Hillel and Shammai, the Last of the Pairs
A pauper from Babylon becomes head of his generation; his school and Shammai's dispute over everything—and both opinions are recorded as the words of the living God.
Hillel came up from Babylon as a grown man and lived in such poverty that, unable to pay the doorkeeper of the study hall, he climbed onto the roof and listened through the skylight until snow buried him. He led his generation for forty years as head of the Sanhedrin; beside him stood Shammai—sharp, exacting, uncompromising. They are the last of the zugot, the pairs.
Hillel was known for patience and for seeing to the heart of things. A gentile demanded that Shammai teach him the whole Torah while standing on one foot; Shammai drove him off with a builder's cubit. The same man came to Hillel, who said: 'What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow—that is the whole Torah; the rest is commentary. Go and learn.' To him are also credited 'If I am not for myself, who is for me? And if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?' and the prozbul, a device that kept credit available through the sabbatical year.
Their students formed Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai, disputing hundreds of questions. A heavenly voice declared: 'These and these are the words of the living God, but the law follows Beit Hillel'—because they were yielding, and cited their opponents first.
How we know
Sources
Chazal: Mishnah, Talmud, midrash, Zohar
- Yoma 35b — Hillel on the roof under the snow: “Hillel obliges the poor”
- Shabbat 31a — “what is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow” — the three converts
- Eruvin 13b — “both are the words of the living God; the law follows Hillel”
- Gittin 36a — the prozbul — an ordinance of Hillel
- Pirkei Avot 1:12–14 — “be of the disciples of Aharon”; “if I am not for myself…”
- Sukkah 20a — “the Torah was being forgotten — Hillel came up from Babylon and restored it”
Basis: tradition.
People and places
Hillel the Elder · Shammai the Elder · Herod · Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai · The Oral Torah · Tannaim · Tu BiShvat · Prozbul · Avtalyon · Rabban Gamliel the Elder · Rabban Shimon ben Hillel · Shemaiah · Conversion (giyur) · Targum Jonathan