The Layman's Masechta (Mishnayoth) for a Siyum

Question

What is a good Masechta of Mishnayoth for someone to learn if they just want to get a basic understanding and complete a Masechta in a relatively short time?

Examples where this would be practical might be someone who has a limited background in learning and wants to make a Siyum but isn't ready for Gemara, or someone under time constraints to learn for a Sheloshim.

Answer 1

Tamid is, except for the very end, a story of how things used to be in the bes hamikdash. You can practically just read through it without commentary (though having a floor plan of the second bes hamikdash — usually published as an appendix to nearby maseches Midos — handy will help a good deal).

Answer 2

Choosing a quick and easy mesechta of mishnayos is a highly subjective activity.

The first consideration, obviously, is length. However, there are plenty of relatively short mesechtos, so this is not a major problem.

The biggest issue, especially for someone with a limited background, is to avoid having too many new concepts at once, especially big complicated concepts (such as inyanei kodshim and taharos).

My personal recommendations would be either Megilah or Makkos.

Megilah is a well known "easy" mesechta.It is only four chapters long and most of the topics covered (e.g. Purim, krias haTorah) will already be basically familiar even to a relative beginner.

Makkos is, admittedly, a less obvious choice. While only three chapters long, the topics covered (false witnesses, exile for unintentional murder, and the penalty of lashes) deal with criminal law, and will not be immediately familiar to a beginning student. However, the key concepts of each chapter can be presented fairly quickly, and once grasped, the details of each chapter are fairly straightforward.

In my experience, having taught both of these mesechtos, brighter students generally found Makkos to be more interesting and stimulating than Megilla. However, as I said before, this is a highly subjective choice.

Answer 3

In a comment on the question, b a suggested:

Avos (more mishnayos but no universal concepts needed to memorize)

Its mishnayos are mostly moral lessons. They are deep, but can be read and understood superficially with some benefit.