The Seder ha-Mishmarah is a study cycle devised by Yosef Hayyim and used by some Mizrahi Jews (Jews originating in the Muslim world) for reading the whole of the Hebrew Bible and the Mishnah over 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 aloud. 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 Hayyim ben Joseph Vital and revised by 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:
In Mishnaic Hebrew mishmarah (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 Hoshana 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.
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