Join The New Cycle of Mishna Yomit Today

     The Jewish People knew that they would be in Egypt for a long time before they would return to the Promised Land. If they wanted to make it through the years of exile unscathed they needed a long term strategy. We read in Parshat Shemot that Yaakov’s descendants failed to come up with such a strategy that might have tempered their exile experience. For example, Yosef encouraged them to live apart from the Egyptians. This may have been intended as a way to prevent assimilation. This may have been intended as a way to prevent the Jews from becoming too “familiar” to the Egyptians, since familiarity breeds contempt. The result is that the Egyptians develop a negative attitude towards the Israelites, and this leads to the years of Egyptian slavery.

      The only thing more difficult than creating a long term plan is sticking to a plan for the long term. It’s difficult to make a long term plan because of the fear we have of either starting or the fear of failing. We have an opportunity today, Shabbat December 25, to embark upon a relatively easy long term goal that is consistent with our values and that could perhaps inspire and encourage us to make (and stick to) other long term goals: Mishna Yomit.

      The first Siyum Hashas for Daf Yomi (one page of Talmud per day, finishing after 7 plus years) took place on Tu B’Shevat, February 2, 1931. The primary venue was Rav Meir Shapiro’s own Yeshiva, which had recently opened, Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva in Lublin, Poland. Rav Meir presided and thousands attended. But seven and a half years later, in 1938, Rav Meir Shapiro had already passed away and the Jewish community needed to build on its accomplishment of Daf Yomi. Rav Meir’s replacement as rosh yeshiva, Rav Aryeh Tzvi Frommer, the Kozhiglover Rav, noticed that the goal of complete Torah mastery was still lacking. After all, there are many sections of the Mishnah that have no Gemara attached to them, particularly in the Sedarim (orders) of Zeraim and Tahorot. He envisioned a daily Mishnah Yomit program to fill in the gaps and established the program in 1938. The Nazis shut down the Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva and the Kozhiglover Rav was forced to flee, eventually arriving at the Warsaw Ghetto and ultimately was murdered by the Nazis at the Majdanek concentration camp on May 2, 1943.

      Fortunately, the story of Mishna Yomit does not end in Majdanek. Earlier, in 1935, Rav Frommer had travelled to Israel with two students who chose to settle there. One of them, Rav Yonah Shtenzel, later became affiliated with the Chief Rabbinate in Tel Aviv and was appointed to oversee kashrut in the city. Devastated by the Holocaust, Rav Shtenzel reached out to the Torah leaders of his day including Rabbi Isser Zalman Meltzer, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, the Gerrer Rebbe and the Lubavitcher Rebbe for support for the Mishna Yomit project: To study two mishnayot each day in memory of the 6 million Jews murdered during the Holocaust.

      The start of the next Mishna Yomit cycle is Shabbat, December 25, 2021. I invite you to join me in embarking on this journey of Torah study that has the ability to connect us through the prism of Torah. We spend time on those things we value, and we value those things on which we spend time. There are many resources available to make participating in Mishna Yomit easier, including: https://www.sefaria.org/calendars and the newly released OU All Mishnah App, available in the Apple and Google App stores. If you are interested in embarking on this learning journey please let me know as I would love to create a community around Mishna Yomit to encourage each other and to celebrate our successes along the way.