How was the mishna actually transmitted orally

Question

I've recently begun a project to memorize the mishna. The technique I am using is surprisingly effective.

This came as a result of my feeling nostalgic for the days when the Oral Torah was truly oral. This makes me curious about the actual process of transmitting the mishna to students. My dilemma is this: in order to memorize the mishna you'd need to have someone who already has the text memorized teach it to you mishna by mishna. And not only this but you need to hear from the mouth of this teacher for a considerable number of years before you actually receive the entire six orders. You need to be a devoted student of a teacher for many, many years to get the whole text.

Presumably then, the text would have to be reviewed constantly in order to keep it in memory, and moreover because not all students come at the same time, different sections would need to be taught concurrently.

Thus I'm wondering how widespread actually were those who actually had the entire six tractates memorized. I am aware that each academy had those specifically designated for memorizing the mishna. But the memorization had to extend beyond these people only for the fact that the mishna's rulings would otherwise not have been retained by the nation at large.

Does anyone have an idea about what it literally took to get this body of knowledge down the generations, in more than the vague "Moshe kibel torah misinai, umesorah leyehoshua, etc." And then the early mishnayot which came from Moshe himself were probably much more numerous than the reduced form we have today (I once heard Rebi Hakadosh had 900 orders of mishna he reduced to six)

Answer 1

The Mishna (Avos 5:21) says in the name of Yehuda Ben Teima, sets out a study program for Jewish males:

בֶּן חָמֵשׁ שָׁנִים לַמִּקְרָא

בֶּן עֶשֶׂר לַמִּשְׁנָה

בֶּן שְׁלֹשׁ עֶשְׂרֵה לַמִּצְווֹת

בֶּן חֲמֵשׁ עֶשְׂרֵה לַתַּלְמוּד

From the age of five, the study of Mikra (the Hebrew Bible). From age ten, the study of Mishna. At thirteen, he becomes Bar Mitzvah, and from the age of 15, he begins the study of Talmud.

The presumption is that he has completed a basic knowledge the Mishna by the age of fifteen, and now begins "Talmud", which is an in depth analysis and discussion of the Mishna.

The great academies were for schools of higher education, where the Mishna was expounded upon, and which we refer to as Talmud. The students of the academies were expected to be proficient in the six orders of Mishna.

We must remember that the Yehudim in the early days, did not have that many distractions, which take away a person from Torah study. They didn't have phones, social media, and commercial sports events, which fill up people's time today. So the average preteen and young teenager, that wanted to master the Mishna, would theoretically have access to teachers, who would help him achieve his goal of completing the study of the Mishna by the age of 15.

Note: Even in today’s day and age, there are many boys that complete the study of all six orders of Mishna, in honor of their Bar Mitzvah, at age 13. Granted that today they don't study it by heart, nevertheless, it's not far-fetched to imagine, that in the olden days, a boy devoting themselves full time to the project, could learn the Mishna by heart, in 5 years (from age 10-15).

Answer 2

From the Gemarah it seems that this was a significant issue and fear.

Kesubos 103b;

והיינו דכי הוו מינצו ר' חנינא ור' חייא א"ל ר' חנינא לר' חייא בהדי דידי מינצת דאם חס ושלום נשתכחה תורה מישראל מהדרנא ליה מפלפולי

And this is the background to an exchange that took place when Rabbi Ḥanina and Rabbi Ḥiyya argued. Rabbi Ḥanina said to Rabbi Ḥiyya: You are arguing with me? If, Heaven forfend, the Torah would be forgotten from the Jewish people, I would restore it through my analyses, i.e., using my abilities of analysis I would be able to rediscover all that had been lost.

א"ל ר' חייא אנא עבדי דלא משתכחה תורה מישראל דאייתינא כיתנא ושדיינא ומגדלנא נישבי וציידנא טביא ומאכילנא בישרא ליתמי ואריכנא מגילתא ממשכי דטביא וסליקנא למתא דלית בה מקרי דרדקי וכתיבנא חמשא חומשי לחמשא ינוקי ומתנינא שיתא סידרי לשיתא ינוקי לכל חד וחד אמרי ליה אתני סידרך לחברך

Rabbi Ḥiyya: I am working to ensure that the Torah will not be forgotten from the Jewish people. For I bring flax and I plant it, and I then weave nets from the flax fibers. I then go out and trap deer, and I feed the meat to orphans, and I form scrolls from the skins of the deer. And I go to a town that has no teachers of children in it and I write the five books of the Torah for five children. And I teach the six orders of the Mishna to six children. To each and every one of these children I say: Teach your order to your friends. In this way all of the children will learn the whole of the Torah and the Mishna.