Mishnah 18 - Chapter 3 - Pirkei Avot

Rabbi eli'ezer ben chisma omer, kinnin ufitchei niddah, hen hen gufei halachot. Tekufot vegimatreya'ot, parpera'ot lachachemah.

Rabbi Eliezer Hisma said: the laws of mixed bird offerings and the key to the calculations of menstruation days these, these are the body of the halakhah. The calculation of the equinoxes and gematria are the desserts of wisdom.

R. Eliezer ben Chisma says: Kinin [bird-offerings (from "kan tzippor," a bird's nest). There are weighty halachoth pertaining to them, such as a mandatory offering being mixed up with a gift-offering; or a burnt-offering, whose services are "above," being mixed up with a sin-offering, whose services are "below"], and pithchei niddah [the halachoth of a niddah who has lost track of her menstrual time and must be vigilant to determine its onset (Sometimes she must immerse herself ninety-five times, according to the view that immersion in its prescribed time is a mitzvah)] — [kinin and pithchei niddah] are the foundation of halachoth (the oral law), [for which reward is received.] Tekufoth [the movements of the constellations] and gematrioth [the numeration of the letters] are the "seasonings" of wisdom, [like those which it is customary to eat at the end of a meal for dessert. So, these wisdoms honor their possessors in the eyes of men.]