Mishnah Snapshots

Have you heard of the Mishnah before? Basically it's the oldest Jewish commentary on the Torah. I had studied through the entire Hebrew Bible a couple times and had also read through three different Hebrew translations of the New Testament when I sensed it was time to tackle the Mishnah. To make a long story short, I didn't even make it through the first page before I was lit up. I felt like I had stumbled into the world of Yeshua and his disciples. These writings came from the same Jewish world that produced the New Testament and the parallels were unmistakable. The disciples of Gamaliel were called his "sons", the same affectionate term Rabbi Yeshua used when he called his disciples on the beach after his resurrection. The first conversation was about when to pray the Shema, which Yeshua quoted in the Gospel of Mark as the greatest commandment. And differing responses were given by Hillel and Shammai, the two greatest sages in Israel when baby Jesus was born. I excitedly started taking notes, and in hindsight I'm so thankful I did because...well read on.

Mishnah study became a passion for me. It was shedding so much light on the writings of Yeshua's disciples, and I could even see how Paul got some of his metaphors from this ancient commentary. I genuinely felt the presence of the Messiah as I read on, page after page. Now you have to understand, Mishnah study's not easy. For one thing, it's long. The antique edition I ordered came in 6 books totalling over 3000 pages of Hebrew, English translation, and footnotes. For another thing, the Hebrew's extremely concise and sometimes cryptic which makes for slow reading. It's also very dry, which isn't really surprising considering it's a legal code. But the nuggets I found made the long painstaking hours of sifting worth it. In addition to functioning as a portal into the Jewish world of Jesus, the Mishnah was also giving me a new perspective on the Torah. This was the civil law of Israel two thousand years ago, the answer to the thousands of questions that came up as the Jewish community endeavored to live out the Torah inside and ultimately outside the Promised Land. Another thing that kept me from getting bored was the the frequent explosions as the urban myths about Judaism that I had unconsciously absorbed were systematically blown out of the water.

For months my studies were a private affair. Eventually though a desire was birthed within me to share this joy with others and to confront the urban myths which I now knew were lies. And so Mishnah Snapshots was born in the fall of 2016. My first four lessons were an introduction to the Mishnah and answered simple questions like how it was developed, what the word "Mishnah" actually means, why the Jewish community needed it, and what Yeshua thought of the Mishnah as it existed in his time. After that I just started on page one, working through my notes and sharing snapshots from the Mishnah that had given me personal glimpses of Rabbi Jesus and a richer understanding of the writings of his disciples. 

This series has become my personal favourite. I love researching these lessons and packing them with maps, vivid pictures, and excerpts from historical sources. And you're welcome to share this journey with me! At the very least watch my first four talks introducing the Mishnah and see how many of your urban myths go boom. (If you don't like videos there's a written version too.) Then watch that first lesson in Brachot 1:1 where the romance began and see if it's not the same for you. It's all here: