Mountains hanging by a strand? Re-reading Mishnah "Ḥagigah" 1:8

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Abstract

Mishnah Ḥagigah 1:8 provides three categories for conceptualizing the relationship between various rabbinic laws and Scripture: (1) laws flying in the air with nothing to lean on; (2) laws akin to “mountains hanging by a strand, since they are little Scripture and many laws,” and (3) laws having “upon what to lean, and it is they that are the bodies of the Torah.” This article examines this self-reflection as to the nature of the rabbinic halakhic system and offers a new understanding of its content, focusing mostly on a philological examination of the enigmatic metaphor of “mountains hanging by a strand.”
Original languageAmerican English
Pages (from-to)235-256
Number of pages22
JournalJournal of Ancient Judaism
Volume4
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 2013

Keywords

  • Bible. Jeremiah XVII -- Criticism, interpretation, etc
  • Jewish law
  • Jewish law -- History
  • Law -- History
  • Mishnah. Avot -- Criticism, interpretation, etc
  • Mishnah. Hagigah -- Criticism, interpretation, etc
  • Sifrei -- Criticism, interpretation, etc

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