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This article refers to the Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael. There is a separate article on the Mekhilta de-Rabbi Shimon Mekhilta or Mekilta (Aramaic: מכילתא, a collection of rules of interpretation) is a halakhic midrash to the Book of Exodus. The name "Mekhilta", corresponds to the Hebrew "middah" (= "measure," "rule"), and is used to denote a compilation of Scriptural exegesis ("middot"; comp. Talmudical Hermeneutics). ==First Mention== Neither the Babylonian Talmud nor the Jerusalem Talmud mentions this work under the name "Mekhilta," nor does the word occur in any of the passages of the Talmud in which the other halakhic midrashim, Sifra and Sifre, are named (Ḥag. 3a; Ḳid. 49b; Ber. 47b; etc.). It seems to be intended, however, in one passage (Yer. Ab. Zarah iv. 8), which runs as follows: "R. Josiah showed a Mekhilta from which he cited and explained a sentence." His quotation actually occurs in the Mekhilta, "Mishpaṭim" (ed. I.H. Weiss, p. 106b). It is not certain, however, whether the word "Mekhilta" here refers to the work under consideration; for it possibly alludes to a baraita collection—which might also be designated a "Mekhilta" (comp. Pes. 48a; Tem. 33a; Giṭ. 44a)—containing the sentence in question. On the other hand, this midrash, apparently in written form, is mentioned several times in the Talmud under the title "She'ar Sifre debe Rab" = "The Other Books of the Schoolhouse" (Yoma 74a; B. B. 124b). A geonic responsum (A. Harkavy, ''Teshubot ha-Geonim,'' p. 31, No. 66, Berlin, 1888) in which occurs a passage from the Mekhilta (ed. I.H. Weiss, p. 41a) likewise indicates that this work was known as "She'ar Sifre debe Rab." The first person to mention the Mekhilta by name was the author of the ''Halakhot Gedolot'' (p. 144a, ed. Warsaw, 1874). Another geonic responsum refers to it as the "Mekhilta de-Ereẓ Yisrael" (A. Harkavy, l.c. p. 107, No. 229), probably to distinguish it from the Mekhilta de-Rabbi Shimon, which was generally known in the Babylonian schools (D. Hoffmann, ''Zur Einleitung in die Halachischen Midraschim,'' p. 36). ==Mekhilta of R. Ishmael== The author, or more correctly the redactor, of the Mekhilta cannot be definitely ascertained. R. Nissim ben Jacob, in his ''Mafteaḥ'' (to Shab. 106b), and R. Samuel ha-Nagid, in his introduction to the Talmud, refer to it as the "Mekhilta de-Rabbi Yishmael," thus ascribing the authorship to Ishmael. Maimonides likewise says in the introduction to his ''Yad ha-Ḥazaḳah'': "R. Ishmael interpreted from 've'eleh shemot' to the end of the Torah, and this explanation is called 'Mekhilta.' R. Akiba also wrote a Mekhilta." This R. Ishmael, however, is neither an amora by the name of Ishmael, as Z. Frankel assumed (''Introduction to Yerushalmi'', p. 105b), nor Rebbi's contemporary, Rabbi Ishmael ben Jose, as Gedaliah ibn Yaḥya thought (''Shalshelet ha-Ḳabbalah,'' p. 24a, Zolkiev, 1804). He is, on the contrary, identical with R. Ishmael ben Elisha, R. Akiba's contemporary, as is shown by the passage of Maimonides quoted above. The present Mekhilta cannot, however, be the one composed by R. Ishmael, as is proved by the references in it to R. Ishmael's pupils and to other later tannaim. Both Maimonides and the author of the ''Halakhot Gedolot,'' moreover, refer, evidently on the basis of a tradition, to a much larger Mekhilta extending from Ex. i. to the end of the Torah, while the midrash here considered discusses only certain passages of Exodus. It must be assumed, therefore, that R. Ishmael composed an explanatory midrash to the last four books of the Torah, and that his pupils amplified it (M. Friedmann, ''Einleitung in die Mechilta,'' pp. 64, 73; Hoffmann, l.c. p. 73). A later editor, intending to compile a halakhic midrash to Exodus, took R. Ishmael's work on the book, beginning with ch. xii., since the first eleven chapters contained no references to the Law (Friedmann, l.c. p. 72; Hoffmann, l.c. p. 37). He even omitted passages from the portion which he took, but, by way of compensation, he incorporated much material from the other halakhic midrashim, Sifra, R. Shimon bar Yochai's Mekilta, and the Sifre to Deuteronomy. Since the last two works were from a different source, he generally designated them by the introductory phrase, "dabar aḥer" = "another explanation," placing them after the sections taken from R. Ishmael's midrash. But the redactor based his work on the midrash of R. Ishmael's school, and the sentences of R. 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 Rebbi, since the latter is frequently mentioned (comp. Abraham ibn Daud in ''Sefer HaKabbalah'' in A. Neubauer, ''M. J. C.'', p. 57, Oxford, 1887, who likewise ascribes it to a pupil of Rebbi). He cannot, however, have been R. Hoshaiah, as A. Epstein assumes (''Beiträge zur Jüdischen Alterthumskunde,'' p. 55, Vienna, 1887), as might be inferred from Abraham ibn Daud's reference, for Hoshaiah is mentioned in the Mekhilta (ed. Weiss, p. 60b). Abba Arika (Rab) therefore probably redacted the work, as Menahem ibn Zerah says in the preface to ''Zedah la-Derek'' (p. 14b). Rab, however, did not do this in Babylonia, as I.H. Weiss assumes (''Einleitung in die Mechilta'', p. 19), but in Palestine, taking it after its compilation to Babylonia, so that it was called "Mekhilta de-Eretz Yisrael".) 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mekhilta」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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