Thursday, March 13, 2008

The Mishna Project

I just read an interesting Curious Jew blogpost about "The Mishna Project." According to the article a couple of guys decided to write pop tunes around verbatim recitations of the sections of the Mishna, one of the major early codifications of the Jewish Oral tradition. The Mishna is standard study material for traditional Jews, and on the face of it the idea sounds a bit like a Jewish 'Schoolhouse Rock.' But there's no kitsch here. I've listened to a number of tracks on the Mishna Project website, and these are solid, well-crafted, pop tunes. And they guys don't cheat. This is word-for-word Mishna, no colorful kid-friendly lyrics. I can't follow the Hebrew, but wish I could. I'd learn a lot, I'm sure.

If you're interested, check out their website or order the disc from Judaica Lamehadrin.

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