Recent from talks
Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael
The Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael (Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: מְכִילְתָּא דְּרַבִּי יִשְׁמָעֵאל IPA /məˈχiltʰɑ/, "a collection of rules of interpretation") is midrash halakha to the Book of Exodus. The Aramaic title Mekhilta corresponds to the Mishnaic Hebrew term מדה middā "measure," "rule", and is used to denote a compilation of exegesis (מדות middoṯ; compare talmudical hermeneutics). Other important mekhiltas were those of Shimon bar Yochai and on Book of Deuteronomy. The latter work was also associated with Rabbi Ishmael's teachings.
According to Steven Fine, both Sifra and the Mekhilta I. were concerned with the sanctification of early study houses after the destruction of the Second Temple.
The author or redactor of the Mekhilta cannot be definitely ascertained. Nissim ben Jacob and Samuel ibn Naghrillah refer to it as the Mekhilta de-Rabbi Yishmael, thus ascribing the authorship to Ishmael. Maimonides likewise says: "R. Ishmael interpreted from 've'eleh shemot' to the end of the Torah, and this explanation is called 'Mekhilta.' R. Akiva also wrote a Mekhilta." This Ishmael, however, is neither an amora by the name of Ishmael as Zecharias Frankel assumed, nor Judah ha-Nasi's contemporary, Ishmael ben Jose, as Gedaliah ibn Yahya ben Joseph thought. He is, on the contrary, Ishmael ben Elisha, Rabbi Akiva's contemporary, as is shown by the passage of Maimonides quoted above.
The present Mekhilta cannot, however, be the one composed by Ishmael, as is proved by the references in it to Ishmael's pupils and to other later tannaim. Both Maimonides and the author of the Halakhot Gedolot, moreover, refer, evidently based on a tradition, to a much larger mekhilta extending from Exodus 1 to the end of the Torah, while the midrash here considered discusses only certain passages of Exodus. It must be assumed, therefore, that Ishmael composed an explanatory midrash to the last four books of the Torah, and that his pupils amplified it.
A later editor, intending to compile a halakhic midrash to Exodus, took Ishmael's work on the book, beginning with ch. 12, since the first eleven chapters contained no references to the halakha. He even omitted passages from the portion which he took, but (by way of compensation) incorporated much material from the other halakhic midrashim, Sifra, the Mekhilta of Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai, and the Sifre to the Book of Deuteronomy. Since the last two works were from a different source, he generally designated them by the introductory phrase, "davar aḥer" = "another explanation," placing them after the sections taken from Ishmael's midrash. But the redactor based his work on the midrash of Ishmael's school, and the sentences of Ishmael and his pupils constitute the larger part of his Mekhilta. Similarly, most of the anonymous maxims in the work were derived from the same source, so that it also was known as the "Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael." The redactor must have been a pupil of Judah ha-Nasi, since the latter is frequently mentioned.
He cannot, however, have been Hoshaiah Rabbah, as Abraham Epstein assumes, as might be inferred from Abraham ibn Daud's reference, for Hoshaiah is mentioned in the Mekhilta. Abba Arikha therefore probably redacted the work, as Menahem ibn Zerah says. Abba Arikha however, did not do this in the talmudic academies in Babylonia (Lower Mesopotamia), as Isaac Hirsch Weiss assumes, but in Palestine, taking it after its compilation to Mesopotamia, so that it was called the Mekhilta of Palestine.
In 1968, Wacholder placed the composition of the Mekhilta in 8th-century Egypt whereas Neusner has stated he does not think there are firm methods for dating the text. In more recent work, the consensus has shifted to a significantly earlier date, with Stemberger, Kahane and others dating the final compilation to the third century. The earliest tractate contained within it, Neziqin, may be earlier still.
