We now turn to Mishnah 8 in the first chapter of Maseches Chagigah. This mishnah deals with areas of halachah whose support from the verses of the Chumash is extremely slim, and which for the most part originate in the Oral Torah. Its connection to our topic is only that it mentions the chagigos, that is, the Chagigah offering.
"Heter nedarim porchin ba'avir v'ein lahem al mah sheyismochu":
This refers to the possibility of annulling vows - a halachah that floats in the air, with nothing to rest upon, since in the Chumash there is almost no source pointing to the matter of releasing vows. Rashi explains that they have no more than a slight hint in Scripture.
The Sages, however, possess a tradition from the Oral Torah, while in the Written Torah itself there is only the barest minimum on this subject. The hint is derived from the verse "Lo yachel devaro" - he himself may not profane his word, but others may release him from it. This is no more than an asmachta, a rabbinic hint, and it is not the true meaning of the verse; the essence of the matter comes from the Oral Torah.
"Hilchos Shabbos, chagigos v'hame'ilos - harei hem k'hararim hateluyim b'sa'arah":
The laws of Shabbos.
The laws of the Chagigah offering.
The laws of me'ilah - the laws concerning a person who derived benefit from consecrated property, and must bring a me'ilah offering for it.
These three areas are compared to mountains suspended by a hair, "shehen mikra mu'at v'halachos merubos" - the verses supporting them are few, while the volume of halachos that flows from them is vast.
"Hadinin v'ha'avodos, haTaharos v'haTum'os v'arayos - yesh lahem al mah sheyismochu":
"Hadinin" - matters of Choshen Mishpat, the laws of monetary disputes.
"V'ha'avodos" - the manner of serving Hashem in the Beis HaMikdash through the offerings.
"HaTaharos v'haTum'os" - the laws concerning tumah and taharah.
"V'arayos" - the laws concerning forbidden relationships.
These areas have what to rely upon, since more verses are available to them, and from those verses the relevant halachos can be derived.
Even so, the mishnah concludes: "Hen hen gufei Torah" - both categories alike, those with direct support from the verses and those that seemingly have none, are all considered essential parts of the Torah, whether they were learned from the Written Torah or whether they were learned primarily from the Oral Torah.
In summary: in this mishnah we learned about the division of halachos according to how firmly they are anchored in the verses of the Written Torah: the release of vows, which floats in the air and has only an asmachta from the verse "Lo yachel devaro"; the laws of Shabbos, the Chagigah offering and me'ilah, which are like mountains suspended by a hair - few verses and many halachos; and monetary law, the Temple service, taharos and tum'os and arayos, which have what to rely upon. Despite the difference between them, they are all equally essential parts of the Torah.