Guide
What Is Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael?
3rd Century
Restricted
One of the earliest halakhic (legal) midrashim, Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael consists of a verse-by-verse commentary on the legal portions of the book of Exodus. The title of the work suggests an attribution to the second-century CE tanna R. Ishmael ben Elisha, although the work’s redaction is generally dated to the third century CE. In addition to the halakhic material, which reflects some of the earliest Palestinian biblical interpretation, the midrash contains a number of aggadic (nonlegal) sections. It is written primarily in mishnaic Hebrew.
Related Primary Sources
Primary Source
Hadrian’s Prohibition of Circumcision
Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael, Baḥodesh 6
R. Nathan says: Of them that love Me and keep My commandments (Exodus 20:6) refers to those who dwell in the land of Israel and risk their lives for the sake of the commandments. “Why are you being…
Primary Source
A King with Two Gardens
Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael, Beshallaḥ 5
And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea (Exodus 14:27). Immediately the sea began to withstand him. Moses ordered it in the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, to divide itself but it would not…
Primary Source
Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael
Beshallaḥ 1:90, Nezikin 16:1
If a man gives to another an ass or an ox or a sheep [or any animal to guard] (Exodus 22:9). [ . . . ]An ass or an ox or a sheep teaches me only about an ass, an ox, and a sheep. Where do…
Primary Source
Synagogue Adornment
Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael, Baḥodesh 10
You Shall Not Make for Yourselves (Exodus 20:20). Lest you say: Since the Torah has given permission to make the cherubim in the Temple, I am also going to make them in the synagogues and in the…
Primary Source
Beautifying Observance of the Commandments
Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael, Shirata 3
[This is my God] and I will glorify Him (Exodus 15:2). R. Ishmael says: And is it possible for a man of flesh and blood to add glory to his Creator? It simply means: I shall be beautiful before Him in…
Primary Source
Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael on Miriam’s Prophecy
Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael, Shirata 10
And Miriam the Prophetess [ . . . ] Took (Exodus 15:20). But where do we find that Miriam prophesied: It is merely this: Miriam had said to her father: “You are destined to beget a son who will arise…
Primary Source
Proselytes and God-Fearers
Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael, Nezikin 18
Beloved are the strangers. It was for their sake that our father Abraham was not circumcised until he was ninety-nine years old. Had he been circumcised at twenty or thirty years of age, only those…
Primary Source
Embracing Converts
Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael, Amalek 3
R. Eliezer says: This was said to Moses by God: “I, I who said the word by which the world came into being, I am One who welcomes, not One who repels.” As it is said: Behold, I am a god that brings…
Primary Source
Torah for the Nations?
Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael, Baḥodesh 1
They encamped in the wilderness (Exodus 19:2). The Torah was given in public, openly in a free place. For had the Torah been given in the land of Israel, the Israelites could have said to the nations…
Related Guide
Tannaitic Midrash
1st–3rd Centuries