The Mekhilta begins with Exodus 12, this being the first legal section found in Exodus. That this is the beginning is shown by the Nathan ben Jehiel and the Seder Tannaim v'Amoraim. In like manner, Nissim ben Jacob proves in his Mafteach to Shab. 106b that the conclusion of the Mekhilta which he knew corresponded with that of the Mekhilta now extant. In printed editions, the Mekhilta is divided into nine massektot, each of which is further subdivided into parashiyyot. The nine massektot are as follows:
Hub AI
Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael AI simulator
(@Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael_simulator)
Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael
The Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael (Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: מְכִילְתָּא דְּרַבִּי יִשְׁמָעֵאל IPA /məˈχiltʰɑ/, "a collection of rules of interpretation") is midrash halakha to the Book of Exodus. The Aramaic title Mekhilta corresponds to the Mishnaic Hebrew term מדה middā "measure," "rule", and is used to denote a compilation of exegesis (מדות middoṯ; compare talmudical hermeneutics). Other important mekhiltas were those of Shimon bar Yochai and on Book of Deuteronomy. The latter work was also associated with Rabbi Ishmael's teachings.
According to Steven Fine, both Sifra and the Mekhilta I. were concerned with the sanctification of early study houses after the destruction of the Second Temple.
The author or redactor of the Mekhilta cannot be definitely ascertained. Nissim ben Jacob and Samuel ibn Naghrillah refer to it as the Mekhilta de-Rabbi Yishmael, thus ascribing the authorship to Ishmael. Maimonides likewise says: "R. Ishmael interpreted from 've'eleh shemot' to the end of the Torah, and this explanation is called 'Mekhilta.' R. Akiva also wrote a Mekhilta." This Ishmael, however, is neither an amora by the name of Ishmael as Zecharias Frankel assumed, nor Judah ha-Nasi's contemporary, Ishmael ben Jose, as Gedaliah ibn Yahya ben Joseph thought. He is, on the contrary, Ishmael ben Elisha, Rabbi Akiva's contemporary, as is shown by the passage of Maimonides quoted above.
The present Mekhilta cannot, however, be the one composed by Ishmael, as is proved by the references in it to Ishmael's pupils and to other later tannaim. Both Maimonides and the author of the Halakhot Gedolot, moreover, refer, evidently based on a tradition, to a much larger mekhilta extending from Exodus 1 to the end of the Torah, while the midrash here considered discusses only certain passages of Exodus. It must be assumed, therefore, that Ishmael composed an explanatory midrash to the last four books of the Torah, and that his pupils amplified it.
A later editor, intending to compile a halakhic midrash to Exodus, took Ishmael's work on the book, beginning with ch. 12, since the first eleven chapters contained no references to the halakha. He even omitted passages from the portion which he took, but (by way of compensation) incorporated much material from the other halakhic midrashim, Sifra, the Mekhilta of Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai, and the Sifre to the Book of Deuteronomy. Since the last two works were from a different source, he generally designated them by the introductory phrase, "davar aḥer" = "another explanation," placing them after the sections taken from Ishmael's midrash. But the redactor based his work on the midrash of Ishmael's school, and the sentences of Ishmael and his pupils constitute the larger part of his Mekhilta. Similarly, most of the anonymous maxims in the work were derived from the same source, so that it also was known as the "Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael." The redactor must have been a pupil of Judah ha-Nasi, since the latter is frequently mentioned.
He cannot, however, have been Hoshaiah Rabbah, as Abraham Epstein assumes, as might be inferred from Abraham ibn Daud's reference, for Hoshaiah is mentioned in the Mekhilta. Abba Arikha therefore probably redacted the work, as Menahem ibn Zerah says. Abba Arikha however, did not do this in the talmudic academies in Babylonia (Lower Mesopotamia), as Isaac Hirsch Weiss assumes, but in Palestine, taking it after its compilation to Mesopotamia, so that it was called the Mekhilta of Palestine.
In 1968, Wacholder placed the composition of the Mekhilta in 8th-century Egypt whereas Neusner has stated he does not think there are firm methods for dating the text. In more recent work, the consensus has shifted to a significantly earlier date, with Stemberger, Kahane and others dating the final compilation to the third century. The earliest tractate contained within it, Neziqin, may be earlier still.
The Mekhilta begins with Exodus 12, this being the first legal section found in Exodus. That this is the beginning is shown by the Nathan ben Jehiel and the Seder Tannaim v'Amoraim. In like manner, Nissim ben Jacob proves in his Mafteach to Shab. 106b that the conclusion of the Mekhilta which he knew corresponded with that of the Mekhilta now extant. In printed editions, the Mekhilta is divided into nine massektot, each of which is further subdivided into parashiyyot. The nine massektot are as follows:
Recent media