MEKHILTHA (Aram. «measure»). — Midrash (q.v.), a collection of interpretive and methodological material concerning the Pentateuch, of a preceptive-narrative character and referring mainly to Exodus (ed. M. Friedmann, Vienna 1870; recent ed. by Lauterbach).
It is a pseudo-epigraphic midrash, since it is attributed to the tannaim (q.v.) of the 2nd century A.D., R. Jismael and Simeon ben Jochai. It is not excluded that the most ancient elements derive from the teaching of these masters, but as a whole the M. was enriched by additions from scholars of subsequent generations.
BIBL.: H. L. Strack, Einleitung in Talmud und Midrasch, 5th ed., Munich 1921, p. 201; I. Ziegler, s.V. in Jüd. Lex., IV, 1, p. 3; S. Dubnov, Weltgeschichte des jüdischen Volkes, III, Berlin 1926, pp. 275 sq., 581.