Getting Started
As we stated earlier, most halachick statements in the גמרא are presented as "What is the דין in this particular case?" The first step a learner must take is to understand what case is being discussed. As a case describes a particular set of circumstances you can think of it as a story. At the simplest level we can tell ourselves the story of what is happening. You can tell yourself the story, visualize the story or even place yourself as a player on the stage where the story is being acted out.
As with any story, there will be background information that is necessary in order to understand what is going on. The background information can be divided into:
- Halachik background - what halachot do I need to know before I can understand the story? For example, the first משנה in ברכות discusses from what time can I recite קריאת שמע at night. In story form this would be "Once upon a time ראובן recited קריאת שמע at 10 o'clock at night. Was he יוצא his מצווה?" The halachik background would include that there is a חיוב to recite קריאת שמע at night. Without knowing this information the question posed in this case would not make sense.
- Story background - what happened in the story before the halachik question was posed? For example, the first משנה in the second פרק of בבא מציאה discusses which types of lost objects the finder can keep. In story form this would be "Once upon a time ראובן found some apples lying on the floor. Can he claim them for himself?" The literary background would include that שמעון went to the store and bought apples. His bag opened up on the way home and some of the apples fell out without שמעון realizing. The literary background of the story allows you to have a fuller visualization of the story. As the halachik discussion develops that literary background may become halachikally relevant (or it may not).
Very often the case being discussed in the משנה is a variation of an idealized case. Part of the background information would be to identify the ideal case and the outcome in that case. Needs more explication
To focus the reader to have a full understanding of the story there are a series of questions that provide a comprehensive encapsulation of the relevant information about a case. Answering these questions will be the next step in the learning process. We call this step briefing the case.