About Mishna Study
The Torah given to us at Har Sinai was divided into two parts: the Written Torah and the Oral Torah.
The Written Torah consists of the Five Books of the Torah, as well as the rest of the 24 books of
Tanach which were later added. For many generations, the Oral Torah, containing many details to
explain the laws of the Written Torah, was handed down verbally from generation to generation. During
the years leading up to the Destruction of the Temple, however, some ambiguities developed in the
transmission of the Oral Torah. Certain details began to be forgotten, and disputes arose regarding
various laws on which the earlier Sages had been in unanimous agreement. In order to preserve the Oral
Torah, Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi compiled all of the main views of the Torah sages of his era into a vast
composition—the six orders of the Mishnah. The Mishnayos reflect the positions of the Tannaim (the
Torah sages of that era) on all areas of Jewish law, both Biblical and Rabbinic. Ever since their
compilation, the Mishnayos have been the sole source of halacha (Jewish law) in every generation.
The Mishnayos form the basis for both the Talmud Bavli and the Talmud Yerushalmi, both of which were written to discuss, decipher, and interpret the text of the Mishnayos. Throughout the generations, it has been a cherished goal of Torah scholars to commit the entire text of Mishnayos (close to 192,000 words!) to memory, enabling them to constantly review and refer to the Mishnayos in the course of their studies.
