Shtark Torah for Shtark Yiddin

Post by Noa Rubin:  I know we’re all afraid to say it (see March 2020), but it is almost Purim again. In the height of pandemic life, I find myself seeking meaning in unconventional places. It’s not unlike me to turn to Jewish tradition, but I’ve chosen to push myself (and you!) to brave the unknown, where I believe we can find something fresh at a time that we could really use it. But first, I turn to an oft-cited mishnah. Mishnah Megillah 2:1        הקורא את המגלה למפרע, לא יצא. קראה על פה, קראה תרגום, בכל לשון, לא יצא. אבל...

This post is a continued explication of mishnah Sanhedrin 11:2, a tradition spelling out the ritual procession of the ‘rebellious elder.’ We have seen the rebellious sage brought to the highest courts in the land, inside the (long since burned and broken) temple complex, atop which he would be prompted to defend his teachings. One critical insight mentioned was that the rabbis transmitting the tradition were living in a reality far removed from being able to practice the ritual itself. As the rabbis locate this procession in a past where they had the power to adjudicate trials of capital punishment,...

In my previous post I explored some of the ways that one might connect the Israelite practice and belief to that of the early rabbis. I discussed the common ‘creed’ of the Jewish people: the Shema prayer. By closely analyzing the language there we emerged with an understanding of how important orality, recitation, and repetition became in the early rabbinic project, and ultimately led to the creation of The Mishnah. In this post, we’ll examine mishnah Sanhedrin 11:2, the first of many mishnayos that I’ll hope to shed some light on in this series (and I’ll only get through half...

In this post I’ll begin to explore some of the driving forces that led to the development of the early rabbis’ most influential project: The Mishnah. The central focus of my argument is that the rabbinic reaction to the destruction of the second Jewish temple in Jerusalem was one attempt at fulfilling the Israelite creed par excellence (in its preeminent form). That is to say, there were actually many organized (some more so than others) reactions to the various questions that faced communities of Israelite folk living in Roman occupied Palestine during the first and second centuries of the Common...

So ‘The Mishnah,’ that grand cannon of Rabbinic reasoning. It’s likely that you’ve heard the term before if you’ve made it here (and if you haven’t then big props to you).  I’d go even further to say that many people reading this post believe they have some sort of understanding of what the Mishnah is, and some probably think they’ve got a pretty good understanding. Among this circle of learners, however, we are abandoning previously held notions about what the Mishnah is, was, and has been to many people, in search of a new understanding of what that body of...