Why is Mishmar called Mishmar?

Everyone knows and loves Wednesday night Mishmar. For those who don’t know, Mishmar is an afterschool learning program for students to get the opportunity to learn additional Torah. In Mishmar, the Rebbeim and Morot give a lecture-style class, and it is very laid back compared to regular class-time learning. For this year’s Mishmar classes, Morah Leora Feder is teaching the girls a Sefer, Mesilas Yesharim written by Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, on how to spiritually improve ourselves and our lives. Meanwhile, Rabbi Avraham Ismach is teaching the boys about the weekly Parshiot with deep lessons to learn from within them.

According to Morah Feder, Mesilas Yesharim is a sefer that can teach and remind us of important, foundational concepts to keep us close as a community and strongly connected to Hashem. She also has explained that going to Mishmar is a meaningful and valuable thing because students are taking away from their own free time at home, just to learn more Torah, purely for the sake of learning. 

While there are students who attend Mishmar and take their time to learn additional Torah, has anyone ever thought of why we call it Mishmar? What is the meaning behind the name? There are many different opinions given to answer this; however, all of these have the same explanation for the meaning of the word. The Shoresh of Mishmar is Shamar, which means to guard. 

One opinion explains that the phrase of “Mishmar” began in Volozin. The students there wanted to have learning for all twenty-four hours of the day in their Yeshiva, and to do this, they made a comparison to the Beit Hamikdash where there were Mishmarot, shifts, between the Kohanim and Leviim, who would rotate with each other every week to do the Avodah and bring a Korban. Their job was to watch and guard in the Beit Hamikdash, and therefore the students in Volozin said that we too should have “shifts” of learning, which is Mishmar. 

Another opinion says that because the word Mishmar means to guard, the learning of extra Torah in Mishmar done voluntarily is safeguarding the children of the Jewish people and is protecting us from any bad in the world. As HANC students, we can all try to find our own way to protect Bnei Yisrael and to improve our relationship with Hashem.