Digital Maggid
The Kolovyeler Rebbe, Rav Mordechai Zav, explained the meaning of why the Holy Rebbe, the author of the Mishnah, began the Mishnayos with the mitzvah of reciting the Shma.
The Holy Rebbe, whose name was Rabbi Yehuda haNasi, had the soul of our father Jacob. As the initials of Hanasi (הנשיא HNSYA) spell out “Hu Nishmato Shel Yaakov Avinu” (He whose Soul is From Jacob OurFather). The sages say that Yaakov Avinu (Our father Jacob) asked that the Shma be recited upon his death, so Yehuda haNasi began each of the mishnayos with [acknowledging that] Jacob’s soul has left the world.
January 1, 2012
