David, one of my students, asked me: Why does the Mishnah teach us about a process that they used to do, the signal fires is an old system, we don’t do that anymore, why should we learn about it ? He was referencing the Mishna on Rosh Hashana Perek 2 Mishna 2 which discusses how the Jews knew when it was rosh chodesh (a new month) during the times of the Beit Hamikdash.
"Originally [they had no need to send out messengers to inform the people of the new moon, rather,] they used to light [a series of torches which, when sighted, was a sign of the new moon] but when the heretics perverted [justice and tried to mislead the people by lighting their own torches] they enacted that messengers should go forth [to announce the new moon]."
Rav Yehudah HaNasi was the compiler of the Mishna. He took information that had never been written down, Torah She Baal Peh, and turned it into a book called the Mishna. He felt it was necessary for the survival of the Jewish people.
In our Mishnah the Jewish people have a chain of transmission using the fire to communicate a message. This symbolizes the fire of Torah spreading its message from the Bais Hamikdash in Jerusalem out to all the lands and across generations. Then outsiders attempted to disrupt this chain of transmission. So the Jewish people had to evolve and adapt to the new reality, and so they put it into words, what at once was not needed to be spoken.
This Mishna is the story of the creation of the Mishna itself. Rav Yehudah had to write down the Oral Torah,in order to preserve it. Judaism had to evolve and adapt in order for the message to be preserved and passed on from generation to generation. Rav Yehudah preserved the holy fire through the Mishna. Shabbat Shalom
"Originally [they had no need to send out messengers to inform the people of the new moon, rather,] they used to light [a series of torches which, when sighted, was a sign of the new moon] but when the heretics perverted [justice and tried to mislead the people by lighting their own torches] they enacted that messengers should go forth [to announce the new moon]."
Rav Yehudah HaNasi was the compiler of the Mishna. He took information that had never been written down, Torah She Baal Peh, and turned it into a book called the Mishna. He felt it was necessary for the survival of the Jewish people.
In our Mishnah the Jewish people have a chain of transmission using the fire to communicate a message. This symbolizes the fire of Torah spreading its message from the Bais Hamikdash in Jerusalem out to all the lands and across generations. Then outsiders attempted to disrupt this chain of transmission. So the Jewish people had to evolve and adapt to the new reality, and so they put it into words, what at once was not needed to be spoken.
This Mishna is the story of the creation of the Mishna itself. Rav Yehudah had to write down the Oral Torah,in order to preserve it. Judaism had to evolve and adapt in order for the message to be preserved and passed on from generation to generation. Rav Yehudah preserved the holy fire through the Mishna. Shabbat Shalom
