Table of Contents
Esther's request: Eternalize my Megillah 1
Bar Kokhba's Revolt: R. Elazar haModa'i as activist 33
What will I eat tommorow? 41
Illness: Divine or Natural? 51
Scriptural disputes in Mekhilta: Midrash of Shemot
Introduction 57
The Bitter Waters of Marah
(15:22) Who ordered Israel to leave Yam Suf? 62
(15:23) How many encampments were there at Marah? 63
(15:24) What was the extent of Israel's sin? 64
(15:25) What type of tree did HaShem show Moshe? 65
(15:25) Which laws did Moshe teach them? 69
(15:25) What was the effect of these mitzvot on the
populace? 72
(15:26) What is the explanation of this verse? 73
(15:27) Were the springs at Eilim there by design? 77
Mann
(16:2) What was the extent of Israel's sin? 80
(16:3) Did the Jews eat meat in Egypt? 80
(16:4) Was Israel's complaining sinful? 81
(16:4) How much faith must a person have? 82
(16:9) Was the gathering to afford respect or to receive
punishment? 84
(16:14) What rose to Heaven? 85
(16:19) Who spoke to the Israelites? 86
(16:23) To what extent was the taste of the mann
personalized? 87
(16:26) Did the mann fall on Yom Kippur? 88
(16:30) What blessing was bestowed for observing Shabbat?
89
(16:31) To what could the mann be compared? 91
(16:32) For which generations was the
mann set aside? 91
(16:35) For how many days after Moshe's
death did Israel continue to eat the
mann? 92
(17:7) Who named Massah and Meriva? 93
Amalek
(17:8) Why and how did Amalek attack? 94
(17:9) By what criteria were the soldiers chosen?
95
(17:9) Why did Yehoshua need to be prodded to
fight Amalek? 96
(17:10) What were they going to do on the morrow?
97
(17:12) Explanation of several verses 98
(17:13) To what extent was Amalek slaughtered?
101
(17:14) Anointment or prophecy? 103
(17:14) How much of Amalek need be annihilated
and how long would the process take? 104
(17:14) What if Amalek is successful? 105
Yitro
(18:1) What did Yitro hear? 108
(18:1) Was Yitro a priest or governmental agent?
109
(18:2) Why did Moshe send away Tzipora? 110
(18:3) Who was the stranger? 111
(18:6) How did Yitro communicate with Moshe? 112
(18:19) For which goodness did Yitro rejoice? 113
(18:20) Of which laws should the nation be
informed? 113
(18:18) How will Moshe be effected? 114
(18:20) Of which laws should the nation be
informed? 115
(18:21) What are the priorities in choosing
judges? 116
(18:22) Is immersion in Torah study a
prerequisite for a judge? 117
(18:24) Did Moshe consult
HaShern? 118
(18:27) What gifts did Moshe give his
father-in-law? 118
Appendices
Summary outline of case study 120
R. Elazar haModa'i: Kabbalist 131
Original texts 136
