Chagiga 10: Consent; Mountains Suspended by a Hair

A fascinating daf today about Talmud - and a number of concepts. Before that begins with a new Mishna, we end yesterday's conversation.  It seems that "that which is crooked cannot be made straight" might be speaking of a woman who has been raped.  The rabbis remind us that an Israelite woman who consents to an extramarital affair is forbidden to her husband.  However, if she has been raped, she is in fact allowed to her husband again.  However, a Kohen woman is not allowed to her Kohen husband after a rape.  The notion of consent is critical to the rabbis understanding of women's status; whether or not she can be made "straight".  This is challenging in too many ways to mention.

Our new Mishna teaches that the dissolution of vows has nothing to support their halachot.  They fly in the air.  The halachot of Shabbat, Festiva peace offerings and misuse of consecrated property are like mountains suspended by a hair - they have little basis in the Torah, but their halachot are numerous.  Monetary law, sacrificial rites, ritual purity and impurity and the halachot of those with whom sexual relations are forbidden have something to support them, and these are the essential parts of Torah.

The Gemara goes on to suggest numerous possible understandings of this Mishna.  Surely they were speaking about only very specific halachot: the vows of a nazirite in certain circumstances, digging a hole on Shabbat, errors of sacrifice on Festivals and personal agency used well and inappropriately regarding consecrated items.  They almost seem apologetic, as if it is obvious that this Mishna could not refer to the larger study of Talmud; that would be impossible.  

However, many of the laws that we learn through Talmud learning are mountains held up by hairs.  This has ended up as one of the running themes through this blog.  So much of the interpretation done by the rabbis is clearly based on their own biases and interpretations; their perspectives and limitations.  It is amazing to find this phrase here, in the Talmud, tucked away in the thousands of pages of inquiry.

Still, we have to examine the threads - and the mountains.  A mountain is just as interesting whether it is supported by full scaffolding or by a simple thread, easy to break.