The Seder ha-Mishmarah is a study cycle devised by the
Ben Ish Ḥai and used by some
Mizrahi Jews (Jews of Near and Middle Eastern origin) for reading the whole of the
Hebrew Bible and the
Mishnah in the course of a year. It depends on the cycle of the
weekly Torah portions read in the synagogue.
Some communities have a custom of public reading, whereby on each
Shabbat afternoon the whole of the mishmarah for the following Shabbat is read out loud. In others, individuals use it as a basis for private study. The usual form of the cycle is set out in the table below.
This cycle is unrelated to that for Chok l'Yisrael, which is a study cycle based on the works of Rabbi
Hayyim ben Joseph Vital and revised by Rabbi
Chaim Joseph David Azulai. This too is often published in book form and is widely popular among Near and Middle Eastern Jews. Differences between the two are:
The Seder ha-Mishmarah does not include
Targum or commentaries on the Torah portion; Chok l'Yisrael includes both;
Chok l'Yisrael does not include the whole of Nevi'im, Ketuvim or the Mishnah, and does not present the excerpts in a continuous order through the year;
Chok l'Yisrael also includes excerpts from the
Talmud, the
Zohar and works of Jewish law and morality;
Chok l'Yisrael is designed for daily rather than weekly reading.
Other uses
In
Mishnaic Hebrewmishmarah (or mishmeret) means a "watch", that is to say a division of the night (usually one-third). In Temple times, a mishmar (or mishmarah) also referred to a group of priests whose turn it was to officiate.
In addition to the study cycle described above, the term mishmarah is used for a nocturnal prayer or study session preceding a celebration such as a wedding or a
Brit milah or a festival such as
Hoshanah Rabba or following a death. This usage was derived either from the above meaning as a watch in the night or from the practice of watching over a corpse. However, by
folk etymology the word is sometimes interpreted as a
portmanteau of "
Mishnah" and "
Gemara", to refer to the texts studied.[1]