L'assoluzione dei voti "vola nell'aria", non essendoci alcun supporto (scritturale). [vale a dire, c'è solo una leggera allusione nella Scrittura al fatto che un saggio sia in grado di assolvere uno dei suoi voti e che (in sé) non deve essere invocato. Ma così è stato tramandato ai saggi attraverso la tradizione orale (cioè, che sono così autorizzati)]. Le leggi di Shabbath, delle offerte del festival e di me'iloth (abuso di oggetti consacrati) sono come "montagne appese a un capello" [Ci sono delle mezzane che pendono solo da una leggera allusione scritturale, come una montagna sospesa da un capello], con pochi riferimenti scritturali, ma che abbraccia un grande corpo di halachoth. Le leggi (leggi monetarie), il servizio sacrificale, (le leggi della) purezza e impurità e (le leggi delle) relazioni illecite hanno su cosa fare affidamento (nella Scrittura). Entrambi sono elementi essenziali della Torah. [La gemara spiega: "Sia questi che questi sono elementi essenziali della Torah". Cioè: sia quelli che non hanno supporto (scritturale) sia quelli che lo fanno. Entrambi quelli che sono come "montagne appese a un capello, ecc."— tutti sono elementi essenziali della Torah.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Chagigah
היתר נדרים פורחים באויר – there is a bit of an intimation in Scripture that a Sage would be able to release a vow, but one should not rely upon it, but this was transmitted to the Sages in the Oral Torah.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Chagigah
Introduction
This mishnah, and the first two mishnayot of the next chapter, do not deal with the hagigah. Rather they are loosely connected to the end of the previous mishnah concerning the Torah scholar who separates from the Torah. Our mishnah deals with one issue which may have caused some rabbis to dismiss the Torah, especially the Oral Torah. There are many halakhot in the Mishnah which seem to have little connection to the Written Torah. Some rabbis may have rejected rabbinic learning claiming that the rabbis were just “making it up.” This was a common anti-rabbinic claim made throughout Jewish history, most famously by the Sadducees and later by the Karaites. Our mishnah acknowledges that some halakhot are indeed not well connected to Scripture and yet at the same time the mishnah seems to bequeath to these laws the same authority as those firmly anchored in the Written Torah.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Chagigah
הלכות שבת – and the laws of the Festival Offering and the laws of Sacrilege, each have many laws which are dependent upon intimations, with scant Scriptural [support] are like mountains suspended by the hair of the head.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Chagigah
[The laws concerning] the dissolution of vows hover in the air and have nothing to rest on. According to the rabbis, a sage has the power to dissolve a vow. This was a subject we covered when we learned Tractate Nedarim. However, there is no scriptural basis, no verses in the Torah, that give the rabbis (or anyone else) such power. These halakhot “hover in the air” meaning they are not grounded in the written Torah.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Chagigah
והעבודות – the laws of the Sacrificial Service.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Chagigah
The laws concerning Shabbat, hagigot, and trespassing are as mountains hanging by a hair, for they have scant scriptural basis but many halakhot. There are three categories of halakhah which have some scriptural basis, but not a lot and yet they have a lot of halakhot in the Mishnah and in other rabbinic works. The first of these is Shabbat. There were 24 chapters in Mishnah Shabbat and another 11 in Eruvin and yet the Torah barely discusses what types of work are prohibited on Shabbat. Hagigah, the subject of our tractate, is also another case of a lot of halakhah with little scriptural basis. The Torah only says the word “hag,” which the rabbis interpret to mean a sacrifice. This is not a lot of scriptural support for a whole tractate. Finally, “trespassing” which means illicit use of Temple property. There is a whole tractate called Meilah dedicate to this subject, and yet it too has scant scriptural support.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Chagigah
הן הן גופי תורה – The Gemara explains that they are the essence of Torah, that is to say, whether they lack upon what to be supported or are those which have upon what to be supported, or whether they are like mountains suspended by a hair, they are the essence of Torah.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Chagigah
[The laws concerning] civil cases and [Temple] worship, purity and impurity, and the forbidden relations have what to rest on, and they that are the essentials of the Torah. The Torah is full of verses dedicated to civil laws, the main topic of all of Seder Nezikin, Temple worship, the main topic of Seder Kodashim, purity laws, the main topic of Seder Toharot and the laws of forbidden relations, the main topic of large parts of Seder Nashim. These are the “essentials of Torah” in that the Torah dedicates to them more verses than to anything else.
