My Mishnah Yomit group finished Seder Zeraim!
The Mishnah, the great code of Jewish Law edited by Rabbi Judah the Prince in 200 CE, has six sederim, six major divisions. They deal with civil/criminal law, Jewish holidays, marriage/divorce, sacrifices, purity, and agricultural laws. Much of it is no longer observed but there is always something to learn, which has application in other aspects of life. Also, sometimes this is 'torah lishma" learning, study simply for the sake of learning with no practical application.
Seven years ago the Conservative Movement started it's process of learning Mishnah. Doing one Mishnah every day since April 19, 2002 we have just completed our fourth of the six seders. While none of us has actually read one mishnah a day - in our group of 4 everyone does seem to catch up at least for/at the monthly review sessions. It's a great honor to prepare and study with my fellow learners. And it's a really incredible commitment to Torah!
In my job I do study Torah every day. The commitment to Mishnah for all these years though is special. It's not only learning to prepare for teaching a class, which is so much of my learning. It's exploring the depths of Torah for its own sake - to learn what our tradition and God asks of us in order to be Jewish and to be fully human. I look forward to completing the Mishnah with by "group" in around three more years...
The Mishnah, the great code of Jewish Law edited by Rabbi Judah the Prince in 200 CE, has six sederim, six major divisions. They deal with civil/criminal law, Jewish holidays, marriage/divorce, sacrifices, purity, and agricultural laws. Much of it is no longer observed but there is always something to learn, which has application in other aspects of life. Also, sometimes this is 'torah lishma" learning, study simply for the sake of learning with no practical application.
Seven years ago the Conservative Movement started it's process of learning Mishnah. Doing one Mishnah every day since April 19, 2002 we have just completed our fourth of the six seders. While none of us has actually read one mishnah a day - in our group of 4 everyone does seem to catch up at least for/at the monthly review sessions. It's a great honor to prepare and study with my fellow learners. And it's a really incredible commitment to Torah!
In my job I do study Torah every day. The commitment to Mishnah for all these years though is special. It's not only learning to prepare for teaching a class, which is so much of my learning. It's exploring the depths of Torah for its own sake - to learn what our tradition and God asks of us in order to be Jewish and to be fully human. I look forward to completing the Mishnah with by "group" in around three more years...
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