the Mishnahמִשְׁנָה

English

One does not expound the forbidden sexual relations before three, nor the work of creation before two, nor the Chariot before one — unless he was wise and understood of his own knowledge. Whoever looks at four things, it were fitting for him that he had not come into the world: what is above, what is below, what is before, and what is after. And whoever has no care for the honour of his Maker, it were fitting for him that he had not come into the world.

Fresh draft (Claude), approved by Wilson Pruitt · cc-by

Hebrew / Aramaic

m. Chagigah 2:1 · pd

Notes

The rule the whole rabbinic bench on this site is working under, and it is not a comment on Gen 1:1 but a restriction on commenting. The work of creation may not be expounded before two, and the Chariot not before one, unless he is wise and understands of his own knowledge — a rule about audience size, so that what is said cannot become public teaching. Then the four things: what is above, what is below, what is before, what is after; and whoever looks at them, it were fitting he had not come into the world. Those four are what Bereshit Rabbah 1:10 reads out of the closed sides of the letter bet, and they are, item for item, the questions the Manichees put to Augustine and that he answers at length in the first chapters of De Genesi contra Manichaeos. ⚠ Anchor note: this is a witness by PLAN.md §5's specification for K2, not by the general anchor rule; see the file docstring. The Sefaria English here is the William Davidson Edition, which is not licensed for this site, so the English is a fresh draft from the Hebrew.

Threads

• → cites · Bereshit Rabbah
  Bereshit Rabbah reads the Mishnah's four forbidden matters out of the shape of the first letter of the verse: as the bet is closed on its three sides and open at the front, you have no permission to ask what is below, what is above, what was before and what is after. The list is the Mishnah's, item for item and in the same order; what is new is that it is now a property of the text rather than a rule of the school.
• ← echoes · Bereshit Rabbah
  The Mishnah restricts the audience and the midrash curses the motive. Rav Huna in the name of Bar Kappara reads Ps 31:19 against those who speak 'with arrogance' — is it in order to boast, I am expounding the work of creation? — and 'with contempt', for the honour of the Maker. The Mishnah's closing clause is the same: whoever has no care for the honour of his Maker, it were fitting he had not come into the world.
• ← contests · Augustine
  The identical question and the opposite discipline. The Mishnah: whoever looks at what is above, what is below, what is before, what is after, it were fitting for him that he had not come into the world. Augustine, in the chapter following this one: the Manichees ask 'in what beginning? if God made heaven and earth in some beginning of time, what was he doing before he made heaven and earth?' — and he answers it, at length and in the plainest Latin he can manage. On one bench the question is put by a student who must be stopped; on the other by an opponent who must be answered, and being answered it becomes part of the commentary tradition for good.
• ← contests · Rashi
  The first sentence of the most-read Jewish commentary on the Torah asks why the book begins with the work of creation, in a tradition whose Mishnah says the work of creation may not be expounded before two. Rashi does not cite the rule and does not need to break it: his answer removes the chapter from the domain the Mishnah is fencing by making it a matter of public law rather than of hidden things — the peoples of the world say, and Israel answers.