Mishnah Ḥagigah

m. Ḥagigah 1:8–2:1

70–220

1:8. [The laws for] release from vows hover in the air and have nothing [in scripture] to support them. The rules about the Sabbath, festival offerings, and sacrilege are like mountains hanging on a hair, for there is very little scripture but [there are] very many laws. The civil laws, [laws about] the Temple service, purity and impurity, and sexual immorality, these have something [in scripture] for them to lean on, and they are the substance of the Torah.

2:1. The laws of sexual transgression may not be expounded in the company of three [persons], nor may the account of creation [(Genesis 1–2) be expounded] before two [persons], nor may the account of the chariot [(Ezekiel 1) be expounded] before one person, unless he is a sage and understands on his own. Whoever reflects on four matters—it would be better for him had he not come into the world: What is above? What is below? What is ahead and what is behind? And whoever has no regard for the honor of his Creator, it would be better for him had he not come into the world.

Translated by Christine Hayes.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 2: Emerging Judaism.

Engage with this Source

In the context of discussing the rules for the festival offering, the rabbis reflect self-consciously on the halakhic project in which they are engaged. They observe that there are areas of law in which rabbinic regulations are many, while the scriptural basis is meager or even nonexistent, “like mountains hovering in the air,” and there are also areas of law with a solid scriptural basis. This mishnah mentions, among the latter, the laws regarding illicit sexual relations, which leads in the subsequent mishnah to a discussion of topics that must not be publicly taught or even privately contemplated.

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