About: Mekhilta le-Sefer Devarim

The Mekhilta le-Sefer Devarim (Hebrew: מכילתא לספר דברים) is a halakhic midrash to Deuteronomy from the school of Rabbi Ishmael which is no longer extant. No midrash by this name is mentioned in Talmudic literature, nor do the medieval authors refer to such a work. Although Maimonides says, "R. Ishmael explained from 've-eleh shemot' to the conclusion of the Torah, that is, the Mekhilta," he did not see this midrash, which also includes Deuteronomy, since he does not quote any Mekhilta passages to that book of the Pentateuch in his Sefer ha-Mitzvot, although he draws upon the halakhic midrashim in discussing most of the commandments. Maimonides probably knew, therefore, merely through an old tradition which he had heard that such a midrash by R. Ishmael existed.