What is Mishnah Yomit?
The Mishnah, the solid, box-shaped heart of most pages of the Talmud, is one of the foundational texts of rabbinic Judaism.
The Mishnah itself, when it is separated from the Gemara, is not particularly long but it is dense and complex. It teaches us, among other things, about Jewish law, Jewish practice, human relationships, and the relationship between economics and a rapidly changing world, and it was written by and for a world that is not exactly ours. Reading it is an important but formidable undertaking.
Mishnah Yomit can help you learn to read it.
United Synagogue’s Mishnah Yomit – Mishnah a Day – is a daily email that provides the text, a translation, an explanation, and questions for a mishnah each day; hard copy is available as well. It follows the model of Perek Yomi, United Synagogue’s daily emailed Tanach study program. The program, which will take more than a decade to complete, began five and a half years ago, when one of the cycles of Perek Yomi ended.
The idea was the brainchild of United Synagogue’s executive vice president, Rabbi Jerome Epstein, said Dr. Joshua Kulp, who directs and writes it. “We wanted to get regular people, who wouldn’t necessarily be learning Jewish text otherwise, who didn’t have a background in Hebrew and maybe were intimidated by Jewish learning, started on traditional Jewish texts,” Dr. Kulp said. “They can learn Torah in synagogue if they are regular synagogue-goers, but it is harder to get Talmudic or rabbinic texts there. They’re not part of the daily synagogue routine.”
Although participants are expected to study a mishnah every day, they are not expected to take a great deal of time doing so. “We wanted it not to be too complex,” Dr. Kulp said. “A person could spend five minutes on it – that wouldn’t be at all deep, but it could be done.” In general, he assumes that most people would devote between 10 and 15 minutes, “not an hour or two. We keep things simple.”
Dr. Kulp, who comes from New Jersey, made aliya in 1994 and now lives in Jerusalem. He grew up in the Conservative movement – his father was a cantor and his mother a youth director – and he was among the co-founders of the Conservative Yeshiva at United Synagogue’s Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center. Now he teaches Talmud at the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies.
The Talmud is a confusing book; even the basic facts about it are confusing, and so is its terminology. Dr. Kulp explains it here. In the world of the Talmud words sometimes have double meanings; Mishnah, often spelled with a capital M, refers to the entire text at the center of the Talmud; mishnah, with a lower-case m, is each individual unit of the Mishnah. The Talmud usually means both the Mishnah and the Gemara, the later commentaries that surround it on the printed page, but it also can mean only the Gemara. The Talmud is divided into six books, the books into tractates, and the tractates into mishnaot and sugyot. The writers, who often are anonymous although the compiler, Rabbi Judah haNasi, is not, wrote in a style unlike any we would use today, and their assumptions, understandings, and world view are not are our own.
People who do not have much Jewish education can study Mishnah, learn from it, and grow from it, Dr. Kulp believes.
Mishnah Yomit emails are sent to individual people, not to groups, and certainly people can study on their own, but often they find that they learn more, understand more, and engage more with the text if they study in groups. Synagogues often offer such groups.
Discussion can be virtual, too. Participants can join a listserv, where they can post questions or discuss what they’ve learned with each other. Dr. Kulp is active on the listserv, and answers questions posted there.
Mishnah Yomit began in 2002; at the end of June students finished the third book they’d tackled. That major accomplishment called for a celebration. When a group finishes one of the six books of the Talmud, it often marks the occasion with a siyum, a combination of study and party.
In New Rochelle, New York, Beth El Synagogue Center’s Mishnah Yomit group, which had been studying together since the program began, invited Dr. Kulp to the shul to lead the siyum. “There are two groups there, one on Thursday night and one on Shabbat afternoon,” Dr. Kulp said. “They’re both self-led; people read the week’s worth of material and get together to discuss it.” Many group members have been participating since it began; “they’ve not only been learning but have formed a very cohesive group,” he added.
Dr. Kulp flew into New York just before Shabbat began and left soon after it ended. He could spare no more time than that, but both he and the Mishnah Yomit group felt his presence would be so important that even a trip that short would be worthwhile. During Shabbat, he gave two shiurim, or talks, one on pluralism and the other on participation in the festivals that make up a Jewish year. Between 40 and 50 people were at the siyum; there are between 15 and 20 participants in each of the Mishnah Yomit groups.
“I wanted to go because I wanted to see who was learning with me,” Dr. Kulp said. “I learn a tremendous amount by writing Mishnah Yomit, just by writing an explanation almost every day.” (He writes more than one lesson on Fridays and the days leading up to Shabbat.) “There’s no doubt that the best way to learn is to teach others.”
He is curious about his students. “They’ve not been even been nameless faces or faceless names but completely anonymous, and for them I’ve been a faceless name. It was inspirational being there, seeing everybody’s commitment to being there. It recharges my batteries.”
Mishnah Yomit is an ongoing program; anyone is welcome to begin at any time. Now, at the beginning of a new book, would be a particularly good time. Click here for an overview of the program and here to register. Archives with old Mishnah Yomit material is available on the web, so anyone beginning late can catch up.
