle...
Them what they asked. As it is written (Proverbs 29:13) "the poor man and the man of means meet. The L–rd brightens the eyes of both," and (Ibid. 22:2) "The rich man and the poor m...
The Torah describes God bearing Israel "on eagles' wings" (Exodus 19:4), and the Mekhilta asks a pointed question: why an eagle? What makes the eagle different from every other bir...
The Mekhilta tells a parable about a man walking along a road with his young son. At first, the father leads his child in front of him, keeping the boy in sight. But then robbers a...
The Mekhilta comments on God's designation of Israel as "a holy nation" (Exodus 19:6), connecting it to the verse in (1 Chronicles 17:21): "And who is like Your nation, Israel, one...
Moses came down from the mountain and "called to the elders of the people" (Exodus 19:7). The Mekhilta draws a lesson about leadership from this simple narrative detail: Moses did ...
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,...
Rabbi Yehudah explains a remarkable exchange between God and Moses at Sinai. God told Moses: I will speak something to you, and you will return an answer to Me, and then I will ack...
Rebbi (Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi) offers a different reading of the events at Sinai, one that elevates Moses's stature even further. He argues that we would only need to "acknowledge th...
The sages say twelve monuments for each tribe. He built an altar, sacrificed thereon a burnt-offering and peace-offerings, took of the blood of the burnt-offering in two receptacle...
Moses told the people, "Be ready in three days" (Exodus 19:15), instructing them to separate from their wives in preparation for receiving the Torah. But the Mekhilta notices a pro...
"And it was, on the third day, when it was morning" (Exodus 19:16) — the day the Torah would be given at Sinai. The Mekhilta draws a remarkable inference from this verse: God "aros...
"And its smoke rose like the smoke of a lime kiln" (Exodus 19:18) — this is how the Torah describes Mount Sinai when God descended upon it. But the Mekhilta immediately senses a pr...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael records a remarkable teaching from Rabbi Yehudah about the relationship between God and Moses. When (Exodus 19:24) records God saying to Moses, "Go, d...
The Talmudic sage known simply as Rebbi — Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, the compiler of the Mishnah (the earliest code of rabbinic law) — raised a striking question about the greatness of M...
At Mount Sinai, God issued a specific invitation: "Go up, you and Aaron with you." The Mekhilta notices something crucial about this command. It names Moses and Aaron by implicatio...
"saying": They responded to an affirmative (i.e., "You shall, etc.") in the affirmative ("Yes") and to a negative, in the negative. R. Akiva says: to an affirmative in the affirmat...
The Mekhilta offers a parable that illuminates the logic behind the order of events at Sinai. A king of flesh and blood enters a new province. His servants immediately urge him: "M...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael offers multiple interpretations of the Hebrew phrase "elohim acherim," commonly translated as "other gods." The rabbis noticed that the word "acherim"...
R. Yossi says: Why "other gods"? Not to give a pretext to the nations of the world to say: If they were called by His name, they would be effectual. Behold, they were called by His...
Rabbi Eliezer offered a mordantly funny interpretation of the phrase "elohim acherim" (other gods) in the Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael. He connected "acherim" not to "otherness" but t...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael records a teaching from Rabbi Akiva about just how far the prohibition against making images extends. The verse in (Exodus 20:18) states "which is in ...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael addresses a precise legal question about the commandment in (Exodus 20:5): "You shall not bow down to them and you shall not serve them." The question...
A certain philosopher asked R. Gamliel: It is written in your Torah "for the L–rd your G–d is a wrathful G–d." Now is there power in idolatry to arouse wrath (in G–d)? One here is ...
