The Mishnah is the written form of the spoken legal tradition received by Israel at Mt. Sinai around 3500 years ago. The Torah is the written component of the law by which all religious Jews are required to live. But the written Toah doesn't contain all the details - these were given as an 'appendix' to the written Torah. For example, the Torah talks of Shabbos (Sabbath) observance, but doesn't tell you what it means to 'observe' Shabbos. But if you look in the Mishnah, it is explained in great detail.
There was a time when the law was known, and the Mishnah was a convenient form in which to teach that law - many examples use repetition to emphasise the differences between similar cases, and the Mishnah was meant to be committed to memory. So why was it written down? Because of Babylonian, Syrian-Greek, and Roman oppression caused people to forget, and many of the greatest Rabbis were killed before they could pass on their knowledge. In order to preserve what was known, the head of the Sanhedrin (Judean ruling council of Rabbis), Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi, compiled these teachings into a written format which could be kept for the future.
This did the job, but in later years, the very concise nature of the Mishnah meant that people could no longer understand it. So the Rabbis of that time compiled the more detailed teachings on the Mishnah, and this work was know as the Talmud, or Gemorah (completion).
The Mishnah is
divided into 6 Sedarim (orders), each grouped around a central theme:
| Hebrew Name | (English Meaning) | Subjects covered |
| Zeraiim | (Seeds) | Agriculture and tithes/taxes on produce. |
| Moed | (Times) | Festivals. |
| Nashim | (Women) | Marriages, divorce, oaths. |
| Nezikin | (Damages) | Torts, damages, commerce. |
| Kodashim | (Holy Things) | Temple sacrifices & ritual, 'devoted' objects. |
| Taharos | (Ritual Purity) | Ritual contamination and their cleansing. |
Most of the Mishnah is straight Halachah (law), but there are sometimes interesting annecdotal insights into why or how the law was decided in the way which we know today - we see an account of how Rabbi X did a particular mitzvah (commandment), or hear in the name of Rabbi Y that Rabbi Z taught something different.
For me, the most fascinating accounts are those of the daily ritual in the Temple, given in Masechta Tamid (the continual offering), and the description of the Temple in its final form just before the Romans destroyed it, given in Masechta Middos (measurements).
Sometimes, when I learn a Mishnah, I find the answer to the question very simple, and sometimes it's a lot harder, or even impossible to fathom what the Rabbis who taught those Mishnayot - over 2000 years ago - meant by a single phrase that means nothing to us today. At a certain point, you are forced to realise that the Mishnah is not meant to be light reading - you have to study it in depth. Things which the Rabbis took for granted that their students would all know as part of their daily lives (such as weights and measures, places and customs) are lost to us, and we need to ask 'help' from other sources.
So, just as you need Rashi (Rabbi Shimon Yitzchaki) to explain the Torah, you need the commentary of Rav. Ovadia of Bartenura, and the Tosephos Yom Tov (Rabbi Lipman) to understand the Mishnah. And beyond that, if the question is still unclear, you have to look to the Talmud, which is a commentary to explain the Mishnah, and is so ancient that it has commentaries upon it in turn - the Tosephos Yom Tov summarises the discussion on that Mishnah in the Talmud. There are too many commentaries available to list them all here.
Zeraiim - Moed - Nashim - Nezekin - Kodoshim - Tahorot
What is Mishnah? - Why is it so Interesting? - A Few of My Favourite Things - Mishnah Glossary