This highly popular program makes Torah learning cool, fun and accessible.

(Courtesy of OU) With myriad extracurricular activities to choose from, one Torah learning program is overwhelmingly popular among middle schoolers across the U.S. The Orthodox Union’s All Mishnah Jr. (AMJ) program is inspiring over 2,100 students in sixth through eighth grade to learn two Mishnayot daily during their free time.

“All Mishnah Jr. reflects the OU’s commitment to making Torah learning accessible, engaging and meaningful for all ages,” said OU Executive Vice President Rabbi Moshe Hauer. “By cultivating a love and excitement for Torah learning among young students, this program lays the foundation for a lifelong and consistent commitment to limud Torah.”

Launched in 2021, AMJ is an offshoot of the OU’s All Mishnah, a free app featuring shiurim, learning aids, a study tracker and other resources that facilitate the study of Mishnah. Whereas All Mishnah centers on Mishnah Yomi, a seven-year cycle involving the study of two Mishnayot daily, seven days a week, AMJ’s three-year learning cycle runs for four months between Sukkot and Pesach, five days weekly, enabling students to catch up or review past material over the weekend at their discretion.

“All Mishnah Jr. is a transformative experience,” said Elie Dahan, a seventh grader at Yeshivat He’Atid in Teaneck. “The program is amazing, and it makes me feel as if these laws are being taught to me directly from the chachamim.”

The Jewish Educational Center students Elan Rosen and Aaron Ascher are excited to participate in AMJ at their school in Elizabeth.

Now in its fourth season, AMJ is active in 32 schools in New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Texas, Georgia, Florida, California, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Colorado, and Illinois. Designed to make Torah learning cool, fun and accessible, AMJ encourages students to log their daily learning for a chance to win substantial raffle prizes like Visa and Amazon gift cards, AirPods, drones and hoverboards.AMJ participants also receive fun swag, including slap bracelets with the AMJ logo and sweatshirts upon completing the first masechet, Megillah.

“Our objective is to make learning Mishnayot as fun, exciting and attainable as possible,” said OU Torah Initiatives Programming Manager Rabbi Meir Avracen, who oversees AMJ. “We hope this program will foster an appreciation for the greatness of Torah in its own right, inspire participants to study Torah lishma, and turn it into a lifelong habit.”

Rabbi Binyamin Weinreich is a middle school Judaic studies teacher at Yeshivat He’Atid, and said students’ enthusiasm around AMJ is a source of tremendous pride for the school.

“AMJ gets students into the habit of being kovea itim laTorahsetting aside time for learning Torah, which is great preparation for life beyond the school years. The students who do it are already showing that learning Torah extends far beyond classes in school. It’s something they value and do of their own choice. The prizes and sweatshirts definitely help to motivate them, but chazal tell us, ‘mitoch shelo lishma ba lishma,’ one comes to learn for its own sake.”

About 45 staff members, including administrators, rebbes and teachers, work alongside Rabbi Avracen to implement AMJ programming in their respective middle schools. After signing up via the allmishnahjr.org website, participants receive customized AMJ Artscroll Pocket Edition Mishnayot, generously sponsored by Ralph Rieder of Monsey.

“AMJ launched with just eight schools, but since then we’ve quadrupled in size,” said Rabbi Avracen. “Although 2,100 participants registered online this year, we always send 20% more Mishnayot to each school, because once other students see the energy and excitement around AMJ, they want to get on board as well.”

Participants have various options through which they can complete their learning: on their own with their parents, rebbes or teachers, b’chavruta, or using the AMJ website which features videos and recorded shiurim of the day’s Mishnayot in both Ashkenaz and Sephardic havarot(pronunciations).

Following Oct. 7, the AMJ team added a layer to the program which makes students’ learning even more meaningful: in partnership with Chayal of the Day, an Israeli-based organization, each participant is paired with a chayal and learns in their zechut.

“Each student receives their chayal’s bio and is encouraged to send their chayal a personal message,” said Rabbi Avracen. “Knowing that they are supporting Israel and our chayalim encourages them to learn even more.”

Rabbi Weinrech shared how enthusiastic the Yeshivat He’Atid students are about the program. “Students remember concepts they came across in their AMJ learning, and make connections between it and what we’re learning in class,” he said. “They’re really invested. Half of the middle school, 83 students, completed Masechet Megillah with AMJ, many of whom have probably never finished a masechta of Mishnayot before. That kind of success and harbatzat Torah is impossible to argue with. Kein yirbu, and ashrecha to the OU for implementing this program.”