Shani and Tani welcome you to the V’Shinantam Mishnah Program! This two year program, the first and only of its kind in the world, introduces children to the magical world of Mishnah. As Rabbi Y’hudah ben Tema says in Pirke Avot, Chapter 5, mishnah 21:
"...בן חמש שנים למקרא, בן עשר למשנה... בן חמש עשרה לתלמוד."
After four years of primary school and study of Mikra, the student is ready to begin study of Mishnah. What is Mishnah? The word “mishnah” literally means, roughly, “something known thoroughly that was learned by repetition.” In the world of the Tannaim and Amoraim, though, “mishnah” means “halachah” – a law that was learned by memory, passed down from teacher to student, father to son and mother to daughter, without accompanying rationale, reasoning or explanation – just the halachah itself! These halachot are part of the Torah Sheb’al Peh, the oral tradition, passed down and developed since Mount Sinai, for hundreds and hundreds of years until the time of the Tannaim.
During these hundreds of years, the oral traditions were passed down orally, never written down, and although the content of the traditions was consistent from one family or teacher to the other, the literary format was different from place to place. That is, every teacher or parent would pass down the tradition in whatever form or formulation they wanted – some would teach with examples, some without examples, some would teach general rules, some specific, some would organize their teachings by topic, others by the name of the Rabbi who said them, etc. By the time of the Tannaim, at the beginning of the first century of the Common Era, there were thousands of traditions like this in various forms. Something had to be done!
Over the next few generations, the Tannaim struggled with this issue, until finally the traditions were organized into six topical orders, which were divided into sixty-three topic tractates, or books, which in turn were organized into chapters. The Mishnah that we have today was born!
The six topical orders of the Mishnah include about 4225 individual paragraphs of law. How are primary age children going to know where to start and what to learn in what order? Even more importantly, how will they learn how to learn? Will it be boring, interesting, fascinating or what?
For this, the V’Shinantam Mishnah Program was created – to ensure that the primary school child’s introduction to Mishnah will be clear, understood, enjoyable and educational. V’Shinantam teaches Mishnah – the content is primary – but V’Shinantam also teaches background, history, and most importantly – SKILLS! After two years of V’Shinantam, a student will know how to look at a new mishnah, how to learn it, what to stress and what questions to ask – all in a learning environment suited to various learning needs and styles.
The V’Shinantam Mishnah Program teaches the two first stages in the study of Torah Sheb’al Peh – Mishnah and Torat HaTannaim. See the Theory page on this site for more information on how these two stages fit into the overall Bonayich program for study of Torah Sheb’al Peh.
Want to learn more? Click on the two program year buttons to your left, and Shani and Tani will show you around…
Shani and Tani welcome you to the V’Shinantam Mishnah Program! This two year program, the first and only of its kind in the world, introduces children to the magical world of Mishnah. As Rabbi Y’hudah ben Tema says in Pirke Avot, Chapter 5, mishnah 21:
"...בן חמש שנים למקרא, בן עשר למשנה... בן חמש עשרה לתלמוד."
After four years of primary school and study of Mikra, the student is ready to begin study of Mishnah. What is Mishnah? The word “mishnah” literally means, roughly, “something known thoroughly that was learned by repetition.” In the world of the Tannaim and Amoraim, though, “mishnah” means “halachah” – a law that was learned by memory, passed down from teacher to student, father to son and mother to daughter, without accompanying rationale, reasoning or explanation – just the halachah itself! These halachot are part of the Torah Sheb’al Peh, the oral tradition, passed down and developed since Mount Sinai, for hundreds and hundreds of years until the time of the Tannaim.
During these hundreds of years, the oral traditions were passed down orally, never written down, and although the content of the traditions was consistent from one family or teacher to the other, the literary format was different from place to place. That is, every teacher or parent would pass down the tradition in whatever form or formulation they wanted – some would teach with examples, some without examples, some would teach general rules, some specific, some would organize their teachings by topic, others by the name of the Rabbi who said them, etc. By the time of the Tannaim, at the beginning of the first century of the Common Era, there were thousands of traditions like this in various forms. Something had to be done!
Over the next few generations, the Tannaim struggled with this issue, until finally the traditions were organized into six topical orders, which were divided into sixty-three topic tractates, or books, which in turn were organized into chapters. The Mishnah that we have today was born!
The six topical orders of the Mishnah include about 4225 individual paragraphs of law. How are primary age children going to know where to start and what to learn in what order? Even more importantly, how will they learn how to learn? Will it be boring, interesting, fascinating or what?
For this, the V’Shinantam Mishnah Program was created – to ensure that the primary school child’s introduction to Mishnah will be clear, understood, enjoyable and educational. V’Shinantam teaches Mishnah – the content is primary – but V’Shinantam also teaches background, history, and most importantly – SKILLS! After two years of V’Shinantam, a student will know how to look at a new mishnah, how to learn it, what to stress and what questions to ask – all in a learning environment suited to various learning needs and styles.
The V’Shinantam Mishnah Program teaches the two first stages in the study of Torah Sheb’al Peh – Mishnah and Torat HaTannaim. See the Theory page on this site for more information on how these two stages fit into the overall Bonayich program for study of Torah Sheb’al Peh.
Want to learn more? Click on the two program year buttons to your left, and Shani and Tani will show you around…