Ten years of Mi Yodeya -- let's learn some Mishna!
Mi Yodeya will be celebrating our tenth birthday in Kislev 5780 / December 2019! As ten is traditionally the Mishna birthday1, let's mark this auspicious occasion by completing a collective study of the entire corpus of Mishna.2 Everyone who's ever used Mi Yodeya is invited to take part by studying one or more of the Mishna's 523 chapters. We'll finish with a completion party (siyum) or parties on a date to be determined in Kislev/December.
Here's what to do:
Choose a tractate. The 63 tractates of Mishna, organized into their six orders, are listed in the accepted answer below, along with the number of chapters and mishnayot (~paragraphs) in each one.3 Pick a tractate, and click on it to go to its sign-up post.4
Claim a chapter. On the sign-up post, select one chapter that's not already claimed. (You can pick another when you finish this one!) Claim it by adding your name5 after "Claimed by:".
- O Chapter 3 (10 mishnayot) Claimed by: your name here
If you'd like to dedicate your learning to a loved one's memory, you can add that information after your name.
Learn that chapter! At a minimum, read and understand the text of the Mishna. As the Mishna's language and structure can be cryptic, we recommend using at least one commentary or elucidating translation, or studying the associated chapter in the Talmud. Here's a list of in-print and electronic resources (some of them free online) you can use. Go as broad and as deep as you like!
As you're learning, take note of questions that come up in your mind, even if you immediately find answers for them, to be ready for ...
The Mi Yodeya twist: Find a Mi Yodeya question or answer (or a few, if you can) that relates directly to your chapter, or post a question or answer that came up in your learning. Add a link to that post below where you signed up.
- O Chapter 3 (10 mishnayot) Claimed by: your name here http://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/######/your-question-about-chapter-3
If you find a chapter that someone has kindly already added a link to, you may skip to Step 5, but do feel free to add more links.
If you come across a question or answer that relates to any particular chapter of Mishna (or Talmud), even one you're not learning, consider kindly adding a link here!
Mark it complete. When you've completed your study of your chapter and added a Mi Yodeya link for it, change the 'O' at the beginning of the sign-up line to an 'X'.
- X Chapter 3 (10 mishnayot) Claimed by: your name here http://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/######/your-question-about-chapter-3
Repeat steps 1-6.
If you can, add the relevant tag and a short summary of the tractate (if not already done). Don't worry if you can't write a complete summary; some information is better than none, and the community is invited to edit further.
The minimum time investment per chapter is probably an hour or two. Try one! We really want to get as many people as we can involved. If you would like a study partner to help you out, leave a comment here or drop by our chat room, and we'll find you one.
Click here to see how far we've gotten so far. At the end of this, God-willing, we'll not only have worked together to complete a study of the entire Mishna, we'll have something to show for our efforts: an index of Q&A covering all 523 chapters of the Mishna. Let's make it happen!
1. According to the program set forth by R' Yehuda ben Teima in Avot 5:21.
2. Thanks to DonielF , Daniel, and Double AA for brainstorming concepts for this intiative.
3. Lists generated using Double AA's spreadsheet as a base. Synopses adapted from Wikipedia's "Mishnah" entry.
4. If you prefer, you can scroll through all of sign-up posts in order by sorting this post's answers by oldest.
5. If you're new to Mi Yodeya and don't yet have the ability to edit the lists here, email us at [email protected], and we'll help you out.
