Tractates and 32 Paths (11-day cycles)

Brachot and Rosh Hashanah

Kriat Shemah (accepting the yoke of G-d's kingship)

Shabbat and Yom Kippur

Teshuvah is a two-way process. We are knocking on G-d's door as poor people bereft of mitzvot. If both us and Hashem participate in the Teshuva process (Hashiveinu Hashem Elecha veNashuva), then both are pturim.

Eruvim and Sukkot

- Gemara discussion compares it to Sukkah.
- Aravah; mixing, shaking together the arbah minim

Pesachim and Cheshvan

Or L'Arbah Asar Bodkim et HaChametz L'Or HaNer.

This is the beginning of Avodat HaBerurim. We move from G-d as Creator to G-d as redeemer. We redeem the chametz through engaging in mitzvot (Ner Mitzvah Torah Or)

We go from "Or" (light, the first act of Creation) to "the 14th" (gematria of Yad). And mitzvot elevate the chametz back to the Or, the source of Creation.

My revered father, [the Rebbe Rashab,] once told a chassid at yechidus: “From the time the Holy One, blessed be He, told Avraham, ‘Go forth from your land,’5 and thereafter ‘Avram journeyed on, continuing to travel southward,’6 the mystical mission of beirurim began. [This term signifies the task of sifting materiality, and elevating the Divine sparks that are embedded within all permissible entities and activities, by using them with spiritual purpose.] 

Shekalim and Cheshvan

Temple, elevating the physical (two halves - male and female - see Heh and Vav

Yoma and Cheshvan/Rosh Chodesh Kislev

Yahrzeit of Matisyahu Kohen Gadol
Chanukah

Sukkah and Kislev/Chanukah

8 days paralleling Sukkot; siyum is the story of Miriam bat Bilgah, at the time of Chanukah, who had assimilated and married a Greek guard, who kicked the altar.

Beitzah and  Kislev/Chanukah

Egg that was born on Yom Tov is something that was concealed that is now revealed

Rosh Hashanah and Chanukah/Teveth

- Rosh Chodesh was mitzvah Greeks wanted to abolish. The calendar is the source of Jewish wisdom in the eyes of the nation.
- Machloket regarding Nissan and Tishrei reflects Machloket Yehudah and Yosef

Ta'anit and Teveth/Fast of Teveth

Ta'anit is all about fasting (connection is pretty obvious). (In the division of the Mishna, it also falls here). Also, the Tractate begins with the time we begin to ask for rain in our prayers. This cycle falls around the time of the 4th of December, when outside of Israel we change our prayers to ask for rain

Megillah and Teveth

Law of Blessing before the Torah / Torah Sh'Bichtav

Moed Katan and Yud Shvat (day of Siyum)

Mourning for the Friediker Rebbe

Chagigah and Tu B'Shvat

Trees singing (Chagigah 14b)

Yevamot (and Seder Nashim) and 22nd Shvat

Yahrzeit of Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka (she was childless, although all Chabad Chassidim were her children

Ketubot and Adar/Purim

Ketubot starts by speaking about a young virgin that is to get married, like the beginning of Megilat Esther.

Nedarim and Adar

Mitzvah of Half-Shekel/obligations to the Temple needed collecting by the end of Adar

Nazir and Nissan/Pessach preparations/Omer

We don't cut our hair during the Counting of the Omer; we also take on extra stringencies related to chametz (the Nazir is told to avoid "Chometz Yayin"; we also go to the mikvah and, in order to eat the Korban Pessach, we would have to avoid contact with the dead.

Sotah and Pessach/Omer

It is customary to study the tractate of Sotah during the Counting of the Omer, as it has 49 dapim (folios) and the sacrifice brought by the Sotah was of barley, like the omer.


Gittin and Pessach/Omer

Free oneself from Egypt/Ba'al


Kedushin and Iyar/Omer

Preparing for the Wedding with Hashem


Nezikin (Baba Kama, Baba Metzia, Baba Basra) and Lag Ba'Omer

Main laws of Bein Adam L'Chaveroh


Sanhedrin (Sanhedrin and Makkos) and Omer/Rosh Chodesh Sivan


Shvuot and Shavuot

Oaths


Avodah Zarah and Sivan 

Chet HaEgel


Horayos and Tammuz


Zevachim and Tammuz


Menachos and the Three Weeks


Chullin and Tisha B'Av


Bechoros and Av

Arachin-Temura and Av/Rosh Chodesh Elul

Arachin: Mesirat Nefesh - dedicating one's whole being in accordance to the Torah (Av). Making and accounting of one's worth (Elul).

Temura: Mistakenly "switching" a holy object/endeavor for something not holy, and by doing so ultimately making both of them holy - Teshuva, elevating the fallen sparks.


Kerisus and the first days of Elul

Cheshbon HaNefesh

Talmud starts with the enumerating of major major sins
Why give a number? To explain to you that each one has to be atoned for separately, even if it was all one big "forgetting." In Elul, there is a tendency to think, "You know, let me just do a "general" Teshuvah, that should be good enough." The Talmud comes to teach us, "No, each separate action requires its own atonement, even if it was all one great forgetting."

Meilah-Tamid and Elul

Two kinds of Teshuvah

1) for using holy instruments for non-sacred purposes (Meilah)

2) to implement consistency and constant dedication (Tamid)

Niddah and Rosh Hashanah

7-day and 11-day cycles