Intro to the Mishnah
The Best Jewish Book You've Never Read
6 Wednesdays from 6:00 - 7:00 p.m. ET, Feb. 18 - March 25
Why do observant Jews pray multiple times per day? Why do we recite the Four Questions during Passover seders? Where does the quote "If not now, when?" come from?
The answers lie in the Mishnah.
In straightforward terms, the Mishnah is an edited record of the complex body of material known as oral Torah that was transmitted in the aftermath of the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE.
But to put it more directly: The religious legal text is one of the most epic, foundational texts in all of Jewish history — and one of the most difficult for a modern reader to understand.
In our new six-part online course, expert Rabbi Elliot Goldberg will guide us through the important parts of the Mishnah, making it accessible and understandable to new (and returning) readers.
Class sessions are one hour long. There are no refunds for this course.
About Your Teacher
Rabbi Elliot Goldberg is a frequent contributor to My Jewish Learning’s A Daily Dose of Talmud email series and regularly teaches Talmud and Torah for My Jewish Learning’s audience. He is the founder of Goldberg Coaching and Consulting, which supports nonprofit organizations and the people who work in them. He is an ICF certified executive coach with more than two decades of experience leading Jewish day schools and a lifetime of summers at Camp Ramah.
Class Schedule
Session 1: What is the Mishnah and Where Did it Come From?
Session 2: What the First Mishnah Teaches Us About Reading What Follows
Session 3: The Value (and Structure) of Sacred Disagreement (Makhloket)
Session 4: How the Rabbis Used Biblical Verses to Shape the Law
Session 5: How the Rabbis Made Changes to Improve Judaism (and the World)
Session 6: Rabbinic Storytelling and What We Can Learn From It
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About My Jewish Learning
My Jewish Learning is the internet's leading pluralistic Jewish education resource. We offer thousands of articles, videos, live classes and other resources to help you navigate all aspects of Judaism and Jewish life — from Jewish ritual and practice to texts to history and culture.
My Jewish Learning is geared toward all backgrounds and levels of knowledge and is a part of 70 Faces Media, the largest Jewish digital media organization in North America.