Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael (JPS Classic Reissues)

INTRODUCTION TO THE 2004 EDITION

ix INTRODUCTION TO THE 2004 EDITION The Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael is the classic anthology of early rabbinic interpretations of the Book of Exodus and one of our earliest sources for midrash, as the activity of biblical commentary that was practiced by the Rabbis is known. The sages whose opinions are recorded in the Mekhilta are all Tannaim—that is, early rabbis who lived in the first two centuries C.E., before the completion of the great law code of early Judaism, the Mishnah, in 220 C.E. It is therefore assumed that the Mekhilta was completed and edited in the Land of Israel by the second half of the fourth century C.E., at the latest. But whenever it reached its final state, there is little question that most of the traditions preserved in the anthology were originally composed and transmitted orally until they were set down in writing, generations later. The title of the work, which is Aramaic, can be translated as “The Treatises According to Rabbi Ishmael.” This Rabbi Ishmael, a famous second-century sage who reputedly founded one of the two main schools of early rabbinic exegesis, was probably not, however, the anthology’s author or editor. He was merely the author of the first truly substantive attributed interpretation cited in the collection—a comment on Exodus 12:2 (I:11)—and for this reason, according to some scholars, the work as a whole was attributed to him. Other scholars believe the reason for the attribution is that many of the legal interpretations in the Mekhilta derive from Ishmael’s school, rather than from that of his rival, Rabbi Akiba.1 1. For the most recent summary of scholarly views on the history of the Mekhilta, see H.L. Strack and Günter Stemberger, Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash, trans. and ed. by Markus Bockmühl, 2nd printing (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1996), 251–57. x INTRODUCTION TO THE 2004 EDITION Aside from these few facts, we know very little about the early history of the Mekhilta. But two points remain undisputed: its importance as a source for understanding how the Rabbis interpreted the Book of Exodus and its vivacity and originality as a work of the midrashic imagination. As its name indicates, the Mekhilta is a collection of treatises, nine in all, each one devoted to a specific section of Exodus and its particular themes. These treatises are: (1) Pisha (Exod. 12:1–13:16), dealing with the injunctions concerning the original Passover sacrifice; (2) Beshallah (Exod. 13:17–14:71), the Exodus from Egypt; (3) Shirta (Exod. 15:1–21), an extended commentary on the Song at the Sea sung by Moses and the Israelites; (4) Vayassa‘ (Exod. 15:22–17:7), dealing with the earliest period of the Israelites’ wanderings in the desert; (5) Amalek (Exod. 17:8–18:27), the war with Amalek and subsequent events; (6) Bahodesh (Exod. 19:1–20:23), on the Revelation at Mount Sinai; (7) Nezikin (Exod. 21:1–22:23), the longest treatise in the work, an extended explication of the many laws in this section of Exodus; (8) Kaspa (Exod. 22:24–23:19), still more legal exegesis; and (9) Shabbata (Exod. 31:12–17, 35:1–3), explanations of two passages concerning the Sabbath laws. Each treatise is divided into a number of chapters; within each chapter the midrash proceeds verse by verse, often phrase by phrase, offering whatever interpretations the editor chose to record and transmit to posterity. Not infrequently, several interpretations may be offered for a single item. As this summary indicates, much of the second half of the Mekhilta is devoted to the explication of matters of halakhah, or law. In fact, the anthological commentary begins only with Exodus. 12:1, which is also the first extended section in the Book of Exodus—indeed, in the Pentateuch—to be devoted to legal injunctions. It seems, then, that the editor chose to begin his commentary at the same point that the Bible itself turns from strict narrative to legal treatise. INTRODUCTION TO THE 2004 EDITION xi This decision to give first attention to matters of law may have allowed the Mekhilta’s editor to justify his untraditional act of committing oral traditions to writing. Whether or not this was the editor ’s motive, the Mekhilta, like the other tannaitic midrashim, is often called a midrash halakhah, or legal midrash, because of...