Study a Mishnah with Rabbi Neal Joseph Loevinger. Introduction Archived Mishnayot
	What's a Mishnah? The Mishnah is a collection of ancient rabbinic texts, mostly laws, but also some stories and ethical teachings. The Mishnah assumed its final edited form around 200 C.E., but its teachings date from before the destruction of the Second Temple, in 70 C.E. The Mishnah is is written in (relatively simple) Hebrew, often very terse, and later generations of rabbis spent a lot of time discussing it and resolving apparent contradictions; this text is called the Gemara, and together with the Mishnah, forms the Talmud. The Talmud contains all kinds of discussions not strictly related to the Mishnah; it assumes its final form roughly 600 C.E. The standard Talmud in use today is the Babylonian Talmud. A less developed (and less studied) Gemara created in the land of Israel also exists, and is called the Jerusalem Talmud. Generally, if it is not specificied, the Babylonian Talmud is meant. The Mishnah is divided into six "orders," or broad divisions, with multiple "tractates" (a masechet, in Hebrew- which actually means WEB, predating the world wide web, but with some interesting parallels), covering all sorts of specific subjects, like prayer, Shabbat, holidays, civil laws, agricultural laws, family laws, and so on. A chapter within a masechet is called a perek, and each individual paragraph or law is also called (and this can be confusing,) a mishnah. Thus, you might see a citation like "Megillah 3:2." This would then mean the second individual mishnah in the third perek (chapter) of the masechet called "Megillah," which has to do with Purim and related topics. At Kolel, we're currently studying a masechet called Brachot, literally "blessings," which as its name suggests is concerned with prayers, liturgy, blessings, and so on. Every week, I'll put one individual mishnah on this web page, though we go a bit faster in the course. Context and Commentators Like any ancient text, the Mishnah can be occasionally obscure. In this section of the web page, I'll explain the context and background of the mishnah, and also bring some of the commentaries we discuss in class. Some of the commentators on the Mishnah include: - the later rabbis of the Gemara. -Rashi, the most famous commentator on the Talmud, who lived around 1100 C.E., in France. Rashi likes to explain obscure words and concepts. - R. Ovadiah from Bartenura- also called "The Bartenura"- who lived in Italy and Israel, around 1500. His commentary tells us how the law was later decided, and he also often summarizes long discussions in the Gemara. - R. Pinchas Kehati, a contemporary Israeli scholar, whose commentary on the Mishnah has been translated into English. An advantage of his commentary is that he writes about the personalities mentioned, as well as explaining relevant legal background and quoting related texts. - R. Adin Steinsaltz, one of the greatest Talmud scholars of the modern era, who has translated much of the Talmud into modern Hebrew, and who fills in missing words and concepts when the text is obscure or terse. - R. Philip Blackman, an English rabbi from the early part of this century, who wrote an English commentary on the Mishnah, which to me seems to emphasis historical context as well as obscure words and phrases. Open Ended Questions We'll end the discussion of each mishnah with a bit of religious or philosophical speculation. The Mishnah is the product of a very turbulent historical period; the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem forced the Jewish people to create a portable religion of ritual commandments, prayer, study and good deeds- in other words, the Judaism we practice today. Trying to understand how the ancient rabbis transformed Judaism may give us some insight into our own spiritual aspirations and dilemmas. NJL
	[Lobby] [Library] [Classroom] [Office] [Lounge] [Gift Shop] [Site Map] Kolel: The Adult Centre for Liberal Jewish Learning